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August 5, 2008

Under The Knife

Dealing with Delays

by Will Carroll

I can't say enough good things about participating in Newberg Night, and I can't say enough bad things about flying on United, so let's start with the positives. Joe Sheehan and I were lucky enough to be the Opening Act for Jon Daniels' ninety-minute Q&A session, which is always surprisingly candid and not-so-surprisingly enlightening. From Grant Schiller's opening question to the final standing ovation that thundered through the auditorium, it was a great night to be a Rangers fan. Raising over $5,000 for the Hello Win Column Fund was even better, and I hope it's the start of something big for the next time we do an event. I've done Newberg Night every time Jamey's had one, and even with United doing their best to keep me in Dallas, I'll be back for the next one. (Maybe United will go broke before then, because they did a sorry job of being an airline yesterday.)

Powered by American, who got me home, on to the injuries:

Joba Chamberlain (TBD)
I finally got on a plane around 9:00 p.m., and later, when we landed and I switched my phone back on, it nearly exploded. Somewhere in between was the scene that struck fear into hundreds of Yankees fans, because Chamberlain came out of the game while pointing to the outside of his shoulder. The early word is that his muscle tightened up due to a combination of the blistering heat (I sat in that heat the night before, and yeah, it's a huge factor) and fatigue. It's the latter that's most worrisome given Chamberlain's switch of roles. While he built up his arm strength, no one has any idea how the fatigue will be affected by the shape of his season. He's headed back to New York for tests, so we'll know more soon, but early reports and sources tell me that things look relatively positive, based both on the pain's location, and on his reaction. Expect the Yanks to be ultra-conservative, and for Chamberlain to miss a start at least. We'll know more after the images, but I'll leave the DXL as a TBD for now.

David Ortiz (0 DXL)
Big Papi felt a click in his injured wrist. A click doesn't sound like much, but it might be the head of Ortiz that the Sox have to worry about, rather than the wrist. For the first time, Ortiz is doubting his wrist a bit, and that's as bad as if it were hurting; we'll have to wait and see how the wrist reacts. While you can see in the picture that accompanies Tony Massarotti's article that Ortiz's wrist is often in precisely the position he doesn't want it to be in, I'm curious about the at-bat with the bad click. He was up against Joakim Soria, and he hit a few foul balls before grounding out to first. I'd bet it was the foul more than the pulled grounder, as it's taking it the opposite way that should put Ortiz's wrist into the worst position. MLB.com doesn't have the video available as I get this out, but I'm sure my readers will tell me how it looked. Watch to see how Ortiz reacts, both mentally and to the treatment he's sure to get.

Billy Wagner (TBD)
It's not just Joba who's getting attention in New York. With Wagner heading for more tests, the Mets will turn to their own phenom, Eddie Kunz, in the late innings, perhaps even closing. Wagner is reporting a recurrence of pain in his forearm, but while this is often a "code" for elbow issues, he had this previously and images showed a strain in his forearm, just as the Mets said. A recurrence in this case actually functions as a positive since we know what it was previously. We'll have to wait on the tests to know how significant it is and how long Wagner will be out, so let's be patient with the DXL here; there's just not enough info to make even an educated guess. If the Mets make the playoffs, then the rest might help Wagner, assuming he can come back from this.