Devon Travis is dealing with another injury

As much as it pains me to say it, this is the least surprising news of spring training thus far. Devon Travis is reportedly dealing with left knee inflammation and will be re-evaluated on Tuesday.

The story of Travis’ career can be defined by injuries. I hate calling a player “injury prone” because it seems fairly arbitrary and there’s a lot of randomness and bad luck behind injuries, but if there ever was anyone who was injury prone, it would be him.

Travis enjoyed a breakout season with the Blue Jays in 2015 after being acquired in a one-for-one swap for Anthony Gose, but his excellent season got cut short due to a shoulder injury. Travis wasn’t ready for the beginning of the 2016 season, but when he finally returned in May, he was a key catalyst in bringing a stagnant offence to life. During Toronto’s ALDS series against the Rangers, Travis suffered yet another injury and wasn’t placed on the ALCS roster.

The past two seasons have been a disaster for Travis, to say the least. He got off to a hot start in 2017 (setting the franchise record for extra-base hits in a month) and appeared to have regained form. But, again, an injury derailed his season. It appeared to be minor, but Travis would end up missing the whole season. In 2018, Travis was relatively healthy, but he wasn’t effective at the plate, slashing a .232/.275/.381 line.

And here we are again. Travis is dealing with inflammation in his left knee, which isn’t the same knee that he had difficulty with before. It doesn’t sound serious, based on Charlie Montoyo’s words, but, given what we’ve seen in the past, I’m not going to let myself be overly optimistic.

It’s just a sad thing to see. Travis has put in all the world he possibly can to be an effective player but he simply can’t catch a break. So many times in this guy’s career has an injury just derailed him at the worst possible time. Unfortunately, given his age and the composition of the roster, if this is another serious issue, it might end his career with the Blue Jays. I’m certainly rooting for the guy, but it’s just hard to envision him being a healthy, effective everyday player given what we’ve seen over the past four years.