Astros' Yulieski Gurriel: To have hand surgery
Gurriel will have surgery Thursday to remove the hook of the hamate bone in his left hand and is without a timetable to return, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.
Gurriel was scratched earlier in the week with discomfort, and now it turns out he will miss significant time due to this procedure. It seems inevitable that he opens the year on the 10-day disabled list. Even after trading away Colin Moran, the Astros have a lot of corner-infield depth. In addition to Marwin Gonzalez, who is a lock to make the 25-man roster, Tyler White, A.J. Reed and J.D. Davis are all big-league ready and can all handle first base, so at least one of them figures to break camp in the majors while Gurriel recovers. He will still need to serve a five-game suspension for offensive actions during the postseason, so he will not be able to return to game action immediately after getting activated from the disabled list.
