Tag: Injuries

Strasburg’s progress moving along

Catch every Stephen Strasburg outing in 2012 with MLB Extra Innings on DIRECT TV.

With everyone seeming to be going on the DL these days, it’s nice to hear about someone making some progress.  Stephen Strasburg has been doing well since his TJ surgery and now is beginning to throw curveballs in practice says The Sporting News.

Indeed, he has been throwing fastballs at “full speed” so things are looking up.  It may not be long before the Nat’s schedule a minor league rehab assignment.  Still, it’s still questionable whether he will see major league action this year.

Some question whether Strasburg’s rehab has been moving TOO quickly and if there’s been enough thought put into whether he should change his mechanics due to the Tommy John surgery.

For Strasburg’s part though, it appears that he is handling everything calmly and as maturely as a 23-year old can.

Fireworks spark Encarnacion injury

Sounds like Blue Jay Edwin Encarnacion suffered a facial injury in a fireworks accident over the New Year’s holiday down in the D.R.

Encarnacion suffered first- and second-degree burns in the forehead and the right side of his face when a rocket firecracker hit him in the jaw and exploded near his mouth while celebrating with family in his home of La Romana.

Every off season, it seems there is one freak accident that affects a major league ballplayer.  1999 Moises Alou, anyone?  In Encarnacion’s case it doesn’t seem too serious, though. 

Hopefully, it won’t mess with his pretty face.  Other than that, it doesn’t sound like it will affect his baseball playing abilities and he won’t require surgery.  The 27 year old will be back as new by spring training.

Prior finished?

The San Diego Padres gave Mark Prior his walking papers.  After a last failed rehab stint, The Prior Experiment is over.  Finally.

I’ve never been a real Prior fan.  Even when he was with the Cubs, he never thrilled me.  His lack of fire for the game not to mention his continual trips to the disabled list didn’t endear me to him. 

Back in the day, many non-Cub fans would lump Prior in with Kerry Wood.  Both were talented pitchers with potential but were prone to injury. In my mind, the similarities stopped there.  Wood played with much more passion and identified with the team.  (Wood had another thing going for him too.  He was a favorite of GM Jim Hendry).

So when there were rumblings a few years back of a Prior trade (one rumor had him going to the Orioles for Miguel Tejada), I was all for it.  A lot of my friends thought I was nuts but all I saw was a pitcher who had one great year in 2003 and hadn’t backed it up since.  I was ready for a change. 

Prior got a lot of media press and attention from the fans after his 2003 season but all told, he just won 18 games in the next three seasons. 

Bitter?  Not much.

Prior got his chance with the Padres. It just wasn’t going happen.   Will another team take a chance on him?  I highly doubt it. 

Personal note to Cubs management:  Don’t Think About It!

Does Triple-A Cub catcher Robinson have a chance to make it to the bigs soon?

I’m trying to find a silver lining in the dark cloud that surrounds the catcher situation in the Cubs’ clubhouse.  Piniella’s quote, "We’re not scared of using Fox.", does not inspire confidence. 

If there is indeed a silver lining, it would be that perhaps it might give Triple-A Chris Robinson a shot at the majors. 

Robinson, who plays for the Iowa Cubs and hails from my alum, the University of Illinois, would certainly be qualified.  He just was named to the PCL All-Star team and is hitting the ball well (.317).  Robbie is known as a very good defensive catcher. 

I’ve seen Robinson play.  Yes, he can hit (not a lot of HR but plenty of gap power) but what I was impressed with in his college days was his leadership skills, how he took charge of a game and how he handled the pitchers. 

And the Cubs certainly could use a catcher like that at least in the interim while Soto is on the DL however long THAT will be.

Bleacher Nation has some thoughts on the Cubs’ catcher situation.  Their coming away with the idea that the Cubs are probably going to look elsewhere to solve their backstop problems in the meantime.

But Robinson was always noted as a defensive catcher, and he just happens to be hitting this year. Certainly the Cubs aren’t expecting a great deal of offense out of a backup catcher (see the current starter, Koyie Hill), so why the diss of Robinson? It’s really hard to figure.

Perhaps the answer is that the Cubs aren’t just looking for a temporary backup catcher. Maybe they’re hoping to land a temporary starting catcher who can become a backup when Soto returns. That would explain the looking around, though it, too, would be a bit strange given Hill’s excellent handling of the staff, if not excellent hitting.

Time will tell.  Most importantly, we’ll need to find just how bad Soto’s oblique strain really is and how long he’ll be out for.  No doubt, those who really need to know, probably already have a good idea. 

And more than likely, Robbie will get some more time to season in Triple-A before Chicago decides what to do with him.

Injuries abound early in 2009

Every year it’s the same but more.  Earlier and earlier, injuries are taking their toll on the players.  Reading the baseball news is like a who’s who in the injury report.  Santana, Wood, Bonderman, the list goes on…

Now we hear Boof Bonser is out for 2009. 

Milton Bradley barely made it out of the dugout in the first game before coming out because of tightness in his quad.  (To add insult to injury, Mark DeRosa is off to a good start, with a homerun under his belt).

Granted, some of these are not serious and for the most part precautionary moves to prevent something that would impact their teams down the road.  That said, playing these kind of games this early in the (pre-) season doesn’t bode well for any (ok, most) teams who have to deal with this.

Query:  How much does steroids (or maybe, the withdrawal of steroids) have to do with increase of injuries in the MLB right now?