Milwaukee Brewers: Zack Greinke To Start Year on DL

The groundswell of excitement that has surrounded the Milwaukee Brewers this offseason hit a snag earlier this week.

On Tuesday, it was revealed that Zack Greinke, who was acquired from the Kansas City Royals in an eight player trade this offseason, will start the season on the DL because of a cracked seventh and bruised eighth rib.

He originally hurt the rib playing a pickup basketball game and could miss the entire first month of the regular season as a result.

For some odd reason, I can’t see Greinke playing hoops; Derek Lowe, I can see, but Greinke? Not so much.

I am thinking he is a Steve Kerr type—a good outside shooter and not much else. He hurt the ribs going up for a rebound, so he was probably out of his element.

When I heard about this, I couldn’t help but think about a girl in my freshman year dorm that used to say “That’s sucky” when something bad happened.

I think this is sucky if you're a Brewers fan.

What’s sucky is that you get the feeling that every game is going to count for the National League contenders this year. After all, with the Philadelphia Phillies’ offensive injuries, there doesn’t appear to be a dominant team in the NL.

There could realistically be 12-13 teams in playoff contention come September.

Greinke missing four or five starts in April could theoretically cost the Brewers a playoff spot in October.

I think the natural reaction if you are a Brewers fan is to be mad at Greinke for getting hurt playing another sport. I can understand that, but the reality is, he could have hurt himself doing anything. He could have gone out for a run, tripped on a branch and broken his ankle.

What happened to Greinke is just an unfortunate, freak accident.

If there is some good news out of this, like most MLB teams, the Brewers do have some off days to work with in April—four off days, to be specific, which means they will only need a fifth starter a couple of times.

The Brewers will most likely go with an internal replacement for Greinke. My guess is Manny Parra will be the guy.