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Price will start year on disabled list

The Associated Press

Boston Red Sox left-hander David Price is likely to start the season on the disabled list because of a sore elbow.

Starting the second season of a $217 million, seven-year contract, Price has not yet appeared in an exhibition game.

“I think at this point, yeah, it would be hard to see him ready to go at the start of the season,” manager John Farrell said Tuesday at Boston’s camp in Fort Myers, Florida. “We really won’t have any kind of idea until he gets on the mound the first time and right now, I don’t know when that’s going to be.”

The AL East champions had hoped for a formidable rotation headed by Price, Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello and Chris Sale, acquired in December from the Chicago White Sox.

Price, the 2012 AL Cy Young Award winner with Tampa Bay, was 17-9 with a 3.99 ERA last year. He felt discomfort in his left elbow following a two-inning simulated game on Feb. 28.

Drs. James Andrews and Neal ElAttrache said Price would not need surgery or an injection but should take anti-inflammatory medication and rest his arm. Price started throwing on Saturday, making 25 tosses into a net, and has thrown each day since.

“Played catch again today as he’s been the last three days,” Farrell said. “And everyone’s going to want to know what’s the next step, what’s the next phase. I will tell you, this is going to be dependent upon how David goes through the morning rehab, and the exercises that he goes through, what he feels he’s capable of that day within reason.”

Colorado Rockies

Colorado starting catcher Tom Murphy will miss four to six weeks with a hairline fracture in his right forearm.

Manager Bud Black said Murphy broke his arm Saturday in a game against the Cubs when he was hit by Anthony Rizzo’s bat while throwing to second base on a steal attempt.

Murphy is in a splint but won’t need surgery, Black said.

Murphy joins a long list of Rockies sidelined during spring training. First baseman Ian Desmond is set for surgery on his broken left hand this week and will miss several weeks. Right-hander Chad Bettis is undergoing chemotherapy and is out indefinitely after discovering a recurrence of his testicular cancer during a routine follow-up. Left-hander Chris Rusin has an oblique injury and outfielder David Dahl has injured ribs.

With Murphy out, the Rockies will turn to Tony Wolters and Dustin Garneau at catcher, although Black said he’d consider other options.

Los Angeles Angels

SURPRISE, Ariz. — Matt Shoemaker pitched without fear Tuesday.

The Los Angeles Angels right-hander retired the first 11 Kansas City hitters he faced before a double by Lorenzo Cain with two outs in the fourth inning. The Royals won 8-4.

Shoemaker would have better reason than most to be nervous on the mound. In his final start last season, Sept. 4 in Seattle, a 105 mph line drive by Kyle Seager struck the pitcher just above the right ear.

Shoemaker was able to walk off the field, but he required emergency surgery after tests revealed a skull fracture and bleeding in his brain.

Shoemaker said he has felt “pretty normal” when balls are hit up the middle in spring training.

“Anytime, whether you’ve been hit before or not, I feel like when a ball comes back toward you, you flinch,” Shoemaker said.

He is trying out a couple of protective plates in his hat this spring.

“Messing with both of them, seeing which one I like,” he said.

Orioles-Nationals

NEW YORK — An appeals court hearing in the long-running television dispute between the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals has been postponed because of snow.

The Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court in Manhattan had been scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday. The rescheduled date hasn’t been set.

New York Supreme Court Justice Lawrence K. Marks in November 2015 threw out an arbitration decision that said the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, which is controlled by the Orioles, owes the Nationals about $298 million for the team’s 2012-16 television rights.

MASN was established in March 2005 after the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington and became the Nationals, moving into what had been Baltimore’s exclusive broadcast territory since 1972. The Orioles were given a supermajority partnership interest in MASN, and when the parties couldn’t agree on a rights fee for 2012-16, they appeared in April 2012 before baseball’s three-man Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee, as required in the MASN agreement.

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