The Injury Bug Has Already Bitten The Toronto Blue Jays

Just over a week into Spring Training, and already the often-injured Blue Jays are already suffering a few set-backs. 

Now, as all you Jays fans know, Shaun Marcum had Tommy John surgery last September, and will miss this whole season, and Dustin McGowan had the same surgery last summer and is out until at least June now. 

The Jays and their fans were hoping that those would be the only two injuries this year, but no such luck.

Lefty pitchers Scott Downs and Mike Maroth both tweaked different parts of their bodies last week. Downs is only expected to miss two weeks because he tweaked his left arm. 

Please note though, that Downs had Tommy John surgery on this arm earlier in his career. Losing Downs would be a major loss to the Jays as he is slated to be their set-up man.

Maroth on the other hand tweaked his left knee, and now requires surgery.  He even admitted that only surgery can fix what he did (tore some cartilage). 

However, he will attempt to pitch through the discomfort, but we all know he will likely be shut down before the season officially begins in April.

Next up is Lyle Overbay.  Now, it's not exactly fair for me to say that Overbay is injured, he will just miss the first week or two of the Spring Training games due to his recovery from hernia surgery this past summer (I believe it was three separate surgeries). 

However, I feel that team doctor's will keep him sidelined until at least the first week of the season due to the fact that his surgeries were for hernias.

Last, we have Vernon Wells.  After having a tremendous 2006 year, he suffered through two injury-riddled seasons after. 

This year has already not started well, as he is sidelined for two to four weeks with a hamstring strain. This should keep Vernon out til opening day, and even when he does return, he will likely start out as a designated hitter. 

Those are the injuries so far, and with Casey Janssen just returning from Tommy John surgery, fans should watch for him too. Other than that, I'm hoping the Jays can stay healthy, but I'm not expecting any miracles as there always happens to be a freak injury.