Injury News & Analysis - June 29, 2008
Mark Mulder
Mulder came off of the DL but sent to bullpen as their left handed specialist for the immediate time being. He has basically lost the last two seasons due to Expect nothing from him fantasy wise because he’s going to be a left-handed specialist.
Jason Isringhausen
Isringhausen went to DL (or likely will) because of feeling a pop in his knee while stretching in the dugout on Thursday. He said that he was told he has a sprained ligament, a strained tendon and a strain of the knee capsule. Surprisingly, the team MD says this will not require a DL stint. Honestly, I don’t know how I feel about this. That is a lot of things to be injured and not go on the DL even if they were all mild. Every joint and body part has to have everything working in concert in order for it to function properly. If there is one little hitch in that whole mechanism, it’ll likely cause damage someplace else. If he doesn’t take the time off and go on the DL, I expect that he will have tendinitis somewhere in the next 3-4 weeks.
Hideki Matsui
Hideki Matsui went to the DL with a sore left knee but there is no detail as to what exactly is sore in his knee. They instead say that surgery is a possibility and that he has had the knee drained again on the 27th. This is interesting in that it tells me there is something going on inside the knee joint itself and is most likely some sort of cartilage damage, whether it be joint cartilage or meniscus I couldn’t tell ya. Either way if they do a scope, minimum 3 weeks on the DL and that’s if he heals like superman so most likely a minimum 4 weeks.
Travis Hafner
Travis Hafner had tests on both shoulders and his right shoulder is about half as strong as his left. This means he was deemed unfit for baseball activities. Supposedly it’s about 15% better than 2 weeks ago but that isn’t nearly good enough to play. This is not good news at all. You can’t count on him for at least another month in my opinion as he’s had this long to rehab it to no avail.
Chipper Jones
Chipper Jones couldn’t start at DH and said he’s only able to run at about 50% right now. This is not good news for Braves Fans or my fantasy baseball team. The best thing for him right now is to go on the 15-day DL and take care of it. One of the problems is that he is what I like to say “stupid tough” meaning that he’s willing to play through anything even if it causes more damage. An injury of his nature usually takes 3-6 weeks to heal in normal rehabilitation sense. By playing on it, pinch-hitting, it’s going to elongate his rehab time. I would not be surprised if this bothers him into late July – early August. This doesn’t mean he won’t be playing; just that it’ll bother him and may hamper his production slightly.
Ryan Church
Ryan Church played SS for the second game in a rehab start on Friday. He’ll be activated on Sunday and hit 6th. Concussions are close to the last frontier in Sports Medicine because of the extreme complexities associated with the brain. It’s one of the few tissues that when injured, no one is able to give definitive diagnosis as to when you can return to play. Since he’s been out since June 6th, and the majority of that time doing no physical exercises, it’ likely going to take him a few games in order to get back to full speed.
Matt Albers
Matt Albers has a torn labrum, and he hasn’t chosen whether he will opt for surgery or choose rehab. Labral surgeries while improved are by no means a guarantee that he will pitch again effectively so I would assume he’ll try rehabbing at first. We haven’t been told where in the shoulder or what type of tear it is but either way he’ll basically be useless in fantasy terms for this year. If he chooses the rehab route I would begin to expect him back in mid-August.
Brad Penny
Brad Penny still isn’t throwing a simulated game as he is still feeling discomfort but he will throw on the side. I expect that he will be back sometime next week and I expect some issues with control when he returns as he’ll struggle to maintain that arm slot.
Rafael Furcal
Rafael Furcal hopefully can start a rehab assignment this week,Which will be music to everyone’s ears. Bulging discs are tricky, in that they could be feeling great and then they’ll flare up again and put you on the shelf. They are very rarely operated on, unless they are putting pressure on the spinal column itself, which wasn’t the case here. Expect a decrease in his power numbers and a little hesitancy at first on the basepaths. Be warned though that it can flare up again with one swing of the bat so you may want to protect your team against this.
Paul Konerko
Paul Konerko took batting practice on Saturday. He did have some minor discomfort but everyone is still fine with it as it is to be expected. Personally, whenever I was treating an oblique injury there was never going to be a discussion about returning to play until everything felt perfect the day after. The oblique have a strong tendency to re-injure mostly due to the action of the muscle. He still has to field and throw before being cleared but it’s looking like a June 30th return is unlikely. I expect he will be activated around July 3rd or 4th.
Albert Pujols
Albert Pujols returns and promptly goes 4-4. He’s a cyborg, simple as that.
Carlos Zambrano
Carlos Zambrano threw off flat ground on Thursday and is scheduled for a bullpen session on Sunday.
Lastings Milledge
Lastings Milledge was placed on the DL with a strained right groin. Sometimes these things can linger but based on the information that we have right now, I don’t think that will be the case.
Dan Uggla
Dan Uggla left Saturday’s game with a sprained left ankle, although the x-rays are negative. He described it as a mild sprain, even though he had crutches and a soft cast on after the game. Until we hear more, we have to assume this is a lateral ankle sprain which is a good thing. Lateral ankle sprains can be braced much more easily than medial or high ankle sprain and tend to heal fast as well. The crutches and soft cast are a normal route as I’m sure all of that is just to limit the swelling and take some pressure off of the ankle for the immediate time being. If it is a mild sprain (which by all accounts is what it sounds like) then he’ll likely be out of the lineup for a couple of days and could possibly end up on the DL for the minimum.
Magglio Ordonez
Magglio Ordonez suffered an Oblique Spasm on Saturday and is listed as day-to-day. Hopefully that’s all it is, but many times what feels like an oblique spasm is actually a very minor strain that requires several days off.
