Collateral Damage Daily for June 19

Not much day to day stuff to talk about, so straight to the transactions.

Additions

• The Cubs haven’t had much go right for them so far this year, and it got a bit worse when Ryan Dempster, their leading pitcher, had to be placed on the DL because of tightness in his right latissimus dorsi muscle. A lot of injuries to pitchers include a decline in performance, but Dempster is the proud owner of a 22-inning scoreless streak. Dempster actually reports that the he first felt tightness three starts ago but still managed to put together his scoreless streak. This has catapulted him to 16th overall in PVORP. The fact that he has been able to pitch effectively with this is a good sign that he probably won’t spend a significant amount of time on the DL. The range for non-surgical latissimus injuries that end up on the DL range from as little as 15 days to well over 100 days. The average is around 50 games, but I expect that he will be back before that. Geovany Soto was activated from the DL in a corresponding move.
• Chris Getz wasn’t able to stay healthy for too long and was placed back on the 15-day DL with a strain to his lower left leg. He was trying to chase down a Carlos Beltran single up the middle when he planted and immediately started favoring it. Doctors are calling it a “lateral” leg strain, suggesting it is most likely an injury to the peroneal muscles. These muscles help stabilize the ankle from twisting in and assist other muscles bringing the foot back and pushing down. The tendons are held in place with tissues called retinaculum, and these can be torn. We should find out more after further testing.

Subtractions

• As expected, Scott Rolen was activated from the 15-day DL yesterday. He missed 37 days as a result of his shoulder strain, but it still has to be encouraging given how much trouble his shoulder has given him previously. Moving forward, he probably won’t be starting every night. Kristopher Negron was sent down to make room for Rolen.
• Geovany Soto was activated from the 15-day DL following his May 18 knee surgery for a torn meniscus. He wasn’t hitting well prior to the surgery, but it’s hard to put all of his troubles on the meniscus. Soto will be the primary catcher, so Welington Castillo was optioned to the Iowa Cubs.
• Bobby Wilson was activated 13 days after being placed on the 7-day disabled list for concussions. This is just a few days short of the average of 16 days lost for catchers, and he was slotted back in to the starting lineup immediately. Hank Conger was optioned to Salt Lake to make room for Wilson.