The funny thing is, Quentin will appeal and likely get the suspension reduced to five games. Oh the joy of the Player's Union.
Greinke is having surgery on Saturday, which makes his recovery time longer than it would normally be.
Greinke will have his clavicle fixated. Increases time out. Eight weeks quoted by Dodgers is aggressive.So, there's that.
— Will Carroll (@injuryexpert) April 12, 2013
The Dodgers are going to have to make due without their No. 2 starter (an ace on two-thirds of MLB teams) for at least eight weeks. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he didn't pitch until after the All-Star break.
The team recalled Shawn Tolleson to replace Greinke on the roster, but that should be short-lived. Ted Lilly will likely be the beneficiary of Greinke's injury.
Chris Capuano is the better pitcher, but he's not stretched out to start after beginning the season in the bullpen. Plus, his skill set is much better coming out of the 'pen than Lilly.
Lilly has been unimpressive in his first two minor-league rehab starts: 12 IP, 17 H, 11 R, 10 ER, 4 HR, 1 BB, 10 K. At least he hasn't walked a bunch of minor-leaguers.
This doesn't bode well for the Dodgers. The clear loss is downgrading from Greinke to Lilly. If Chad Billingsley can give close to Greinke-level production while Zack is out, that would be great. He wasn't bad in his first start of the season. It's just a matter of his elbow holding up.
Jerry Hairston was also suspended for a game, which is no big deal. I'm surprised Matt Kemp didn't get any suspension at all.
Hanley Ramirez's return should help to mitigate the Greinke loss, but he won't be back for another month-plus. Until then, Kemp needs to break out of his slump and hope the rest of the rotation steps it up in Greinke's absence.
Photo credit: wisley, Flickr
Boo! BOOOOOOO!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't think Lilly will last long in the majors. I think we're, or more afraid of, getting HR-tastic Lilly compared to the rather dominant Lilly we saw at the start of last season. Just because he hasn't looked great in the minors.
If, however, we could split starts between Capuano and Lilly that would be great. And by split starts, I mean Lilly pitches 3-4 innings, and then we have Cappuano as a middle reliever for 3 innings. I mean, Donnie managing aside or given a manager willing to do so, would that be unreasonable?