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Indians Martinez should avoid DL

Written by Paul Raymond in Wednesday, April 2nd 2008 under Indians, MLB

It appears Cleveland Indians catch Victor Martinez won’t spend any time on the disabled list. In Monday’s season opener against the Chicago White Sox, Martinez came up lame while trying to advance to second. Initially it didn’t look good at all and people instantly thought pulled hamstring and he’d be out for a while. Well lets see what has changed.

On the play, Martinez felt his hamstring tighten up about 10 feet from the bag and immediately fell to the ground. Martinez said the fall was intentional. “I tried to slow down, but I couldn’t stop,” said Martinez. “So I just fell.” Even his manager Eric Wedge said, “He may have saved himself by falling.” This is something that could be very true, I know from personal experiences when I’ve rolled ankles or felt something tighten up instead of slowing down it was fall straight down. Your recovery time is just so much quicker, I don’t know talk to a doctor I can’t explain it.

Back to the topic on hand. Martinez felt so good tonight that he said he was available to pinch-hit if the team needs. He wasn’t needed so we’ll never know if he was actually able to. “I did a lot of stuff (Wednesday),” said Martinez, “and I didn’t feel it. I hit, I threw and I rode the bike. We’ll just have to wait and see when I can catch.” That’s the problem Martinez has right now, when will he be able to catch again? There’s really no where for him to play till he is able to do so. Travis Hafner is locked in at the DH, with Ryan Garko set at first.

Till he’s available, Garko is the back-up catcher with Kelly Shoppach the starter. I’d say the earliest Martinez is even allowed to try and catch would be Saturday or Sunday, so till then he’ll probably be just a pinch-hitter. If you’ve got him in fantasy bench him for a while but don’t panic he should be healthy pretty soon.