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What was a promising season for the Reds is likely going to take another hit as Edison Volquez had to leave after 1 inning coming off the DL. He left with numbness and tingling in his pinkie and ring finger which indicates something is either pressing or irritating the ulnar nerve in his elbow.  This can either be ulnar neuritis or worse be the result of instability in the elbow leading to surgery.  He most likely won’t require Tommy John surgery but if the neuritis is severe enough and it’s deemed to be the result of biomechanical issues, he very well could end up getting the ulnar transposition surgery.  He’s one of those players that you can’t just drop in case it isn’t too severe, but you should start to think of other possibilities in case he ends up on the DL for a while.

Jose Valverde finally threw a bullpen session as he returns from the severe hematoma in his calf.  Even though it was only 25 pitches, he didn’t report any pain or problems with his calf afterwards and it was a very important first step in his recovery.   He has kept his arm strength up during his rehab so now he just has to retrain the kinetic chain.  He’s likely looking at a mid June return approximately.

In a surprising turn, Grady Sizemore’s elbow may end up needing surgery despite not having major structural damage if the pain does not go away after the DL stint.  What would likely happen is a debridement of the area and that’ll put him out around 6 weeks or so, although I wouldn’t be surprised if there was minor bone spur that was cleaned up too.

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injury analysis Edinson Volquez, Grady Sizemore, Jose Valverde, Josh Hamilton

With the slow day today hopefully there won’t be too much new injury news this afternoon.  Let’s catch up on the last couple of days.

Carlos Beltran had an MRI which showed bone bruising at the top of his tibia inside the knee.  He received a cortisone injection into the area and Carlos described the injection as successful.  I’m a little suspicious of how effective it will be long term because the bruising wasn’t a result of an outside force but it the force was produced by his own body.  He underwent bilateral knee surgery to clean up his patellar tendons at the end of 2007, so it’s not unprecedented for his body to be producing detrimental forces across his knee.  Right now, I don’t think this current situation is anything long lasting but it may require a couple days here or there later in the season.

Brett Myers came off the mound yesterday with inflammation in his hip and xrays revealed “jaggedness” according to an Xray.  This isn’t the news that he or the Phillies wanted to hear and likely means he’s facing an extended DL stay if not surgery.  If there are bony changes in his hip that show up on xray the structural change will not go away with rest and rehab.  There will need to be some procedure to clean that up or fix it.  Whether or not it can wait until the end of the season is a question that will likely be answered after an MRI and subsequent evaluation.

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injury analysis, news Brandon Backe, Brett Myers, Brian Bruney, Carlos Beltran, Cliff Floyd, Edinson Volquez, Hanley Ramirez, Jorge Posada, Kelvim Escobar, Melky Cabrera, Roy Oswalt, Ryan Braun, Ryan Freel, Xavier Nady

Scott Olsen was placed on the DL Sunday with left shoulder tendinitis. It something he must have been dealing with for a little while now. His fastball velocity has decreased over the last 3 starts to the lowest level this year.  He underwent a MRI which showed the tendinitis and later on had a cortisone injection.  Tendinitis is a fairly common thing but I feel it’s more of a symptom than a new injury in that something is causing the tendinitis, usually a muscle weakens to the point were it can’t protect itself or the surrounding tissues.  For minor tendinitis, 2 weeks is about right. Fantasy Impact: He will most likely be back right around the minimum.  In the meantime, Detwiler was called up and should replace him in the rotation.

Matt Tuiasosopo will undergo surgery on his elbow after continued discomfort in it.  By the descriptions, it sounds like there are calcium deposits in there which are causing the pain and discomfort. It’s expected that he’ll miss around 4-6 weeks. Fantasy Impact: While the Mariners brought him up earlier only to have him rot on the bench, he is part of the long term plans of the Mariners.  This procedure will hopefully relieve anything that is effecting his play and allow him to reach that potential.  This surgery does most likely delay him in Seattle though until August at the earliest but more likely next year.

Carlos Delgado was finally placed on the DL with impingement in his right hip retroactive to May 10th.   Surgery for that is definitely an option and would put him out for a while in order to correct the bone spur and the impingement. Fantasy Impact: Fernando Tatis and Daniel Murphy will take over him in the meantime.

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injury analysis Andrew Miller, Angel Pagan, B.J. Ryan, Brendan Ryan, Carlos Delgado, Chris Carpenter, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Frank Francisco, Jesus Flores, John Lackey, Kevin Youkilis, Luis Rodriguez, Luke Scott, Matt Tuiasosopo, Nick Masset, Rich Hill, Ricky Romero, Santiago Casilla, Scott Olsen

Vladimir Guerrero is going to begin taking batting practice but Scioscia said that he’ll be taking at this level “for a while”.  This will likely be about a week or so of taking batting practice to ensure that his pectoral muscle is properly healed.  His right pectoral muscle helps slightly with the bat speed as it pulls the bat through the zone along with all the trunk muscles and the left shoulder.  Assuming things go well during batting practice, one can start to expect him to be ready in late May.

Pat Burrell is dealing with a bulging disc similar to Derrek Lee which is causing the muscles of the neck and upper back to tighten up causing muscle spasms.  As with Lee, it doesn’t appear to require a DL stint but like Lee it can flare up at any point.  Pat has received a couple injections to the area to calm down the inflammation and hopefully allow his neck to return to a normal range of motion.  These injections will keep him out of Friday’s and Saturday’s games.   Once this motion returns, he’ll be back in the lineup.

J.J. Putz will miss a couple of games because of the bone spur in his elbow.  Apparently, the Mets were concerned about his loss of velocity and sent him for an MRI which showed the bone spur.  They expect him back this weekend so there is likely just some inflammation in the area.  His velocity has been down all season compared to last year so I wonder why it took so long for the Mets to get an MRI if they were monitoring his velocity.  Last year he went on the DL with irritation of the ulnar nerve and while I can’t say that he had the spurs before (they would have showed up on the MRI) he might have slightly changed his delivery after coming back.  Bone spurs don’t disappear on their own so eventually he’ll need surgery for it whether it’s later in the season, at the end of the season, or in some future season. Fantasy Impact: For the short term, those who have him in leagues that count holds might want to put in another option into your lineup.  For the long term though, I would begin to consider trying to find a quality replacement for him.  Ramon Ramirez, Andrew Bailey, and Hideki Okajima are all possibilities.

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injury analysis, news Carlos Delgado, Daniel Murphy, Derek Jeter, Dustin Pedroia, Hideki Matsui, J.J. Putz, Mike Sweeney, Pat Burrell, Vladimir Guerrero

We’re at the point where people are starting to return from major injuries suffered in the beginning of the year so let’s move on…

Justin Duchscherer is hoping to throw off a mound in a week in his rehab from elbow surgery.  He’s not eligible to return until June 4th after his elbow was cleaned up by Dr. Andrews in late March.  I think that he’s going to be a little bit longer than june 4th but getting on the mound is a first key step.  Expect him to make several rehab starts before being activated.  Fantasy Impact: With the amount of experience (or lack thereof) his return to the rotation will help strengthen the whole staff.  Expect one of the rookies to either be sent down or moved to the bullpen and it probably will depend on who’s throwing well at that moment.  As Justin comes back from his surgery, it will be key to monitor his control.  He’s someone who could help you down the stretch with his strikeout ability.  I would expect a k/9 of roughly 5-6 and a k/bb ratio of close to 2.5.

Another day, another hamstring injury.  This one happened to Adam Jones during the game last night.  He exited the game with a right hamstring strain while beating out an infield single.  He did stay in the game for a couple more innings so it shows that it wasn’t a severe strain. Fantasy Impact: This will be a big blow to the Orioles lineup as it appears that he finally started hitting like everyone expected out of him.  Right now it appears it’s a DTD thing but the Orioles may be extra careful with him since he’s already reaggrevated it once this year.

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injury analysis, news Adam Jones, Aramis Ramirez, Doug Brocail, Ervin Santana, Frank Francisco, Jose Valverde, Justin Duchscherer, Nate Robinson, Nomar Garciaparra, Tom Gordon

Andres Torres ran the bases on Monday during he’s rehab from a hamstring strain. He’s aiming for a return next week. Alex Gonzalez played catch and took batting practice on Monday as he rehabs from an oblique injury.  Technically he’s still DTD.  Josh Hamilton is set to be activated from the DL on Tuesday for his strained ribcage. Chipper Jones might have to get a cortisone injection in his elbow and that will cost him 3 games.  The bulging disc in Derrek Lee’s neck isn’t considered career threatening so he’s hoping to get back Tuesday night. Chien-Mien Wang will need more than one rehab start according to Cashman. Andrew Miller threw 6 innings and 80+ pitches during his rehab start.  He’s on track to return May 16th.

injury analysis Alex Gonzalez, Andres Torres, Andrew Miller, Chien-Mien Wang, Chipper Jones, Josh Hamilton

It’s been a pretty good day in terms of injury news.  Lots of guys are on rehab assignments.

Dennis Sarfate will undergo an angiogram to see where the circulation problem is originating. Ryan Freel is expected to be activated tomorrow.  Shawn Kelley will likely miss a month with a strained oblique. Ryan Braun returned and hit a grand slam with 6 RBI as he came back from back pain. Travis Hafner got good news and the soreness is fairly common from the procedure he had last year.  Not all news from Dr. Andrews is bad.  Chris Carpenter is expected to throw off a mound on  Tuesday.

injury analysis Chris Carpenter, Dennis Sarfate, Kris Benson, Oliver Perez, Ryan Braun, Ryan Freel, Shawn Kelley, Tony Clark, Travis Hafner

After that horrific collision with the wall, Rick Ankiel is expected to avoid the disabled list.  He is suffering from a right shoulder contusion and basically whiplash and will miss at least a couple of days. Fantasy Impact: Luckily Ankiel seems like he will be ok.  I would not be surprised if his power is slightly effected the first couple of days back but it should return fairly quickly.

Vladimir Guerrero was able to run the bases hard yesterday and participate in drills which tells me that he at least has full range of motion in his shoulder and his pectoral muscle has at least 90% strength.  If the pect wasn’t at least that strong, it would be too sore for the swinging action of the arm and too sore to take part in the drills.  Fantasy Impact: He’s getting real close to being activated.  He’s eligible to return at any point so be ready.  He’ll likely need a couple rehab games but no official timetable will be announced until after a reevaluation.

Peter Abraham is reporting that people within the Yankess expect Jorge Posada to miss 3-5 weeks with his hamstring strain.  Fantasy Impact: Jose Molina will be getting the majority of the time back there now.  Jorge will be back in June at some point.

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injury analysis Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jorge Posada, Rick Ankiel, Roy Oswalt, Shawn Kelly, Vladimir Guerrero