NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hate being right. I just hate it. Earlier today I speculated that Vladimir Guerrero was more injured than the Angels were letting on. Guess what?
That’s right, boys and girls. The dream season just keeps on getting better. Guerrero is headed to the disabled list for at least a month. His strained pectoral muscle turned out to actually be a torn pectoral muscle. This is just crushing news to the Angels in a season that has already gone horribly awry.
Steve Bisheff of the LA Times paints a scary picture:
“Obviously, short of Vlad needing surgery, this is a big blow,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “We’ll see how he progresses. He’ll be re-evaluated in a month, and we’ll see where he is.”
It’s doubtful Guerrero will be able to return to right field this season, but the Angels are optimistic he will be able to return as a designated hitter at some point. Before leaving the team Thursday to return to Southern California to be examined, Guerrero, who is batting .250 with one homer and three runs batted in, said the injury does not affect his swing.
“We’ll see where he is.” I am pretty sure I heard thunder and saw lightning crash when I read that. There still seems to be a poor grasp on just how bad this injury is for Vlad. The silver lining is that he doesn’t need surgery now, but it sure doesn’t sound like it has been ruled out completely. Not to go all doomsday on everyone, but with Vlad’s contract up at the end of the season, we might very well have witnessed Guerrero’s last game as an Angel.
It appears as if the plan for now is to use Vlad’s absence to get Gary Matthews and Mike Napoli more playing time, but if you ask me this is the PERFECT chance to call up Brandon Wood and give him significant playing time. No roster move has been announced yet, and Reggie Willits isn’t eligible for a call-up for a few more days, so it should be interesting to see who gets promoted (Ryan Budde? Terry Evans? Sean Rodriguez? Brandon Wood?). Not as interesting as actually having the team’s best hitter back in the line-up healthy, but still.
Actually, what will be most interesting is just how well the Angel locker room responds to this latest hardship. The team has endured so much this season already with injuries and, of course, Adenhart’s death. They have to feel like the world is against them right now, I know I do. Scioscia is really going to have his work cut out for him keeping the team’s spirits up the next few days.