More Injury News And Notes

There have an awful lot of injuries this week. Seems like more than usual. And not only have there been injuries, but these are injuries to some star players.

Here is what is going on in the world of injury news in Major League Baseball.

JP Howell, Tampa Bay Rays. Really bad news for the Rays. Howell will miss the entire season after undergoing season ending surgery on his left shoulder.

Since moving into the bullpen in 2008, Howell has been Mr. Reliable for the Rays posting ERA’s of 2.22 and 2.84 in consecutive years. What made Howell so valuable was that he was equally as effective against right-handed batters as he was left-handed.

Howell may or may not be ready for spring training next year.

Sizemore has become very injury prone

Grady Sizemore, Cleveland Indians. Sizemore has gone from a guy you could depend on to play 150-plus games a year to a guy who has become very injury prone over the last two years. He missed 52 games last year and now he was placed on the DL again this year.

Sizemore was placed on the 15-day DL yesterday because of a knee injury. The move is retroactive to May 7th.

Sizemore has gotten off to a dreadful start this year hitting .211 with zero home runs and a .271 OBP in 33 games.

There is a chance that Sizemore might need knee surgery, so I’ll keep tabs on this situation.

Asdrubal Cabrera, Cleveland Indians. Cabrera suffered a fractured forearm after running into Jhonny Peralta trying to field a groundball. He is expected miss eight-to-ten weeks.

Cabrera has always been a nice little player for the Indians, so this is disappointing to see him go down. The Cleveland SS was hitting .287 before getting injured.

Josh Beckett, Boston Red Sox. Beckett really hasn’t been himself all year. Every game seems to be a grind. His fastball is flat and his curve doesn’t have that sharp break to it that we are used to.

Perhaps that can be explained by Beckett having a bad back. If you can’t “Bend your back” as they say, then you can’t create leverage to the plate.

Beckett was placed on the 15-day DL because of a lower back strain. He should use this time to figure out how to get his 7.29 ERA down.

Jorge Posada, New York Yankees. This is a killer not only to my fantasy team, but obviously to the Yankees as well. Posada was diagnosed with a hairline fracture in his right foot and could miss up to a month.

Posada was off to another tremendous start in 2010 hitting .326 with six home runs in 26 games.

Andre Ethier, Los Angeles Dodgers. Ethier was finally placed on the 15-day DL on Tuesday with a fractured right pinky. The Dodgers were hoping Ethier could play through the pain, but it was not to be.

Look for the potential NL MVP to return around early June.

That’s a wrap for the latest injury news. The way this week is going, I am sure I will be writing about more injury news on Saturday.

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