Good thing the Cardinals are starting the regular season on Sunday rather than Monday.
Less time for players to get injured.
Earlier Saturday, the Cardinals announced that newly acquired backup catcher Brayan Pena will undergo knee surgery to remove ‘a foreign body’.
Just in case you thought this might be a case of the Cardinals investing this off-season in a damaged player, Pena spoke about the injury and says it’s due to some wet steps:
Pena got very emotional talking about the injury. He hurt it slipping on dugout steps carrying his gear and is upset they watered the dugout
— Mark Saxon (@markasaxon) April 2, 2016
(Shakes head; looks down.)
Not that it really matters, but I believe the steps in question weren’t at Roger Dean Stadium, but at Tradition Field where the Cardinals ended spring training against the Yankees.
Pena joins shortstops Jhonny Peralta/Ruben Tejada and reliever Jordan Walden on the DL to start the season. Third base coach Jose Oquendo is also shelved for a TBD amount of time.
Eric Fryer has been called up to replace Pena. He had, to put it generously, a meager spring training.
Pena was brought in with the explicit purpose of giving Mike Matheny more confidence in resting Yadier Molina during the ’16 season. And you’d have to assume that it would have been much easier talking Yadi into a day off here and there in April and May as opposed to later in the season. So this is going to be a BIG test for coach Mike.
The more I type, the more worrisome this particular injury becomes. Not sure you could find a team who’s backup catcher was more important to the overall roadmap to the season.
Here’s to the Cardinals sticking to the gameplan. Fryer might be an albatross at the plate, but the last thing the Cardinals need is to go into the stretch run without Molina.
Get well, Mr. Pena.
Photo: USA Today
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