Rays Colored Glasses: Life Without Longo

Evan Longoria speaks about his recent trip to the DL…

"“I think the results of the MRI were not what I expected. It felt a lot better than what it showed. I guess we’ll treat it like a two- or three-week deal and when we get to that point, we’ll just adjust to move forward or push back, depending on how it goes after that.”"

The Rays third baseman will miss at least three weeks with a strained left oblique. The biggest question mark here is, what happens when he returns? Longoria didn’t seem like he was in too much pain but apparently the MRI showed worse. What scares me here is that Longoria has been known for two things; His vicious swings in the batters box and his range and arm at third base. Both of which aggravate your oblique muscle.

The first thing that I think of is Ryan Zimmerman. He missed the final two weeks of the 2010 season and had the entire off-season to heal, recover, and just simply relax. Spring Training starts and during the first week of games, Zimmerman has an oblique strain, I’m sorry an “abdominal strain”. The Washington Nationals looked at it as a non-issue, I looked at that as being a bit naive. Over/Under 10 games missed by Zimmerman this season with oblique/abdominal issues? I’ll take the Over. Anyway enough about the Nationals (at least they have a win).

The point I’m trying to make here is simple. This type of injury, to this type of player, is something that triggers red-flags all over the place for me, as it did with Zimmerman. Will he be back right after the 15 days? Will he have to adjust his swing? Will he have to adjust his throw? Loss of mobility/range? It is impossible to take the burn and desire out of a Major League Baseball player, especially at Longoria’s age (25). My concern is that playing with that intensity, and to that caliber, this injury may cloud any chance of the Rays playing in October.

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