Hurting Reds
Seven players have undergone surgical procedures this season:
Aaron Harang (above, appendectomy), Ramon Hernandez (left knee), Alex Gonzalez (right elbow), Mike Lincoln (neck disc replacement), Wilkin Castillo (torn labrum), Danny Richar (torn labrum), Edinson Volquez (elbow ligament replacement)
Eleven currently are on the disabled list:
Aaron Harang, Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto, Mike Lincoln, Danny Richar, Wilkin Castillo, Ramon Hernandez, Chris Dickerson, Jay Bruce, Ryan Hanigan, Willy Taveras
MILWAUKEE — It is at the point where Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker sifts through the pile of medical reports on his desk and laughs — laughs out loud and shakes his head and mumbles almost incoherently.
“Every day, it seems,” he said. “Every day we lose somebody else. Never seen anything like it in my baseball life. We get a player back, like Scott Rolen, then we lose three more like Aaron Harang, Chris Dickerson and Ryan Hanigan.”
Rolen returned to third base Sunday, Aug. 23, but Saturday night, pitcher Harang underwent an emergency appendectomy and is gone for the season.
During Sunday’s 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, outfielder Chris Dickerson slid right onto the disabled list, rolling over his left ankle on a slide into first base.
Hanigan, the Reds’ starting catcher of late, was popped by a foul ball flush off his mask, left the game and went on the DL with a concussion.
With five weeks left in this dismal season, the Reds have had seven players undergo surgeries and 11 players currently are on the disabled list. The Reds have used the DL for 19 players in all.
“People keep wondering about our training methods,” Baker said. “We’ve only had one leg injury (Willy Taveras). What does training have to do with concussions (Rolen, Hanigan) and broken wrists (Jay Bruce) and neck discs (Mike Lincoln) and knees needing cleaned up (Ramon Hernandez) and torn labrums (Wilkin Castillo, Danny Richar)?
“If we were having a bunch of torn ligaments and torn hamstrings, then maybe you could question things,” he said. “But you can’t. It’s just bad luck. And we’ve had a lot of it this year, both medically and in breaks on the field.”
The Reds open a three-game series against the Brewers tonight in Miller Park and most likely Baker will come up with his 102nd different batting order and lineup in the first 124 games.
He will have two new players at his disposal, with catcher Corky Miller and outfielder Darnell McDonald on their way from Louisville.
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