Being at the game last night, I’m way behind on the injury updates. But let’s get caught up…
Rodney
It’s not quite official, but it’s looking like Fernando Rodney might be toast – at least for this season. He is headed to Alabama for a consult with Dr. James Andrews. Given his injury prone past, and the pattern or not being able to stay healthy for two months at a time last year, and the inability to throw without pain right out of the gate this year, it’s all bad news.
Granderson
And some good news for Curtis Granderson who took
live batting practice today. He also ran the bases, which I’m less concerned about. I haven’t seen anything from the team about a return date, but I’m guessing it is next week.
Sheffield
Detroit Tigers Thoughts points to an analysis of Gary Sheffield’s shoulder. Reports of tearing scar tissue don’t sound good, but the results have been impressive the last 3 days. Was it what was needed, or is it a short term gain in exchange for longer term risk?
Robertson
This is brand spanking new, but he left tonight’s game with some lat pain on his throwing side. In the locker room Nate said the plan was for some anti-inflammatory medicine and he doesn’t expect to miss a start at this time.
Verlander
Okay, don’t freak out. He may not be injured at all. But Dave Cameron blogging for Fangraphs notes that
Verlander’s velocity is down significantly and his other stats are moving in the wrong direction as well. I think it’s too soon to call it an injury at this point but it is something to watch.
Leftovers
Bless You Boys delves into Craig Monroe’s quotes about being bitter. Like Ian I can appreciate Monroe’s view point. Yes if he’d played better this wouldn’t have happened and so on and so forth. And to his credit he didn’t slam the organization on the way out or after the fact.
Just wanted to mention that when the Twins lineup was introduced last night, Monroe got a terrific ovation, very classy on the part of the fans.
Buried in the article, New Role Helping Guillen on field from the News, Leyland talks about Clete’s role once Curtis comes back.
“I would say that if he’d be sitting here with no playing time, doing nothing, just being here, ” said Leyland, “that would go against everything we stand for. He needs to play.
“Now if he could be in a platoon situation, would that be enough? It might be.”
Could this be an implication of a potential Jacques Jones move?
I would be in favor of sending him out in favor of Clete and I think others would too. Plus the Triple-A outfield is already pretty crowded so the situation doesn’t work out as well for Clete.
I think it’s absolutely a good idea to have a younger player on the roster, for energy, chemistry, etc. Jacque Jones will probably turn it around and — despite what his production has been thus far — he will probably be somewhat productive if we keep him, at least equally productive to Clete Thomas. If we trade Jones, it’s shouldn’t be based on his production three weeks into the season, but I still think it’s a good idea to trade him anyway. We have an old team. If there are some younger players producing, running, bunting, and adding an different element to the team, that’s huge. I’d say try to package an Inge/Jones trade for some pitching depth and keep Thomas in a platooning situation with Thames.