This past week has been a rough one when it comes to Brewers injuries, so why not add one more to the mix?
To recap the past 7 days or so: Zack Greinke will start the season on the disabled list and miss 2-3 starts, Rickie Weeks is struggling with groin tightness and can only play a couple innings at a time, and now Ryan Braun is again struggling with an intercostal strain.
Braun was in the starting lineup — one that could be a preview of what to expect on Opening Day — but never got an at-bat, exiting after playing a half inning in the field. Adam McCalvy reports that Braun hit his right side against the outfield wall during batting practice, and felt discomfort on his left side during that half inning of game action.
The team describes Braun as day-to-day and says he was removed as a precaution. He was described as “fine” by Ron Roenicke after the game.
Still, you can understand the concern. This is the third time in four years that Braun has dealt with an intercostal strain, and it did cause him to miss significant time in 2008. The issue came up again in the spring of 2009, though, and he went on to have the best season of his career.
In other words, it’s way too early to panic or make any guesses on how this will affect his performance. At the same time, it is one more piece of bad news Brewers fans didn’t need to hear this week.
Corey Hart is still slowly progressing with his own injury, which probably contributes to the concern over Braun’s. An Opening Day starting outfield of Brandon Boggs–Carlos Gomez–Mark Kotsay isn’t what most of us had in mind, but it is a possibility if there are any (or in Hart’s case, any more) setbacks in recovery. That’s a bit of a scary thought, isn’t it?
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