MLB report: Rangers’ Josh Hamilton might need knee surgery

Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton went to Houston on Sunday, facing the possibility of another knee surgery in his bid to return to the majors.

Hamilton will be examined Monday by Dr. Walt Lowe, who performed reconstructive surgery on the former AL MVP’s left knee last June.

The Rangers acknowledge Hamilton might require arthroscopic knee surgery. If he does, Hamilton would likely be out four to six weeks and then need a minor league rehab assignment.

“We’ll know once Dr. Lowe sees him,” said Mike Daly, the Rangers’ assistant general manager. “Josh felt and Dr. Lowe felt that he needed to go back down and get an evaluation.”

Hamilton was examined by Lowe in Houston last Wednesday after his knee flared up in running drills. He was given a platelet-rich plasma injection to alleviate the discomfort.

Hamilton returned to camp on Thursday and he experienced discomfort after riding a stationary bike for two days.

The 35-year-old Hamilton played just one game in the minors last season while recovering. He was medically cleared in December and signed a minor league contract with Texas.

Bourn breaks a finger

Michael Bourn had a major setback in his attempt to make the Baltimore Orioles, breaking a finger while playing catch with a football during a team workout.

Orioles Manager Buck Showalter said Saturday that Bourn will miss about four weeks.

The 34-year-old outfielder injured his right ring finger Friday after signing a minor league contract with the team Monday.

If added to the 40-man roster, Bourn will make $2 million.

Bourn spent the final month of the 2016 season with Baltimore. Also, the Orioles signed infielder Paul Janish to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training, the third straight year the Orioles brought in Janish during spring training. He appeared in 14 games for Baltimore in each of the last two seasons.

Etc.

Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis has a rotator cuff strain and will stop throwing for a couple days. Kipnis got a cortisone shot on Saturday, and Manager Terry Francona didn’t sound very worried about the situation. “If it was during the season we wouldn’t do anything,” Francona said before Sunday’s spring game against the Chicago Cubs in Mesa. …

Tony Clark, the head of the baseball players’ union says “that page has been turned” in the spat regarding New York Yankees President Randy Levine and what he said about reliever Dellin Betances’ agents. Levine had called Betances a victim of “over-the-top demands based on very little sense of reality” by his representatives at an arbitration hearing on Feb 18. The Yankees beat Betances in the case, and he will be paid $3 million rather than his $5 million request.