Today’s MLB injury update, Part 1

March 25, 2008 · Paul Raymond · Jump to comments

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Alright ladies and gentleman, here’s todays part 1 update on various baseball injuries, it’s a long one. This one contains updates on the St Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros.

St Louis Cardinals – Chris Carpenter, Matt Clement, Joel Pineiro, Mark Mulder, Juan Encarnacion. This team has a full laundry list and almost a full rotation hurting one way or another. All of the preceding players have been placed on the 15-day disabled list, all retroactive to March 21st. Here’s the breakdown of when they may return. Carpenter is still recovering from Tommy John surgery. He resumed throwing earlier this month and his looking to make a mid-July return to the rotation. Don’t hold your breathe thou. Clement is still rehabbing from shoulder surgery and should miss the entire month of April, his status in May will all depend on his performance in minor league starts.

Pineiro threw two innings in a minor league game today as he had to take some time for inflammation in his left shoulder. He’ll get three or four more minor league assignments then rejoin the rotation. Mulder is also recovering from shoulder surgery and should miss the month of April as well. He just started facing live hitters today. Now, Encarnacion he has a fractured left orbital bone and isn’t expected to play at all this season. In fact, his career may be over.
Tampa Bay Rays – Scott Kazmir, Ben Zobrist. Kazmir was placed on the 15-day DL as well, also retroactive to March 21st. He could return in April but his return has to be up in the air, as the Rays have been very cautious and keep slowing him down. Rays’ manager Joe Maddon said Kazmir will start throwing catch from further distances later this week, 90 to 120 feet. He’s still not throwing off a mound or facing live hitters yet.

Zobrist, the Rays utility man, will be on the DL for the first weeks of the season with a broken thumb. Andy Cannizaro or Elliot Johnson will cover his duties in the meantime.
San Francisco Giants – Aaron Rowand. Rowand was hit by a pitch in today’s game by Rich Hill. He took the pitch off his right ankle and spent a minute or so on the ground afterwards. He was able to walk off the field on his own, and the injury is most likely day-to-day variety.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – Kelvim Escobar, Chone Figgins. Escobar experienced discomfort in his pitching shoulder and had to shutdown his throwing program once again. This can’t be a good sign for you Angels fans, as this was just playing catch he hasn’t even gotten back on the mound yet. He was looking to return by mid-May, as long as its not to serious you could expect this to be pushed back to June now.

Figgins has been sidelined with cramping in his left hand. The injury is day-to-day, and its more of a precautionary thing as the left hand is the one he had surgery to remove the hamate bone. He’s expected to return to the lineup Thursday.
Seattle Mariners – Adrian Beltre. Beltre is still having problems with wrist pain. The injury has followed him since last season, and he wasn’t diagnosed with a torn ligament till December. Being so close to training camp, he opted not to go with surgery. “It hurts to hold the bat, it hurts every time,” Beltre said. “There’s always pain.” If he’s able to make it through the season I wouldn’t expect much via the way of power.
Houston Astros – Kaz Matsui. Matsui is on the 15-day DL retroactive to March 21st. He recently had surgery to repair an anal fissure. I’m not going into the details for you on what that details, but if you’re interested you can look it up on Google. He’ll miss the first couple weeks of the season. Mark Loretta should get most of his playing time while he recovers.

Part two of this should follow shortly.