Collateral Damage Daily for July 17

Jose Bautista injured his left wrist on a long foul ball in the eighth inning last night. Toronto hasn’t revealed much, probably because he’s going to have more tests done. There are many things that could go wrong on a swing, ranging from torn tendons or cartilage to fractures. No major fracture was seen on x-rays after the game. Anthony Gose was pulled from his minor-league game, and the expectation is that Bautista will need a stint on the DL. … David Ortiz limped around to score on an Adrian Gonzalez home run last night after injuring his right Achilles tendon. Unlike Ryan Howard, it doesn’t look like the Achilles is ruptured, but manager Bobby Valentine expects Ortiz will miss a few days at least. Ortiz will undergo an MRI to assess the damage, which will give a better timeline for his return. … Chris Nelson was admitted to the hospital for an irregular heartbeat yesterday and kept for observation overnight. He’s going to have more tests to figure out what the root cause. … The second MRI for Chad Billingsley confirmed the flexor tendon tendinitis, but he hasn’t been ruled out of his next start yet. It would be a bit of gamble to let a pitcher go out there with a known problem in his elbow, even if it isn’t his ligament.

Brett Anderson threw a 25-pitch live batting practice session on Friday and a three-inning simulated game yesterday. He handled both without any difficulties and is getting very close to starting a rehab assignment.

Additions

• We questioned the story about Joey Votto’s inflammation being caused by a slide back on July 2; we believed that if the injury did occur acutely, it was more likely indicative of a cartilage or tendon injury. Now, we find out that Votto will need surgery to correct a meniscus tear in his knee and will be placed on the DL. Some reports have him out for only two weeks, but it usually takes about 10 days for the incisions to heal. He will more likely be out for three to four weeks, which is still better than the average 80 days for first baseman. The timeline could change based on the outcome of the surgery, because if doctors have to directly repair the torn meniscus instead of trimming out the torn portions, Votto could miss six weeks or more.
• Robert Andino will be placed on the DL with a left shoulder strain. Andino injured himself while diving for a ground ball on Sunday, and x-rays were negative. Andino is expected to miss three to four weeks, which is consistent with the average of 24 days for second basemen.

Subtractions

• Roy Halladay will be activated from the disabled list today after spending the last 50 days recovering from a strained latissimus dorsi muscle. Starting pitchers average 56 days for a strained latissimus, so Halladay was close to the average. He’s going to be on a pitch count today, probably about 85 pitches. Halladay will have to be careful and try not to overthrow or get too much movement on his sinker, because the latissimus dorsi is a prime contributor to the ball’s acceleration. There are few cases of re-injured lats, particularly in the same season.
• Jason Bay is expected to be activated today after a little over a month on the DL. Concussions are unpredictable, and the exact same force can produce different symptoms of varying lengths. Bay recovered faster than his previous concussion.
• Alex Presley was activated from the 7-day disabled list for concussions yesterday and slotted into the leadoff role. With the long recoveries of the likes of Brian Roberts and Justin Morneau skewing the averages, Presley actually finds himself among the vast majority of concussion sufferers who recover in less than 10 days. Once he was able to progress through all of his cognitive and physical activities, the Pirates activated him and optioned Matt Hague to Triple-A Indianapolis.
• Manny Pina was activated from the DL and optioned to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Pina was coming back from meniscus surgery in his right knee, and it took a while. Knee injuries are hard on catchers, and Pina needed to have the meniscus damage repaired rather than trimmed. The new tissue needs to grow into the tear and around the stitches, and that take a few months. Pina needed over four months to recover, but moving forward, he shouldn’t have too much trouble.
• Alexi Ogando was activated from the 15-day DL after spending 35 days on it recovering from a groin strain. Ogando comes in just one day sooner than the average for relief pitchers. There hasn’t been a corresponding roster move announced yet.