Corey

Seager

Seager put the Rangers on the board early with a solo homer off Aaron Nola in the first inning for his first home run of the season. He added a base hit in the fifth and drew a walk to lead off the eighth to reach for a third time. That’s two multi-hit games to start the season for the 31-year-old slugger.

Seager’s first-inning homer came off Cubs starter Cade Horton and was his first of the spring. The 31-year-old shortstop has topped 125 games just once in four seasons with the Rangers but he’s still managed to reach the 30-homer mark three times during that span. He’s a back-end starting shortstop for fantasy managers in shallow mixed leagues based on leaps by younger alternatives like Geraldo Perdomo and Jeremy Peña at the position.

Seager was scratched due to an illness Friday, but the 31-year-old star shortstop is good to go for the exhibition bout versus the Guardians.

Nothing to be worried about here. The Rangers believe Seager will be sidelined for a couple of days before getting back into the lineup.

The big surprise here is Seager since his name hasn’t come up at all in trade discussions this offseason. It’s abundantly clear that the Red Sox, who have a surplus of young big-league caliber pitching prospects to deal, are planning to upgrade at either second or third base this offseason since they’ve been active in trade discussions for multiple targets while also pursuing free agents Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette and Eugenio Suárez. Get your popcorn ready.

The Rangers aren’t going to rush either of their veteran franchise cornerstones back from significant injuries since they’re five games back of the Astros and Guardians for a Wild Card playoff berth with just a handful of games left in the regular season. Both Seager and Semien should have normal offseasons and be ready for the outset of spring training.

The Rangers haven’t dismissed the possibility that Seager makes it back before the end of the regular season, but manager Bruce Bochy told reporters that the veteran shortstop is still sore from his appendectomy. He needs to make some serious progress with his hitting progression in the coming days to have any chance of making it back for the final week.

The Rangers are holding out hope that Seager, who has been out since undergoing an emergency appendectomy procedure back in late August, will resume baseball activities and make it back for their final homestand against the Marlins and Twins, which kicks off next Friday, September 19.

Rangers president Chris Young told reporters earlier this week that Seager will be “out a period of time” but didn’t offer a specific timeline for his return from an emergency appendectomy procedure. It’s possible he misses the final four weeks of the season, but it sounds like he hasn’t been completely ruled out yet. The 31-year-old slugging shortstop is unlikely to make a significant impact for fantasy purposes down the home stretch, which means he can be safely dropped in shallow mixed leagues.

As the Rangers announced on Thursday, Seager had to undergo an emergency appendectomy on Thursday and will be sidelined for at least a couple of weeks. The Rangers are hopeful that he’ll be able to return before the regular season concludes, but that’s not a guarantee. Dylan Moore was added to the roster in a corresponding move.