Taveras sidelined with oblique injury

Texas Rangers centerfielder Leody Taveras has a low grade oblique strain, per the beats. They are saying it is something where he will be sidelined for a couple of weeks.

That sort of timeline potentially puts into question whether Leody would be on the Opening Day roster, or would start the season on the injured list, given the season starts in a little over three weeks. Leody is expected to be the everyday centerfielder, and if he is not going to start the season with the club, Texas would presumably either need to move Adolis Garcia to center field, with one of the gaggle of left field options playing right field, or else have Bubba Thompson play center in Leody’s absence.

While this would seem to make more likely the possibility of one of the NRIs, such as Travis Jankowski or Clint Frazier, making the club, I’m not sure that the team is going to want to make a move to open up a 40 man roster spot for one of those guys just to drop him within a week when Leody is ready to return. We will have a little more clarity on how this plays out, though, in the coming days, as we get a better sense for Leody’s prognosis.