Hanser Alberto sidelined with shoulder issue

Texas Rangers infielder Hanser Alberto is back in Arlington and will get a platelet-rich plasma injection for his sore shoulder, according to Stefan Stevenson on Twitter, who says that Alberto will not throw for two weeks.

Alberto will presumably start the season on the disabled list, and depending on how the Rangers want to set up their bench for the start of the season, could have them looking at the waiver wire over the next few days. Jurickson Profar is theoretically a utility infielder, but he likely will get a fair amount of time in the outfield, and so there’s been discussions about the possibility of the Rangers keeping someone who can play the infield (and in particular, shortstop) as the fourth bench player. Drew Robinson can play shortstop in a pinch, but isn’t really a backup shortstop, and so if the Rangers want someone to fill that role, now that Alberto is not an option, they’d either have to go internally with, say, Doug Bernier, or go outside the organization.

We shall have to wait and see where things stand as far as Alberto’s health goes, but at this point, it seems unlikely Alberto would be in a major league uniform at least until June.