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June 1, 2009

Under The Knife

Treading Water

by Will Carroll

Grady Sizemore (15 DXL)
Victor Martinez (3 DXL)
Travis Hafner (30 DXL)
It seems as if this year, aside from hip injuries, injury stacks are the trend. Teams are either healthy or unhealthy, but when the injuries do come they've been happening all at once. Last week it was the Mets and Rays, and this week it's the Indians dealing with a bunch of issues. The biggest, but perhaps least serious, is the elbow injury that's pushed Sizemore to the DL. His elbow isn't significantly hurt, but the medical staff couldn't get ahead of the inflammation. The Indians aren't saying what the root cause is, though all signs point to some kind of bursa-related issue. Sizemore could hit, but he couldn't throw, and his bat control was affected enough that the team felt that a couple of weeks off to get him healthy was better than having him continue to fight through the injury while DHing. Sources tell me that the team doesn't expect him to miss more than the minimum fifteen days.

Also factoring into that decision was the imminent return of Hafner. While he'll take back the DH slot, he's not quite back to the healthy state that the team was hoping for. Hafner's shoulder and back are still sore, but his rehab clock runs out on Wednesday. That's going to force them to bring him back or to lose him for another 15 days, so look for the team to use him, although sparingly. Given his production at Triple-A, it's hard to imagine how he'd get back up to his production level from April, which was turning into a solid comeback for the slugger. Worse, the Indians are also going to be without Martinez for a few days. He took a foul ball off of his knee, which was very painful. He's likely to play some first base and DH for a couple of days, made possible by Sizemore's DL move. The team called up a backup catcher, giving Eric Wedge a little more in-game flexibility, but how the Indians deal with this rash of injuries will go a long way in determining whether or not the team can get back into the race. Their flexibility, especially with Mark DeRosa in place, helps that cause.

John Smoltz (70 DXL)
While Tom Glavine is hoping to make it back to the Braves, his former teammate is hoping that he'll be ready to make his first start somewhere other than for the Braves. Things are going well for Smoltz—especially in relation to the struggling Glavine—and his second rehab start has to have the Red Sox both happy and working the phones. It's impossible to have too much pitching, but the Sox are going to have just that. Their "Frankenstein" fifth-starter pitchers—an expected combo of Brad Penny in the first half, Smoltz in the second half, and Clay Buchholz backstopping them both—are all healthy and effective at the same time. Smoltz made a second solid rehab start in A-ball to bookend an appearance in Double-A; it's his next start that will be the real test, as he'll move up to Triple-A Pawtucket, where he's hoping he'll make only one more start before heading to Boston. With the decisions that will need to be made, he'll really need to excel to force the team's hand.

Josh Hamilton (35 DXL)
If Rangers fans are wondering if it's déjà vu, it is. Many of the symptoms and facts surrounding Hamilton's groin injury are beginning to sound like Ian Kinsler's season-ending sports hernia from last season. Same symptoms, same doctor, but due to the timing, at least it doesn't involve the same downside. Even if forced to have surgery, Hamilton would miss somewhere between four and six weeks. This is the same as it was with Kinsler, but since the second baseman's injury happened late in the year last season, it was hung with the "season-ending" tag. We'll know more after Hamilton has some imaging done today. If it is indeed a sports hernia, they'll likely head to surgery quickly to get him back on the field as soon as possible. The Rangers have plenty of outfield depth to cover for Hamilton's absence.

Joey Votto (30 DXL)
Khalil Greene (30 DXL)
I won't get all personal here, but UTK exists in large part because of panic attacks. That makes me feel for Votto and Greene as they go through different situations. Votto's "stress-related issues" are vague, but in a day and age where mental health doesn't carry the stigma that it once did, it's good that both are able to get the care they need without having to face the kinds of issues or taunting that players of the past did. Greene's problems are a little more clear and disturbing, with several sources telling harrowing tales of his poor coping mechanisms. The refrain of "he plays because he can, not because he wants to" seems to be one of the biggest factors, so we'll have to see how this plays out. There's no timeline on either player, but teams have done a great job over the past decade of getting employee assistance plans, including mental health and addiction help, in place. The DXL marks here are just guesses.