95.1 The Bee

Texas Rangers general manager Chris Young told reporters Wednesday that shortstop Corey Seager will miss at least four weeks after being diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain of his left hamstring. Seager suffered the injury while running to second base on a double in Tuesday’s victory over Kansas City, grabbing at his left hamstring as he reached second base and immediately left the game.

The Rangers placed Seager on the 10-day injured list and activated outfielder Leodys Taveras from the IL in a corresponding roster move before Wednesday’s game against the Kansas City Royals. Josh Smith was started in place of Seager at shortstop and batted second in Texas’ starting lineup Wednesday.

Seager missed about 2½ months of the 2021 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers with a fractured right hand after getting hit by a pitch. He spent nearly a month on the IL in 2019 with a left hamstring strain and was limited to only 26 games in 2018 because of right elbow surgery.  Seager, a three-time All-Star in the second year of a $325 million, 10-year contract with the Rangers, is batting .359 this season. He played 151 games in his debut season with the Rangers last year.

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New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected in the first inning during the Yankees matchup against the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday, following an argument with umpires over a play that was not initially reviewed by instant replay.

Cleveland had runners at second and third with one out when Josh Naylor hit a looper to center field that Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks appeared to catch with a sliding grab. Hicks then threw to second for a force-out and an apparent inning-ending double play. After both teams left the field, however, a replay was shown on the giant left-field scoreboard of Hicks failing to make the catch.

While it wasn’t immediately clear if Guardians manager Terry Francona had requested a challenge in the allotted 15 seconds, crew chief Larry Vanover huddled with the umpires for several minutes in the middle of the infield and first spoke to Francona, who appeared to be satisfied with what he was told.  Boone then came onto the field, obviously upset because the Guardians had taken so long to request the challenge. Boone spent several minutes pleading his case after the Yankees appeared to end the first with a double play. Boone left the field at least three times before returning to get more clarity on the play. After an obviously hostile and heated exchange, Boone was thrown out for the first time this season; and the 27th time in his career.

After the nearly 10-minute interruption, the umpires ruled that Naylor’s ball dropped in for a base hit and an RBI. Guardians first baseman Josh Bell hit an RBI single to give Cleveland a 2-0 lead when play finally resumed; however, the Yankees ultimately won the game with a final score of 4-3.

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According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Atlanta Falcons have acquiring cornerback Jeff Okudah in a trade with the Detroit Lions. ESPN’s Adam Schefter later tweeted that Detroit is receiving a 2023 fifth-round pick in exchange for Okudah.

The 24 -year-old Okudah was the No. 3 pick in the 2020 draft and had spent the past three seasons in Detroit. Okudah dealt with injuries in his first two season, playing in just nine games as a rookie while dealing with a core muscle injury, In 2021, Okudah ruptured his achilles during Week 1, causing him to miss the rest of the season. Last season, a healthy Okudah started in 15 of the team’s 17 games, totaling 73 tackles and one interception for the improved Lions defense.

Okudah now joins Atlanta with a cornerback room including A.J. Terrell and veteran Casey Hayward. The Falcons have the opportunity to pick up Okudah fifth-year option, or to let Okudah play on the final year of his contract in 2023.

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As first reported by ESPN‘s Jenna Laine, Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ linebacker Devin White has requested a trade. ESPN‘s Adam Schefter tweeted on Tuesday that “Bucs’ Pro Bowl LB Devin White has in fact requested a trade, as @JennaLaineESPN reported. Bucs do not want to trade him, but he wants to be traded as he is coming up on his fifth-year option worth $11.7 million, which the team already picked up.”

Sources familiar with the story told ESPN that White has grown increasingly frustrated with the team and is ‘fed up,’ but did not provide specifics on the root cause of White’s frustration, other than saying he has become very unhappy in his current situation. Another source told ESPN that White’s frustrations stem from negotiations over a new contract.

White, the fifth pick in the 2019 NFL draft, played a key role in the Bucs’ Super Bowl LV run in 2020 and has spent each of the past four seasons with the team. In those years, White has played in 62 total games and recorded 453 total tackles and 20 1/2 sacks, and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2021.

The Bucs secured White’s counterpart, veteran linebacker Lavonte David, to a one-year contract to keep the pair together at least one more year. A month ago, White posted a series of cryptic messages to his Instagram stories, saying “4 year[s] went by fast” and “thank ya,” along with a pirate flag and a  emoji. He then included a photograph with the sign, “God isn’t asking you to figure it out. He’s asking you to trust that he already has.” White later clarified the posts, tweeting, “Reflecting on how fast my first four years went by, def a thanks to Bucs fans ‘good & mean ones lol’ The upside is scary.”

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