Rays third baseman Evan Longoria suffered a freak hamstring injury sliding into second base on a stolen-base attempt back in April. Since then, he spent nearly two months doing nothing, then aggravated the injury during his rehab assignment.
Now, however, the Rays will have him back:
#Rays option Rhymes back to Durham, announce Longoria is coming back
Longoria felt good enough to play Sunday for Triple-A Durham, when an off-day was expected.
Longoria went 2-for-3 with a pair of line-drive singles in Durham’s 6-4 loss against Gwinnett. Overall, Longoria has batted .200 (5-for-25, all as the designated hitter) in his eight-game rehabilitation assignment.
Longoria was off to a tremendous start — .329/.433/.561 in 82 at-bats — before the injury, and the Rays were 15-8 when he went down with the injury. They’re 41-44 since, so they’re hoping he can help jump-start their offense in the tight AL wild-card race.
Evan Longoria gave the Rays a .329/.433/.561 triple-slash with four home runs and seven doubles in 82 at-bats in a torrid start to his 2012 season. Since sustaining a torn hamstring, though, he's given them nothing, and has been slow to recuperate. Monday night is part and parcel with that trend, as Longoria left a rehab assignment and suspended his recovery after aggravating the injury, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Longoria felt soreness while running to first base in a game for triple-A Durham, and was removed for a pinch-runner. He will rejoin the Rays in Washington on Tuesday and continue his rehab with the team.
Tampa Bay was 15-8 before Longoria's injury, which has kept him out since May 3. Since then, the Rays have gone just 22-21, and sit four games behind the streaking Yankees in the AL East and in second place in the AL Wild Card standings.
He played baseball for the Rays, that is, until he suffered a hamstring tear at the end of April. He was off to a great start this year, hitting 329/.433/.561 with four homers and seven doubles in 82 at-bats. When the injury occurred, it was thought Longoria would be out six to eight weeks. That timetable looks pretty accurate; he’s heading for a rehab assignment starting this weekend (and Jeff Keppinger will join him). Adam Berry:
Longoria (partially torn left hamstring) will use Friday as a workout day while Keppinger (broken big right toe) serves as the Bulls’ designated hitter. On Saturday, Keppinger will play the field and Longoria will be Durham’s DH.
Both players ran the bases before Thursday’s 9-6 loss to the Mets. Manager Joe Maddon said he was pleased with the progress they’re making but has no timetable for their return.
The Rays could use Longoria’s bat. They were 15-8 when he got hurt and are 20-20 without him.
We already knew that Evan Longoria was going to miss a big chunk of time with a torn hamstring. Now we get the formalities - Longoria has been placed on the 15-day disabled list, and the Tampa Bay Rays have called up Will Rhymes to occupy his roster spot.
You look at the Rays, and Longoria's the last guy they'd want to see sidelined. It's a team loaded with talent, but they don't have another all-around talent quite like Evan Longoria. They have Ben Zobrist, who's amazing, but he's not as amazing as Evan Longoria, and can anybody believe that Ben Zobrist is as good as he is? He's Ben Zobrist! Come on, be serious, statistics!
Rhymes is an infielder who's been with the Tigers before, and he's up as depth, while the Rays will look to Elliot Johnson and Jeff Keppinger to man third base. In the event of a disaster, they could conceivably look elsewhere, but this is the Rays. Most likely they'll just get by until their superstar returns.
"He's always been a pretty good healer. He's had some hamstring issues in the past and has come back from them pretty quickly, relatively speaking," Friedman said. "We're not going to put a firm timeline on it, but to get back here, I would say a best-case scenario for him to get back before six weeks or around six weeks."
In reality, no baseball team would be crippled by the loss of one player. But if a team could be crippled by the loss of one player, it'd be a player a lot like Evan Longoria. This is somewhat short-term, but it's also something significant.
The Rays’ Evan Longoria made an awkward slide into second base during their game against the Mariners on Monday night, forcing him to leave the game and to have an MRI scheduled for early Tuesday.
There are already reports that this injury is moderately serious:
Hearing #Rays Longoria has a hamstring issue, guesstimate is he’ll be out 6-8 weeks. Could have been worse.
Hamstrings are tough injuries to come back from and there’s no doubt the Rays will be extra-careful with their star third baseman. Elliot Johnson finished Monday’s game at third base after Longoria departed, and he and Jeff Keppinger will likely share a lot of the time there, though with Longoria possibly out for two months, the Rays might seek a trade. They’d certainly have snapped up Brandon Inge, had he still been available.
UPDATE: Though this was speculation on Marc Topkin's part earlier Tuesday, and the Rays had denied it at the time, Topkin tweeted confirmation late Tuesday afternoon:
#Rays say Longoria has partial tear of left hamstring. Out 6-8 weeks.
