Jeff Blair reports that Reed Johnson has been placed on the DL due to his back injury. Adam Lind will be recalled and will be here tomorrow. Thanks to ramone for the tip.
Lind has hit .306 so far with the Chiefs with a couple of home runs. The only concern is zero walks. It will be interesting to see what will happen if Lind hits well for the next two weeks, will he be sent down when Reed returns?
I'm also interested to see where Lind will hit. Gibbons seemed "comfortable" with hitting Stairs in the 2-hole and dropping Overbay to the 5 or 6 spot. Would this be the plan for Lind? He would see a lot of pitches to hit up there at least.
Ya...I would think Lind bats 2nd, Overbay drops behind Thomas to give him some protection. So we get Rios, Lind, Wells, Thomas, Overbay, Hill, Zaunnie, Smith (3rd base), Clayton. Not so worse!
The injury to Sparky is reported to be a herniated disc. Having suffered from one myself (due to sports) and having successful surgery, I can say that the injury doesn't just correct itself. Todd Bertuzzi is the latest known athlete to have suffered a herniated disc and missed most of the season. The tourquing of the hip and spinal column when hitting ,continue to put strain on the affected area. I hope it is a minor herniation and we see him back soon, but, even if we do, will he be 100%?
Johnson is going to have back surgery. The club is hoping that he will be back in 3 months. They need another outfielder, stat.
Mike Green, why do you say they need another outfielder stat? Don't you tihnk that Lind is basically replacing what Sparky was, putting Stairs back in his fourth outfielder role? Or are you suggesting that we need to acquire a defensive replacement?
Let us all pause and be thankful that the Jays did not heed the screams -- which came from Jays fans and the leaguewide baseball media alike, mind you -- to trade Wells or Rios for ever-mercurial pitching help.
It's another reminder that while it's tempting to trade one's depth, you never know when you'll need it. See also the eight pitchers on hand capable of pitching 5-6 innings if necessary...
We all hope for a speedy recovery for Sparky after his surgery. In some ways, the Jays are very fortunate that their first major injury was suffered by Johnson -- the only position player who had a strong replacement waiting in the wings, ready to step into the lineup immediately. There's a good chance that Adam Lind will be able to provide more power than Johnson, and maybe more RBIs.
One serious problem, however, is the sharp dropoff in defensive ability in left field because Lind is replacing Sparky. This raises the issue of whether the Jays need to juggle their bench to find a better defensive outfielder for late-inning situations -- especially for those games where the Jays have a narrow lead and would want to insert a defensive left-fielder to replace Lind. If so, who would it be? Obviously not Matt Stairs. What about Jason Smith, who played a little outfield in spring training? But Smith, too, could be a liability in the outfield because of his lack of experience there. There's no clear solution on this roster, unless a trade is done.
I think we've been a little spoiled the last few years as far as the outfield goes. I'm not too worried about Lind's defensive liabilities as some of you guys. How many teams in the majors have 2 five-tool outfielders (Wells and Rios) and another 4-tooler in Reed who can hit for average, field, run the bases with speed and skill? I think we'll be just fine with Lind starting and anything we lose from him in defence, he'll more than make up for it with his great bat.
Matt Stairs is not an outfielder. You can put him out there and pretend that he can play the position, but you're fooling only yourself. The club needs a 4th outfielder, in case one of the outfielders is unavailable for a day or three. It is likely that this will happen more than once in the next 2 months.