Vernon Wells hurt his hamstring again — before the Toronto Blue Jays even started spring training games.
The high-priced center fielder injured his left leg during drills Monday in Dunedin, Fla., and could be sidelined for most of spring training.
It’s the same hamstring that kept Wells out for a month last season. The two-time All-Star was scheduled for an MRI late in the day and the team was waiting for results.
“Right now, preliminarily, I’d say he’s going to miss four weeks,” Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi told MLB.com.
Toronto manager Cito Gaston said he thought Wells was hurt running the bases.
“I was on another field,” Gaston said, “but I noticed he wasn’t doing the cutoffs and relays so it must have happened during that time.”
Gaston said the only positive thing about Wells’ injury is that it happened early in spring training.
“He’s got a chance to be ready to start the season,” possibly as a designated hitter, Gaston said.
It’s the latest setback for Wells, who signed a $126 million, seven-year contract before the 2007 season. He missed 52 games due to injuries in 2008, when he broke his left wrist making a sliding catch early in the season and then returned to the disabled list July 10 with a strained left hamstring.
A three-time Gold Glove winner, Wells batted .300 with 20 home runs and 78 RBIs in 108 games last year. He spent the offseason working with a personal trainer, hoping to strengthen hamstrings that have bothered him for years.
At Viera, Fla., the Washington Nationals scrapped their plans for Odalis Perez.
The disgruntled pitcher was released Monday, a day after he failed to show up at spring training by the mandatory reporting deadline.
Perez agreed to a minor league contract with Washington on Feb. 5 that would have paid him $850,000 if he made the team. Recently, however, the left-hander said he wanted a better deal.
The 31-year-old Perez hadn’t returned phone calls from general manager Jim Bowden or manager Manny Acta. Perez let the 7 p.m. Sunday deadline pass without reporting.
“We left messages yesterday for his agent, we left messages for him, I left messages again this morning, and they made their point really clear,” Bowden said. “We’ve got a lot of pitchers here in camp who are committed to helping us win, and we want players here who want to be here.”
Perez was 7-12 with a 4.34 ERA in 30 starts for the Nationals last season. He is 73-82 with a 4.46 ERA in 10 seasons.
“It’s disappointing because you’d at least like him to talk to us in person,” Bowden said.
Jason Schmidt is not only in camp with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but on the mound throwing strikes.
Trying to come back from two shoulder operations, the right-hander was admittedly nervous for his intrasquad outing in Phoenix. Yet things couldn’t have gone much better.
Schmidt looked sharp in his brief stint against Dodgers teammates. He threw nine of 11 pitches for strikes and retired three of his four batters in a scoreless inning.
“My biggest goal was to get out there and walk off in one piece,” Schmidt said. “I wanted to be able to come out knowing I don’t have to ice. I think I accomplished that, as long as I don’t trip on the way to the clubhouse.”
The 36-year-old Schmidt has pitched in only six games, all in 2007, during the first two seasons of his three-year, $47 million deal with the Dodgers.
He used two of his four pitches Monday, throwing fastballs and changeups to retire Juan Pierre, Mark Loretta and Matt Kemp while allowing an infield single to Casey Blake.
“I wanted to get in a game, get my feet wet and see how it feels to play catch tomorrow,” Schmidt said. “I wouldn’t have minded a few more pitches. When you get out there and get loose, you feel like you can throw all day.
“It’s going to take me a while. I’ll be honest about that. I have to get all my checkpoints back, the things that got me over the plate and got me aligned.”
Los Angeles manager Joe Torre was encouraged.
“He had an easy time throwing the ball. He certainly looked comfortable,” Torre said. “He’s been in a great frame of mind. Last year, there would always be that one day when he wasn’t sure. But today looked like he was just letting it go and it looked great coming out.”
Brad Penny threw 30 pitches during his first batting practice session with Boston and said he “felt great.”
The right-hander tossed fastballs, breaking balls and splitters and stayed on track to be ready for the start of the regular season.
“Today, for me, answered a lot of questions, mentally and physically,” Penny said in Fort Myers, Fla. “I didn’t even know what to expect going out there the first time facing hitters, but everything felt great.”
Shoulder problems limited Penny to 19 games last season with the Dodgers and only nine innings after June 14.
At Mesa, Ariz., Carlos Zambrano is showing no signs of the shoulder problems that hampered him last season, although the Chicago Cubs are taking a conservative approach with their ace this spring.
“Physically, I feel the best I’ve ever felt in spring training,” Zambrano said after a free-and-easy throwing session against hitters. “I’m not a rookie. I know what to do and I know my job here is to get ready.”
Zambrano spent the offseason strengthening his shoulder, and the Cubs sent a trainer to his native Venezuela to work with him.
“It’s important,” he said. “I won’t want that to happen to me again this year.”
At Kissimmee, Fla., an X-ray revealed that Houston Astros outfielder Darin Erstad has a small fracture near his right eye after a ball hit him there during outfield drills Sunday.
Erstad has been cleared for all baseball activities but won’t participate in Tuesday’s intrasquad game or lift weights for a few days.
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