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March 22, 2007

Under The Knife

So Excited

by Will Carroll

If there's nothing like a vacation, there's also nothing like a productive day to catch up on things at home. I spent most of the day chained to my laptop and my Bluetooth, talking to sources, reading up on what I'd missed and planning the next week of my coverage. Injuries never stop, and the flow is key to how I cover them. Maybe some people can wait a week to cover things and yes, there's some perspective lost by the daily flow, but this is the way I do things, soaking myself in the injuries and information.

As I head into an action-filled weekend in New York, baseball's heading into the final week of spring training, when injuries can make or break a fight for position, when they alter the plans a front office had for a roster, and when we finally see the rubber meet the road for 2007. Is everyone else as excited about this as I am?

Powered by raw suspense, on to the injuries:

• Here's why you keep six starters: Freddy Garcia struggled for 30 pitches and then left his Florida game today with pain in his biceps. Sources tell me that the pain was nearer the shoulder than the elbow, but "nonspecific." This isn't exactly what it sounds like; a nonspecific injury means that we're looking at an area or multiple possible causes that a differential diagnosis. Most baseball diagnoses are nonspecific, at least in public. You hear "rotator cuff" instead of "infraspinatus" or "elbow" instead of "UCL." Face it--most of you care more about "out six weeks" than what caused it.

  Garcia's struggles and injury seem traumatic, in that he's had no signs of trouble previously. This one will bear watching as the diagnosis and prognosis get more specific.

  It's ironic that the injury comes on the same day that the team announced Jon Lieber was headed to the bullpen. I was all set with a great answer on how moving to the pen might affect Lieber, but that's moot for now and the happy accident of not being able to deal Lieber will help the Phillies if Garcia is out for an extended period.

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