MRI shows Giles has keep knee bruise | ajc.com
Bobby calls it a “bone bruise”; some fluid had to be drained. If it’s similar to what I had about ten years ago when I cracked my knee, it will swell a bit and hurt like the dickens, but in a week you’d never know it happened. They hope to have him back by next week.
X-rays on Estrada’s hand were negative. He hopes to play in the home opener tomorrow.
Good news indeed – now only if they would announce that Martin’s left arm fell off.
Knock on wood, but I fear that Giles is going to be an injury prone player. He plays a position where there tend to be more injuries than anywhere other than C and P. He has a very aggressive style. And he is starting to accumulate a laundry list of big and little injuries. I truly hope not – he is a particular favorite – but I suspect he will have a lot of partial seasons.
The answer could be to move him to another position. But he’s too short for first, third base is a logjam with Chipper, Marte, and maybe Johnson and Betemit. That leaves the outfield, I guess, wherever Andruw and Francoeur aren’t.
Moving Molitor from 2b to 3b/DH is what allowed him to overcome an injury prone early career and last until 41. Doesn’t help him on the basepaths, though.
I fear that Giles is going to be an injury prone player
Too late Dan, Giles already is. Three straight years of freak injuries like this clearly marks a trend.
This leads to an interesting debate, which is, at what point do we start considering the ability to stay healthy as an innate skill rather than something that just happens?
Cal Ripken always gets credit for his durability, but that was mainly because he had a streak. Had he played 155 games or so a year, taking a day off every month or so, you probably wouldn’t have ever heard about it.
As frustrating as he is sometimes, that’s what makes Andruw Jones so valuable. He’s played 153-plus games eight straight years and it’s not just a coincidence. You know the guy’s going to play every day. Imagine where the Braves would be if they had traded him for Ken Griffey a few years ago.
Craig, your post and mine crossed in cyberspace. Just speculating here, but Molitor quitting cocaine probably helped his durability some as well.
Not that I’m defending Molitor’s cocaine use, but his big injuries were torn ligaments in his left ankle in 1981, elbow surgery in 1984, strained hammies in 1986 and 1987, and broken thumb in 1990. Is there a correlation between muscle/ligament fragility and cocaine? I’m not being a smart ass here, I really don’t know.
If there’s not, I suppose an alternative coke explanation is that he was coked up during games, which made him fearless, which caused him to take all kinds of stupid risks with his body.
I’m not sure how a position change would help Giles. He’s had two injuries on the basepaths and two in the field. The field injuries were freak accidents that had nothing to do with his position. You can run into runners at third (yes there will be fewer than at second) and hit outfielders on pop-ups. It’s amazing that he’s never gotten hurt turning double-plays, which is the most dangerous thing he does.
I predict (just for the fun of it) that Giles does not go on the DL this year. Please, feel free to remind me when I’m wrong. 😉
We can’t say for certain that the stress of playing second base hasn’t made Giles more likely to be injured. (To take another player, Jason Kendall’s injury happened running the bases, but who’s to say that the stress of catching didn’t make it more likely?) And if he were in left field, Marcus would only have to worry about the fence most of the time.
Creg, I was trying to sugar-coat it; this winter readers here suggested that I was silly to think that Marcus was an injury prone player. Just when I finally try to be more diplomatic … 🙂
For what its worth, Molitor kept getting hurt at 3B too. He moved from 2B to 3B in ’82. He went primarily to DH in ’91 and after that he played much, much more often.
Let’s just hope Giles’ bruise isn’t anything like Todd Hollandsworth’s bruise a few years ago that kept him out for more than a year.
This is the first injury Giles has had that can be contributed to him and his play style, whatever you guys may claim. That oaf Prior not watching where he was running and an outfielder not doing his job and calling him off loudly hardly make him injury prone.
I don’t think he’s crossed into the realm of injury-prone yet. If he can make it a season or two without running into anyone, he’ll be fine.
Amen Grst
Did not know that Molitor had a Dave Parker/Keith Hernandez issue…where did yall verify?