This is NOT the way to begin spring training.
Less than a week into actual games, word from Florida is that Cardinals SS Jhonny Peralta has torn a hand tendon and is likely to have surgery. Recovery time has been pegged at 2-3 months.
Yes, months.
THIS JUST IN: Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta could miss 2-3 months with a left thumb injury. pic.twitter.com/ysu1X77LFO
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 7, 2016
Ugh.
Jedd Gyorko and Aledmys Diaz (who is on the 40-man roster) figure to get the first crack at being the Cardinals SS to start the season.
We’ll have lots of time to talk ourselves into someone. For now, though, its time to piss and moan…
Here are 5 things that really suck about losing Peralta:
1) JP was lit the first half of ’15.
Wouldn’t fault you at all for forgetting Peralta was an All-Star in 2015. By the time October came around it felt like he wasn’t swinging a white ash bat, but the whole damn tree.
But…
In the first half of last season, JP was a .298 hitter w/ 100 hits, 20 doubles, 13 home runs and 46 RBIs. That, my friends, is production that is going to be hard to replace at SS.
2) Ian Desmond was RIGHT THERE. Sort of.
Desmond might not even know about JP’s injury yet. But when he gets off the field and starts scrolling through Twitter… he’s going to have a little pang in his stomach.
And tomorrow when he’s standing out in left field shagging balls with Justin Ruggiano and Ryan Rua it’s probably going to pang again.
He’re what former GM Jim Bowden had to say about Desmond’s 1 year deal with the Rangers:
“I’m in a state of shock,” Bowden said on his SiriusXM MLB Network Radio program (via the Washington Post). “$8 million dollars? You talk about the worst negotiated contract that we’ve seen in the last five years. Is there a worse deal that we have ever seen, EVER? I havenever seen a worse contract, ever. Ever, for a player. You can’t tell me you can’t even get $10 million on a one-year deal?”
Ok.
The real reason Desmond couldn’t get a deal was that he got qualified from Washington. So any team that wanted to sign him had to give up their 1st round draft pick (top 10 protected).
The Cardinals wouldn’t have given up their 1st draft pick in ’16 to sign Desmond (23rd), but considering they also hold the 33rd and 34th picks, it wouldn’t have been insane.
BTW, my plan to have Desmond’s agent start leaking word that he was super unhappy playing left field so the Cardinals could swoop in and make an all-cash trade with the Rangers was roundly rejected when I tossed it out on a WhatsApp thread that includes several Cardinals fans.
3) Hand injuries are a bitch to predict.
See Molina, Yadier.
Here’s GM John Mozeliak on the injury:
“We have some history with this with Yadi ,” Mozeliak told reporters. “We’ve got to determine what this next step looks like.”
Yadi was injured in September of 2015. He’s still not playing baseball games in March of 2016.
So, um, about that 2-3 month timetable? “History” might not be the best thing to have here.
If you told me that JP was back on a rehab stint in late April, I’d believe that. If you told me he was a lost cause for ’16 because the first surgery didn’t take and he needs a do-over, I’d believe that.
I’m hoping for the best – preparing for the worst.
4) There ain’t a runway in 2016.
The NL Central is a 3-way brawl.
From – literally – GM1, the Cardinals are going to be fighting the Pirates for the division title. And while you’d like to think that games in the beginning of April aren’t do or die, I’m not so sure.
Also, I’ve heard the Cubs are going to be OK. But we’ll see.
The holes get deeper quicker in this division.
5) A power-light lineup is now lighter.
Jhonny Peralta – even with that major slump late last summer – ended up being tied for 2nd in home runs on the Cardinals in 2015 w/ 17.
The two guys tied at 4th are gone (Heyward, Reynolds).
So out of 137 total home runs the Cardinals produced in 2015, 43 are gone or on ice.
+++++
Here’s to a quick and complete recovery, Jhonny.
Photo: STL Baseball Weekly
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