Don’t feel too jinxed Padres fans. The Friars are not the only N.L. West team facing the loss of key pieces to their opening day roster. In the past 3 days the Giants, Dodgers, and Diamondbacks all learned about injuries to important projected starters in their lineups.
First, the Dodgers watched their shortstop Hanley Ramirez dive for a ball playing third base in the championship game of the WBC for the Domincan team, and injure his right thumb. The injury turned out to be a torn ligament requiring surgery which he had today (image below), and is expected to miss at least 8 weeks.
Next, the Giants revealed that the Kung-Fu Panda, Pablo Sandoval has bone spurs in his elbow and an aggravated ulnar nerve inhibiting him from throwing. The Giants training staff is hopeful that their third baseman and three hole hitter will be ready by opening day, but there are no guarantees with elbow nerves, and no further guarantees that it won’t be an on going issue for the remainder of the season. I know how nagging those elbow spurs can be, as I have one left over from my pitching days that still likes to act up once in a while.
Finally, the Diamondbacks suffered a blow when an MRI revealed a tear in the fibers around the ulnar collateral ligament in the left elbow of their rookie of the year candidate, center fielder, and lead-off hitter Adam Eaton. It has been labeled a strained elbow, and the snakes will be without his services for a minimum of 6 weeks, and possibly up to 2 months.
All of a sudden maybe Chase Headley’s broken thumb, which hopefully only costs him a couple of weeks of the regular season, may not be looking so bad.
The last week of spring training and the first week of the season often reveal several other health surprises as players are desperately hanging on and hiding injuries to make opening day rosters, and also sometimes suspiciously revealing them if they sense they are on the chopping block and it can prevent being sent down by milking some MLB DL time. The Padres are hoping they don’t have any more surprises and that they can be back to full force before the rest of the division.
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Dodger shortstop Hanley Ramirez shared this picture of himself after coming out of surgery today to repair a torn ligament in is thumb.
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