Rollins placed on 15-day DL; INF Valdez recalled

Jimmy Rollins will head back to the disabled list with a right calf strain after re-injuring it in last night's game. Wilson Valdez, who was designated for assignment to make room for Rollins at the beginning of the homestand, takes his spot on the roster. Rollins has appeared in only a dozen games this season. Beerleaguer: I heard a doctor describe the restorative scar tissue the body generates to heal a partially torn muscle as the rubber band you find behind a radiator. It seems fine, but you can't trust it. That's what happened here. Rollins essentially skipped his rehab assignment, and it was a mistake.

Comments

[bake]

Happy freeking birthday :(

[vegas]

Wilson Valdez makes it back, the Phils get a little lucky with that. It seems like Jimmy was rushed, did he even make a start in the minors? July-Aug is when they should be at full roster strength.

[bay_area_phan]

When Rollins first went on the DL, I distinctly recall posting something to the effect that the Phillies should wait until he's totally healthy, then wait another week or two. I don't profess to be smarter than the Phillies' doctors, but this just seems like it was both foreseeable and avoidable. I have to wonder if the decision to activate him so soon was truly a medical decision or if the Phillies were in such a hurry to bring Rollins back that they ignored, or discounted, certain medical advice.

[Old Phan]

BAP, agreed. They were playing fine and didnt need to rush him back, but it appears they did.

[st]

they did wait until he was fully healthy. he was healthy at week 4 and they waited an extra week.

[st]

and one more thing. what's this "they" rushed him back? it was rollins decision. he said he felt he was ready. he got checked out by the team doc and was activated from the dl. it was rollins decision. that was in like 5 articles on monday

[Rex]

Yeah, I'm not sure how you pin this on the Phillies. They put him on the Dl worked him out slowly gave him a few minor league games where nothing popped, or pulled, or strained asked Jimmy how he felt. Jimmy said 100% and here we are. I mean a strain isn't like a break where you can totally see and know the extent of the healing.

There's also the fact of the whole Correlation does not equal Causation point where just because he strained the same calf doesn't mean that the first injury was any cause for this one it could just be a fun coincidence.

[GTown_Dave]

As I pointed out in the previous thread, this same sequence of events occurred in '07, only the player in question was Victorino & not Rollins. Apparently, the relevant lessons were not learned.

[st]

rollins had mri. grade 1 strain. out at least 2 weeks per amaro

[denny b.]

2 weeks?

If it were me, we wouldn't see J-Roll until late June.

[bay_area_phan]

I'm not usually one to second-guess medical decisions, but this one just seemed so foreseeable. Rollins may have said he felt fine but, no matter how he feels, certain types of injuries just take a certain amount of time to heal. He came back much sooner than anyone expected him to & now we see why the original timetable was for a June return.

As I said in my earlier post, I don't necessarily blame the doctors because we don't know what the medical advice was. For all we know, they may well have recommended against his coming back this soon, and their advice was simply ignored.

[st]

he'll probably be out 4. it's the mildest of strains to the calf but i'm sure they'll be extra precautious

[st]

no, he was cleared bap. that was reported. and the original timetable was 2 to 4 weeks and he came back in 5 weeks.

[J. Weitzel]

It was between a grade 1 and 2 strain. Mildest would have been straight 1.

[J. Weitzel]

Clarification: the first strain was between grade 1 and 2 if that's what you were referring to.

[Andy]

Not necessary to play the blame game. No matter who thought it was not too early for him to return, it clearly was. What might be more pertinent is Ruben's off-season acquisition and signing of Castro. He was clearly signed as a seldom used 25th player just to be there as someone who could, in a pinch, play any position. Instead, he now becomes the starting shortstop. (Valdez, while he performed better in his last major league series, is also not capable of being a mjor league starter.) He is not equipped to fill that role adequately.

Many, I seem to remember, wondered why Amaro would throw so much money at such a mediocre (at best) option. We now get to experience the consequences.

Of course, with the rest of the line-up hitting outrageously well and the starting pitching beginning to look very good (the development of those cutters appears to have been a good long term thing, despite their short-term lousiness), who cares if we have a pair of lousy hitting shortstops. They almost won the penant, once, with Bobby Wine.

[Dukes]

umm..so which one are we talking about? is this one a straight 1 strain or between a 1 and a two or was that the other one? need some clarification.

[Andy]

Oh...and thank the baseball gods that Valdez cleared waivers.

[st]

well, all the beat writers twitter says grade 1 strain. i haven't seen anything that says between a 1 and a 2. i think jw might have been talking about the original injury in april being between a 1 and a 2

[Rob]

Loved those days of "Wine and Rojas", what a difference a few decades make!!

[Cipper]

I might be a moron, or this might have been discussed since i haven't read the last threads comments... but did JW get sponsorship from COMCAST? I mean, with that high quality video and all it makes sense to me... I hope this is just the beginning of the new BL!

[HOLY MACKEREL]

what's tonite's lineup?

[GTown_Dave]

Zolecki also points out that Greg Dobbs was bothered by this same injury "... throughout last season, and he only recovered completely after the offseason." This despite the fact that he spent several weeks on the DL during said season. Basically, it would appear that Jimmy would need to miss several months for his calf to really get back to 100%. However, that's not particularly practical given the needs of the team. I'd expect Rollins back in a few weeks, but I also wouldn't be surprised if he was on & off the DL, or at least somewhat less quick/mobile for the remainder of the season.

[aksmith]

Actually, they almost won a pennant with a combination of Bobby Wine and Ruben Amaro Sr. if I remember correctly.

Don't know if that has some cosmic value or not. Maybe if Wine was scouting for the Phillies presently we would be ripping a hole in the time/space continuum. And that would guarantee that we don't blow the lead down the stretch this time.

That was my first season of actually going to games at Connie Mack.

[Old Phan]

aksmith, 1964? That was my first season of going to Shibe as well.

[GTown_Dave]

Matt Gelb (via Twitter): "A Charlie pregame gem: "When I first came to the big leagues, there was no DL. They just sent your ass to the Minor Leagues."

:-D

[aksmith]

Good times. Did they call it Shibe then? I don't remember because I was nine years old.

Went to a game Bunning pitched against the Giants in June that year. First game I ever saw. A bunch of hall of famers on the field that day.

[bay_area_phan]

Andy: Good post. I think you're dead-on that Castro was signed to be a little-used emergency backup. If the Phillies had know that Rollins would miss 2 months, something tells me that Amaro would have signed a far better backup than Castro.

That's worth thinking about for next season, when Polanco will be 35, and Rollins and Utley will be 32. What are the odds that all 3 can make it through 2011 without a significant injury?

[Old Phan]

G-Town, great quote by UC.

ak, no, I think it was officially Connie Mack at that point, but I think it was still inscribed "Shibe" but I'm not sure. I know my father and grandfather always called it Shibe.

[Yo, New Thread]

yo, new game thread.