Collateral Damage Daily for May 3

The Red Sox have to be closing in on some record with the number of moves to the disabled list. By the number of injuries that have some overuse component to them, we may be starting to enter that period where the body is having trouble adjusting to the rigors of the season. Mat Gamel suffered an acute injury when he popped his ACL a few days ago while chasing after a foul ball. We will have to see if the overuse component injuries for position players like Kevin Youkilis and Jim Thome continue to increase.

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• Mat Gamel tore the ACL in his right knee when he went crashing into the wall near the first-base stands on Tuesday and will be placed on the disabled list shortly. He will have surgery in the future and, because it is still somewhat early, he has a chance of being ready for the playoffs. It will be pushing it for sure, especially since Gamel will need to do a lot of twisting, cutting, and pivoting on the knee in order to play baseball. The Brewers called up Brooks Conrad, who will split time with Travis Ishikawa. Milwaukee might consider moving Corey Hart to first base since he did play the position on a very limited basis before.
• Kevin Youkilis joins the disabled list parade with a strained lower back. This move was retroactive to April 29, so he will be eligible to return on May 14. Youkilis describes the injury as an inflamed joint in his lower back, and one injury could be feeding the other. Youkilis is no stranger to being hurt, but it’s harder to predict how long he will be out. Lower back strains and joint inflammation can be notoriously slow, but it wouldn’t surprise us to find something going on with the discs. It’s common for major-league player to have some bulging in their discs, but most often they are asymptomatic. Will Middlebrooks was called up from the minors to split time at third base.
• Jim Thome was also placed on the DL retroactive to April 29 with a strained lower back. The Phillies were trying to rest Thome to see if there was any improvement for his sore back, but there just was not enough to allow Thome to get back out on the field and perform. The Phillies called up catcher Erik Kratz. Manager Charlie Manuel feels that Thome could get more at-bats to get his timing down in extended spring training.
• Cory Luebke was placed on the disabled list with a strained left elbow he suffered in his last start on Friday against San Francisco. Arguably the best starting pitcher for the Padres at the moment, Luebke will be replaced by Jeff Suppan, at least in the short-term. Luebke doesn’t have a long history of elbow issues, and it doesn’t sound like it has been building up since spring training, which is a good sign. The Padres hope it is just a little inflammation and he will be back near the minimum, but they will do more tests.
• Rhiner Cruz was placed on the DL retroactive to April 24. Cruz sprained his right ankle back almost 10 days ago, on April 23, but still feels soreness in the ankle. The Astros do not want to have him try to pitch through the pain. Enerio Del Rosario was brought up to take Cruz’s place.