Major League Baseball's All-Injured Team

Though every baseball season includes a share of major injuries, some big names have been sidelined this year. 

Among the players who have missed significant time or have already had their seasons cut short this year are a three-time Most Valuable Player, a two-time home run champion, the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter in his team's history and the sport's all-time saves leader.

With so many superstar players sidelined during the past five months, we decided to put together the MLB All-Injured Team for this season. 

Some players, such as Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto, definitely warrant a spot on the team. Votto has missed 42 games as of Aug. 29 with a left knee injury. However, he's expected to return to the Reds lineup after a rehab assignment and will regain his starting position. Other first baseman haven't been quite as fortunate. 

So if you think Votto was snubbed—and please consider that you'd be complaining about him being left off an All-Injured Team—there's the explanation for you. But if you think anyone was unjustly excluded, please leave your suggestions in the comments. 

The MLB All-Injured Team is comprised of eight position players, one designated hitter, a starting pitcher and a closer. As you'll see, it's a pretty impressive lineup. 

1st Base: Lance Berkman, St. Louis Cardinals

As mentioned in the intro, Joey Votto might be the better pick for this position. He's been out since July 15 after having two separate arthroscopic surgeries on his left knee. But Votto appeared in 86 games before he was injured and is expected to return by the beginning of September.

Lance Berkman has played only 28 games for the St. Louis Cardinals this season after being expected to take over at first base for Albert Pujols. He's batted .267/.389/.467 with two home runs and seven RBI in 90 plate appearances. 

He's been on the disabled list three different times this season.

In mid-April, a calf injury took him out of the lineup. But it's been a right knee injury suffered approximately a month later that has sidelined him for most of the season. Berkman returned in July after missing 47 games. But after appearing in 13 games, he was back on the DL with inflammation in the knee. 

After battling through what's basically been a lost season, Berkman questioned whether he actually wanted to return to the Cardinals for September. 

"I'm here (on rehab) largely out of a sense of obligation to be available to help the team and to help the organization," Berkman told Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He went on to admit that he considered ending his season before going through his rehab assignment. 

2nd Base: Freddy Sanchez, San Francisco Giants

Freddy Sanchez hasn't played since June 10 of 2011 after separating his shoulder while diving for a ground ball.

His shoulder never regained enough strength during spring training this year for him to get back into the lineup. Along the way, Sanchez also developed a back injury. 

That back injury lingered into the regular season, sidelining Sanchez during a minor-league rehab assignment in May. 

As the San Francisco Chronicle's Henry Schulman reported, Sanchez's injury deteriorated to the point where he underwent surgery in early July to remove part of a disk from his back. 

Sanchez didn't get a chance to play out the final year of his contract with the San Francisco Giants, but manager Bruce Bochy said there's a chance the team could bring him back next season, though likely on a minor league contract through which he'll have to make the major league club during spring training. 

3rd Base: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees

The New York Yankees third baseman has been out of the lineup since his hand was broken by a Felix Hernandez changeup on July 24. 

At the time, Alex Rodriguez was batting .276/.358/.449 with 15 home runs and 44 RBI.

After a subpar June during which he batted .232 with a .790 OPS, Rodriguez was turning himself around in July. Perhaps most encouraging was that he was hitting the ball for power again, slugging .493 with five doubles, a triple and two home runs. He was putting together his best month of the season before getting injured.

Rodriguez took batting practice on Aug. 28, the first time he'd done so since breaking his hand. The New York Daily News' Roger Rubin reports that Rodriguez could possibly begin a rehab assignment during the Labor Day holiday weekend.

However, minor league teams are nearing the end of their season schedules, which limits the Yankees' options for potential rehab assignments. The Yankees' Triple-A Scranton or Double-A Trenton teams could add quite a bat to their lineups as they begin the playoffs. 

Shortstop: Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies

Troy Tulowitzki has been out of the Colorado Rockies lineup since May 30 due to a groin injury that eventually required surgery. 

Before getting hurt, the Rockies shortstop compiled a .287/.360/.486 triple-slash average with eight home runs and 27 RBI. 

The Rockies were hoping Tulowitzki might be able to rejoin their lineup during Labor Day weekend. But as the Denver Post's Patrick Saunders reports, Tulowitzki is approaching his rehab assignment cautiously. While he hasn't experienced any pain in the field, Tulowitzki still has some mental obstacles to overcome as he tries to regain his pre-injury form. 

Tulowitzki told Saunders that he hasn't run at full speed on the basepaths and is playing station-to-station baseball. Until he feels confident that he can run at full strength and play without thinking about the groin injury, Tulowitzki won't return to the Rockies. 

“The next time I take the field I want to be able to go 100 percent, I want to be able to go from first to third on a base hit,” Tulowitzki said to Saunders.

The goal is to play in the majors before the end of the season, but Tulowitzki also seems to be considering the possibility that he won't feel right until next year. Considering the Rockies' last-place standing, why push it?

Catcher: Victor Martinez, Detroit Tigers

Victor Martinez was likely going to be the Detroit Tigers' full-time designated hitter this season.

But he played 26 games at catcher in 2011 and is two seasons removed from appearing at the position 110 times for the Boston Red Sox. So we're choosing him over Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos here. 

Martinez tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while doing offseason conditioning drills in January. Being lost for the 2012 season was one of the motivating factors behind the Tigers' surprise signing of Prince Fielder to a nine-year, $214 million contract.

There was some hope that Martinez might be able to recover in time to rejoin the Tigers in September, providing the bat at DH that the team is still seeking. It was a long shot, but Martinez's knee hasn't progressed to the point where he could play in a major league game. 

Tigers head trainer Kevin Rand told the Detroit News' Tom Gage that there just wasn't enough time left in the season for Martinez to make a full recovery. So the goal is to focus on returning next year for spring training. 

Martinez has two years remaining on his contract with Detroit during which he'll be paid $25 million. Pushing him back to return this year was simply too big a risk. 

Left Field: Carl Crawford, Los Angeles Dodgers

Fresh off being part of the biggest trade in baseball history, Carl Crawford begins the process of recovering from reconstructive surgery on his left elbow.

For a pitcher, Tommy John surgery typically requires a 12-to-18 month recovery process. But for a position player like Crawford, the process usually takes six to nine months. That should put Crawford on a timeline to be ready for spring training.

Trading for an injured player who won't be available until next season was an unusual move for the Los Angeles Dodgers. But with five years remaining on his contract (worth $102.5 million), the Dodgers obviously expect Crawford to be their starting left fielder and top-of-the-order bat in the lineup. 

Crawford only appeared in 31 games this season for the Boston Red Sox between a left wrist injury that kept him out until mid-July. During the recovery and rehab process, he unfortunately developed the left elbow injury that eventually required major surgery to repair. 

In 125 plate appearances this year, Crawford batted .282/.306/.479 with 10 doubles, three home runs and 19 RBI. 

Center Field: Grady Sizemore, Cleveland Indians

The Cleveland Indians re-signed Grady Sizemore to a one-year, $5 million contract in hopes of him being their starting center fielder this season.

Unfortunately, Sizemore developed a back injury that required surgery in March. As reported by the Plain Dealer's Paul Hoynes, part of a damaged disk was removed from Sizemore's back, a procedure that was expected—perhaps optimistically—to sideline him for eight to 12 weeks.

Obviously, the recovery process has taken much longer as Sizemore hasn't played for the Indians this year. 

Yet it was his right knee that eventually ended his season. Hoynes reported that Sizemore felt pain in the knee while preparing for a rehab assignment. As of Aug. 21, it was decided that there wasn't enough time left in the season for Sizemore to recover and begin a rehab assignment in the minor leagues. 

When asked by MLB.com's Jordan Bastian if the Indians might re-sign Sizemore for next season, general manager Chris Antonetti was understandably reluctant to commit one way or the other until seeing how Sizemore recovers from this latest setback. 

Right Field: Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays

Jose Bautista had been out of the Toronto Blue Jays lineup since July 16 after injuring his wrist on a swing during a game versus the New York Yankees. 

"Just as I was finishing my swing I felt something weird around my wrist, and on the recoil is when I felt sharp pain," Bautista told reporters after the game (quoted by the Associated Press). "You can't help but think the worst."

Bautista feared he tore or broke something in the wrist, but no structural damage was found on an MRI exam. Yet Bautista was sidelined until Aug. 24. After appearing in two games, he still felt instability in the wrist.

As the AP reported, Bautista was sent to Cleveland to see a hand specialist. That's when the decision was made to have season-ending surgery to repair a tendon in the left wrist.

"There's just too much instability in that tendon and it got to the point where risking injuring the tendon was not worth it," Bautista said. "That's why we're opting to do it now."

Bautista ends the 2012 season with a .241/.358/.527 average in 399 plate appearances. He hit 27 home runs and 65 RBI. 

Designated Hitter: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox

Out since July 16 with a right Achilles tendon injury, David Ortiz finally returned to the Boston Red Sox lineup on Aug. 24. He missed 35 games. 

However, after one game back during which he went 2-for-4 with two RBI, Ortiz had to go back on the disabled list. The Achilles injury was still bothering him. As ESPN Boston's Tony Lee reported, Ortiz was set to receive a platelet-rich plasma injection to the strained tendon in hopes of speeding up his recovery. 

The hope is that Ortiz can still return this season. But he and the Red Sox might not want to risk further, more serious injury to the tendon. As of right now, it appears that surgery won't be required, which has Ortiz optimistic that he'll be fully healthy next season. 

If Ortiz's season is over, he'll finish with a .318/.415/.611 slash line to go with 23 home runs and 60 RBI. 

ESPN Boston's Gordon Edes reported that the Red Sox want Ortiz back next season and the designated hitter wants to return to Boston. However, the two sides haven't begun discussions on a new contract. 

Will Ortiz get the two-year deal he sought during the past offseason? The Red Sox instead offered him arbitration and signed him to a one-year contract, something Ortiz was not happy about. 

Starting Pitcher: Johan Santana, New York Mets

There are several pitchers we could have put in this spot. Ted Lilly, Matt Garza, Colby Lewis and John Danks are a few starting pitchers that come to mind. 

But none of those pitchers threw a no-hitter earlier in the season, making history for the New York Mets franchise. 

Johan Santana was working through his first full season since undergoing shoulder surgery and missing all of 2011. As exciting as that no-hitter was on June 1, the fear was that Santana had been worked far too hard for a pitcher coming off major surgery. trying to build the strength in his shoulder back up. 

Did throwing a career-high 134 pitches in that no-hitter set up an inevitably injury-shortened season for Santana? Since Santana didn't suffer an injury to his surgically repaired shoulder, it can't be said for certain. 

However, The Mets ace did miss 20 games with a sprained right ankle. After returning from the disabled list, he made only two starts before suffering a back injury. As reported by the New York Daily News' Roger Rubin, an MRI exam revealed inflammation in Santana's lower back. That compelled the Mets to shut him down for the rest of the season. 

Santana made 21 starts for the Mets this year, compiling a 6-9 record, a 4.85 ERA and 111 strikeouts in 117 innings. He, the Mets and their fans will always have that no-hitter, however. 

Closer: Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees

Brian Wilson and Ryan Madson would have been good choices for the All-injured Team's closer. Madson, especially, never even saw the field this season. Wilson only appeared in two games himself.

But when baseball's all-time greatest closer—with 608 saves, more than any other reliever in major league history—goes down with a season-ending injury, he gets the nod. 

Mariano Rivera appeared in only nine games for the New York Yankees before suffering a torn ACL and torn meniscus in his right knee while shagging fly balls during batting practice. The injury was suffered before the Yankees played the Kansas City Royals on May 3.

Before the season, it was believed that Rivera would retire at the end of the year, finishing off a brilliant 18 years in the majors. But Rivera didn't want his career to end with the image of him writhing in pain on the Kauffman Stadium warning track, clutching his right knee. 

"I am coming back," Rivera said to reporters, including the New York Daily News' Mark Feinsand.

"Put it down. Write it down in big letters. I'm not going out like this. God willing and given the strength, I'm coming back."

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