BURSITIS!?!
That's the initial diagnosis that Cubs are giving to Kerry Wood's latest ouchy. Wood was flown back to Chicago today to see the Cubs team doctor, following an MRI. The Cubs say that he'll miss one spring training start, at most. I'm not sure why the Cubs bothered to say that, because after what happened with Prior last year, I doubt anyone believes them. Not to mention the fact that after Wood left the game on Wednesday, the team said he would NOT have an MRI. I don't know why the Cubs are always giving these rosey predictions with injuries. Maybe it's just to soothe their jittery fanbase, but I would much rather have them say "we don't know what the injury is, and we're not going to make any further announcement until we have more thoroughly evaluated the situation". So Wood will "officially" only be missing one start in spring training. I've got him penciled in to make his first start in May.
In other baseball news, the Cardinal pitching staff was dealt a blow when Rick Ankiel finally gave up on pitching and decided to become an outfielder. Ankiel is another in a long line of baseball players who just one day seemed to "lose it". Nobody's really sure what "it" is, because the problem Ankiel has is mostly mental. He can't throw strikes. I feel bad for Ankiel (who by all accounts is a good guy) but I'm not going to weep for him like Peter Gammons and so many others, either. The guy made some good money, got to play baseball a lot longer than most of ever will and now he's likely done. He'll be okay.
I'm not so sure about the Cardinals though. I said earlier that I thought the Cards biggest problem this year was the downgrade in their bullpen, and this just hurts it more. I know that The Genius is trying to spin it as though Ankiel would be the last pitcher on the squad, but that's not true. The Card's let two quality left handed pitchers go in the offseason in Steve Kline and Danny Haren, so it seems obvious to me that they were expecting Ankiel to share the load with Ray King. This will limit what Tony LaRussa can do with his bullpen, especially since he had a penchant for playing match ups by bringing in his righty-lefty relievers to pitch to just one batter each per inning. On the plus side for St. Louis fans, they won't have to sit through any more two hour 7th innings.
In other baseball news, the Cardinal pitching staff was dealt a blow when Rick Ankiel finally gave up on pitching and decided to become an outfielder. Ankiel is another in a long line of baseball players who just one day seemed to "lose it". Nobody's really sure what "it" is, because the problem Ankiel has is mostly mental. He can't throw strikes. I feel bad for Ankiel (who by all accounts is a good guy) but I'm not going to weep for him like Peter Gammons and so many others, either. The guy made some good money, got to play baseball a lot longer than most of ever will and now he's likely done. He'll be okay.
I'm not so sure about the Cardinals though. I said earlier that I thought the Cards biggest problem this year was the downgrade in their bullpen, and this just hurts it more. I know that The Genius is trying to spin it as though Ankiel would be the last pitcher on the squad, but that's not true. The Card's let two quality left handed pitchers go in the offseason in Steve Kline and Danny Haren, so it seems obvious to me that they were expecting Ankiel to share the load with Ray King. This will limit what Tony LaRussa can do with his bullpen, especially since he had a penchant for playing match ups by bringing in his righty-lefty relievers to pitch to just one batter each per inning. On the plus side for St. Louis fans, they won't have to sit through any more two hour 7th innings.
posted by CT at 7:45 PM
2 Comments:
I totally agree, just tell us the truth! We've tolerated nearly a century of mediocrity, we can handle an injury in spring training.
--AJ
Mediocrity? I'd say your being generous.
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