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The injury dilemma Figuring out what to do with ailing stars
Sports Illustrated's Stephen Cannella checks in with his baseball thoughts every Thursday throughout the season on CNNSI.com. Want to see a manager or general manager's head spin? Watch him try to figure out what to do when his star player gets hurt. Nothing throws teams for a loop more than injuries to All-Stars. Cases in point: the month of indecision and tooth-gnashing that preceded Nomar Garciaparra's Opening Day wrist surgery, and the three weeks of hemming and hawing before the Cardinals' decision this week to place Mark McGwire on the disabled list. The Reds are the latest team to wrestle with the problem. An MRI test revealed Tuesday that Ken Griffey Jr. -- who injured his left hamstring late in spring training and has been limited to pinch-hitting duty so far this season -- was found to have a partial tear in that muscle, not a strain as was originally diagnosed. The Reds announced the following day that Junior won't go on the DL, even though team doctor Tim Kremchek said, "This isn't going to be measured in days, it's going to be measured in weeks when he's ready to play." Figuring out how to fill the lineup void created by injuries like these is often the easy part. Since no replacement can be expected to match the production of Garciaparra, Griffey or McGwire, teams are usually satisfied if stopgap players can simply avoid tripping over their own shoelaces on the way to the batter's box. Figuring out what to do with the stars themselves is the problem. Do you put them on the DL, guaranteeing that you'll be without their services for at least two weeks and, perhaps, cost yourself revenue from fans who come to the ballpark specifically to stargaze? Or do you keep them active, hoping for a quick recovery and, in the meantime, force your team to play shorthanded because a roster spot is being eaten up by a very high-profile pinch-hitter? The Reds have chosen the latter option. Griffey's injury -- for which rest is the only cure -- doesn't affect his swing, meaning he can, in theory, function perfectly well as a pinch-hitter. "We could put him on the disabled list and call somebody up," says Reds GM Jim Bowden. "But in the ninth inning of a tie game who would you rather have hit, someone who's been in the minor leagues all season or Ken Griffey Jr.? I'd rather have Griffey hit. He's a weapon and it strengthens our bench just to have him sitting there." Griffey, who through Wednesday was 0-for-8 with four walks as a pinch-hitter this season, says the DL decision was out of his hands, that it was made by Bowden, manager Bob Boone and the Reds' medical staff. He also says he feels no pain in his hamstring; rather, the muscle feels "fatigued." Still, he has no idea when he'll be ready to play full-time, and he acknowledges that when he pinch-hits his contribution will end when the ball leaves his bat. "I might hit one off the wall and get a single," he says. Boone, who would probably carry his pinch-slugger to the plate in a rickshaw if it would ease the strain on Junior's leg, is working on a system to keep Griffey off the basepaths even when he's able to reach safely. Griffey has been instructed not to run hard when he hits the ball. Speedy utility player Donnie Sadler is Griffey's personal pinch-runner in key situations, though Boone says he'll also use pitchers Pete Harnisch and Chris Reitsma in that role.Wednesday's game showed all the kinks in the plan haven't yet been worked out. In the ninth inning of the Reds' 7-4 loss to the Brewers, Boone sent Reitsma to pinch-run for Griffey after Junior had drawn a pinch-hit walk. Minutes later, after Reitsma had advanced to second on another walk, Boone pinch-ran for his pinch-runner with pitcher Jim Brower, who had spent the top half of the inning warming in the bullpen. "I didn't want him crashing out there, and Brower has a little more experience on the bases," Boone said of Reitsma, a rookie who has won two of his first three starts and has a 1.40 ERA. "I want to keep my job another week." Even if it means managing with a 24-man roster. Sports Illustrated staff writer Stephen Cannella covers the baseball beat for
the magazine. Touching Base appears every Thursday on CNNSI.com.
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