Collateral Damage Daily for May 9

You can never have too much of a good thing, and in baseball, one of those good things is depth. It’s hard enough for some teams to piece together a starting lineup that doesn’t resemble the Bad News Bears, but when injuries take away some of your best players, everything gets worse. An alternative is taking away a mediocre starter and replace him with someone even worse. Of course, getting one of your top hitters back can be a boon to your offense, if he can remain healthy. We’ll get to see how the Mets and the Nationals fare over the next several weeks and how they respond to the roster changes.

Additions

• Josh Thole was placed on the 7-day disabled list for concussions after getting hit in the head on a play at the plate. Ty Wigginton’s shoulder struck Thole in the face/head on Monday night, and Thole had to leave the game with a headache and dizziness. Thole was still feeling a headache on Tuesday, so the Mets placed him on the DL. Mike Nickeas and Rob Johnson will both receive time behind the plate. Not too many players have been activated from the 7-day DL; the majority of them have been moved over to the 15-day DL. The mechanism of Thole’s concussion, that quick, forceful impact with rotation, tends to lead to more prolonged concussion-related symptoms than getting hit in the head.

Subtractions

• The Nationals have to take the good with the bad, so when Werth had to be placed on the disabled list because of his surgically-repaired forearm, they were at least able to activate Ryan Zimmerman from the DL. Zimmerman was able to make it back in 17 days, but the Nationals were able to stay above .500 at 7-6 in Zimmerman’s absence.
• More big news in the NL East: Cliff Lee will be activated to start today after missing 20 days because of a strained oblique. He is going to be limited to 75 to 80 pitches in his initial start off the DL but will be allowed to slowly work his way back to his normal range. Kyle Kendrick was keeping Lee’s spot warm, but it’s likely Michael Schwimer or Joe Savery will be sent down when Lee is activated.