Collateral Damage Daily for April 19

While Tuesday was a slow day for transactions, the pace picked up quickly on Wednesday. Three players were placed on the disabled list with abdominal or upper extremity injuries, while no players were removed from the disabled list. It already seems like we are on pace to break another record for DL moves. With that being said, let’s take a look at those newest additions.

Additions

• Geoff Blum strained his left oblique during batting practice on Tuesday and had to be placed on the disabled list Wednesday. Oblique injuries have been diagnosed more often than in years past, but once healed they tend to do all right. Blum will now take his requisite 15 days of recovery before the Diamondbacks can activate him. A.J. Pollock was brought up from the minors to take his place.
• The Diamondbacks also placed Chris Young on the disabled list Wednesday. Young injured his shoulder when he crashed into a padded wall on Tuesday night while making a catch. He was diagnosed with a severe contusion and a small tear in the ligament. After crashing into the wall, he grabbed his collarbone and the top of his shoulder, an almost universal sign that he separated his shoulder and did not dislocate the ball-and-socket joint. According to our injury database, these injuries have kept players out for over three months, but there is no word on how long Young will be out at this point. We should have a much better idea in another week.
• Jeff Karstens felt a lot of soreness in his shoulder on Tuesday, so much so he had to leave his start after one inning. The team placed him on the disabled list on Wednesday because it was fairly apparent that an extra day of rest wouldn’t resolve matters. It’s true that Karstens has not been on the disabled list because of shoulder issues before, but he has missed time because of it. He missed over 44 days without being officially placed on the disabled list because of shoulder soreness over the last few years, so this is a bit of a recurrent problem for Karstens. Brad Lincoln was brought up to take Karstens’ place. While “soreness” is innocuous-sounding enough, the recurrent nature leads me to believe that he will be out much longer than the minimum.