Walking Wounded

Q: What has two feet, one hip, one knee, one thumb, one elbow, a back and 8 ribs?
A: The Red Sox Disabled List!

The roster of the Boston Red Sox is beginning to look more like a M.A.S.H. unit as injuries continue to pile up.  Last weekend's trip through San Francisco cost us three key players as Dustin Pedroia and Victor Martinez hit the DL while Clay Buchholz left his start after only one inning with a hyperextended knee suffered while running the bases (thanks Interleague play!). 

Adding to those injuries, we found out this week that Manny Delcarman is going on the DL with a strained forearm and Jason Varitek will miss up to 6 weeks with a broken foot.  The team recently made a move to acquire Kevin Cash from Houston due to the injuries at the Catcher position.  That's quite a down grade from V-Mart, and even a downgrade from Tek, who had been playing well in limited time.  Not having to carry such a heavy load this year behind the plate had been doing wonders for the Captain's offensive production.  At least now he'll be plenty rested for the stretch run.  Martinez should return in a couple weeks from a fractured thumb and the downtime should also help him recover from various other bumps and bruises that he's piled up lately.  In the meantime the team is left pretty weak at that position.

Injuries have been a problem all season for the Red Sox.  The Outfield has been a mess, particularly with speedy star Jacoby Ellsbury missing most of the season with broken ribs.  He attempted to make a brief comeback several weeks ago before shutting it back down again.  Jeremy Hermida is also sidelined with broken ribs, the result of which came in similar fashion to how Ellsbury was injured - by colliding with Adrian Beltre.  It's such an odd fluke that when J.D. Drew was forced out of the lineup with a stiff neck the media joked "where was Beltre?" when Drew suffered the injury.  Speaking of Drew, he has a history of missing handfuls of games throughout the season due to various injuries, and this season has been no different.  Add in that Mike Cameron missed a big chunk of the season with an abdominal injury and it's no wonder that the Sox have played so many games with an outfield consisting of players like Darnell McDonald, Daniel Nava and Josh Reddick.

The starting rotation has pitched pretty well after a slow start, but it hasn't been immune to the injury bug either.  Josh Beckett has been out of action with back spasms and hopes to return by the end of the month.  Dice-K has already been on the DL after starting the season there and just finished his second stint where he sat out two weeks after being pulled from a start at the last minute, forcing the team to use their bullpen for the entire game.

Perhaps the most devastating injury thus far has been to Dustin Pedroia.  The day after he went 5 for 5 with 3 Home Runs, Pedroia fouled a ball off his foot, causing a fracture that will take about six weeks to heal.  Similar injuries have been known to linger even longer than that, but Pedroia is hopeful that hard work and determination will help get him back in the lineup as soon as possible.  The Sox will likely be cautious with their former MVP, not wanting to force him too soon and potentially cause a setback that would keep him out even longer.  Still, Pedroia shows his grit and dirt dog style even through injury, as it was recently reported that he spent time fielding groundballs from his knees, despite the fact that he's unable to put any weight on his foot, because he felt the need to keep his arms in shape while his foot continues to heal.

Injuries are an unfortunate aspect of the game that all teams have to deal with.  While the team won't use it as an excuse because they know other teams have their own injury issues, there is no denying that the Red Sox have been hit hard by the injury bug this season.  No other team in the majors has had as many missed games by their starters or had as many star players miss significant time.  The Angels can make a case for having lost arguably their best offensive weapon in Kendry Morales for the season, while the Yankees have had to deal with injuries from Jorge Posada and Nick Johnson, but neither team can match the injuries the Sox have suffered in terms of quantity or quality (of the players, not the quality of the injury).

The emphasis this offseason was on pitching and defense. The pitching has been decent enough so far. Jon Lester recovered from a rough start to put himself in the Cy Young race while Buchholz has made a major jump from a prospect with potential to a bonafide All-Star caliber pitcher. John Lackey has been a bit of a disappointment so far looking at his numbers, but he has 9 wins, which is tied for the third most in the league. As for the defense, that grade remains incomplete. Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia have been as impressive as we have come to expect from them. We have seen Adrian Beltre flash the leather and make some great plays and Marco Scutarro has at least held his own. The infield defense has not been the problem, but injuries to the outfield have really cost them in the defensive rankings. A starting outfield of Ellsbury, Cameron and Drew looked great on paper, but unfortunately the trio have rarely had the opportunity to play together. Their replacements, while filling in admirably given the circumstances, are a downgrade on the defensive end.

It's amazing how the Red Sox have continued to persevere through all these injuries.  As it stands today, they are in second place in the AL East, only 1.5 games behind the Yankees and half game ahead of the Rays, putting them right in the thick of things, just as they expected to be all along.  They have been helped mostly by their offensive, which has been much better than expected, and currently lead the league and runs scored.  Adrian Beltre is having an MVP caliber season, hitting a ridiculous .349 (2nd in the AL) with 12 HRs, 53 RBIs and solid defense.  Kevin Youkilis is 2nd in the AL in OBP and 5th in OPS.  The resurgence for David Ortiz continues, as he's in the top 10 in the AL in both Slugging and OPS.  Pedroia and Martinez both got off to slow starts, but had started to heat up before injuries took them out of the lineup.  They will have to rebuild some of that momentum when they eventually return and in the meantime their replacements will have to at least try to hold their own.

It's certainly possible, and perhaps even likely, that these injuries will catch up with them at some point, sending the team into a downward spiral that could take them out of the race.  However, it's also just as likely that the team will continue to stay afloat, as they have been doing, long enough to get everyone healthy for the stretch run.  One positive that can be said about the recent string of injuries is that it couldn't have come at a better time, with two off days this week and the All-Star break coming up soon.  All those off days helps minimize the number of games these injured players will miss.  Hopefully several of them will return shortly after the break.  If the team is playing so well now, imagine how great they could be with a full squad firing on all cylinders.