{"id":67967,"date":"2024-03-08T17:58:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T22:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=67967"},"modified":"2024-03-08T17:58:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T22:58:00","slug":"yuki-matsui-questionable-opening-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/03\/08\/yuki-matsui-questionable-opening-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Alarming Update on Key Padres Reliever&#8217;s Status For Opening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The San Diego Padres signed Japanese lefty <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=matsui000yuk\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yuki Matsui<\/a> to a five-year deal this winter to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/01\/20\/what-signing-josh-hader-means-for-the-astros\/\" target=\"_self\">anchor its bullpen<\/a>. However, manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/shildmi99.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Shildt<\/a> provided reporters with a potentially alarming update regarding Matsui&#8217;s Opening Day status.<\/p>\n<p>Matsui reported back discomfort in late February and stopped throwing for about a week after an MRI revealed inflammation. He returned to the mound on Tuesday to throw a 30-pitch bullpen session at non-max effort. Shildt told reporters that Matsui felt well after the session, but was also noncommittal about whether he would be available on Opening Day.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Mike Shildt was asked for the latest update on Yuki Matsui&#8217;s health: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wxto1OKjWu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/wxto1OKjWu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 97.3 The Fan (@973TheFanSD) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/973TheFanSD\/status\/1765447431364477220?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 6, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Back Issues Might Sideline LHP Yuki Matsui on Opening Day<\/h2>\n<p>The Padres start the season on March 20 by playing two games in South Korea against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team could use Matsui against such a great lineup, but are not sure if they will have him. Shildt said &#8220;there is a possibility&#8221; that Matsui will be available on Opening Day, but that &#8220;it&#8217;s too early to say with any weight to it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He also told reporters that the team does not want to push Matsui, an important piece to the bullpen, for the games in South Korea. Shildt praised Matsui&#8217;s honesty regarding his health and revealed that the team will rely on feedback from the pitcher when making their decision.<\/p>\n<p>When talking to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/sports\/padres\/story\/2024-03-05\/padres-yuki-matsui-back-injury-brad-miller-signed-bench-competition-eguy-rosario-tyler-wade\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the San Diego Union-Tribune<\/a> after the bullpen session on Tuesday, Matsui seemed to be on the same page as Shildt.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;This was my first bullpen after I got (through) rehab, and I felt good,&#8221; Matsui said. &#8220;But I need to go out there and throw 100 percent. I just want to see how I feel [on Wednesday] and how the body responds.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Matsui has pitched in just one game this spring, but he looked electric in it. The 28-year-old struck out the side against the Dodgers on just 9 pitches.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Yuki Matsui needed just 9 pitches to strikeout the side in his Spring Training debut ?<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ri3bwJxQQX\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/ri3bwJxQQX<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chris Clegg (@RotoClegg) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RotoClegg\/status\/1760791773557793278?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 22, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>If Yuki Matsui misses Opening Day or more, more responsibility will fall on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/suarero01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert Suarez<\/a> while pitchers like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/peralwa01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wandy Peralta<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wilsost02.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steven Wilson<\/a> will have to pick up some slack as well.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The San Diego Padres signed Japanese lefty Yuki Matsui to a five-year deal this winter to anchor its bullpen. However, manager Mike Shildt provided reporters with a potentially alarming update regarding Matsui&#8217;s Opening Day status. Matsui reported back discomfort in late February and stopped throwing for about a week after an MRI revealed inflammation. He [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4683,"featured_media":67976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,1071,35],"tags":[2457,69,94,6448,6452,5568],"class_list":["post-67967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-padres","category-mlb","category-news","tag-mike-shildt","tag-mlb","tag-nl-west","tag-robert-suarez","tag-steven-wilson","tag-wandy-peralta"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4683"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}