Utter Deflation: LaRoche To Have Surgery

Nomar Garciaparra (right wrist) and Andy LaRoche (right hand) each got hurt today. X-rays on Garciaparra were negative; they haven't been reported regarding LaRoche. Silence isn't golden.

Jason Schmidt will open the season on the disabled list, Joe Torre said, according to Diamond Leung of the Press-Enterprise.

Jeff Kent and Takashi Saito are also still out for the time being, but Hong-Chih Kuo might pitch Saturday, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.

Tony Abreu went 1 for 3 in his return to action.

Update: Yep - bad news. Tony Jackson of the Daily News says LaRoche "has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb and will need surgery, which Ned said will take place in the next couple of days, probably in Los Angeles." He's going to be out for weeks, maybe months.

Comments

[Jon Weisman]

1.  I see Tony Jackson's blog in my Google ad.

[underdog]

2.  La Roche is hopefully fine. We just need to wait for him to get home from his carpool.

[Bob Timmermann]

3.  I see dead people in your Google ad.

[fanerman]

4.  2 What an environmentally friendly ballplayer, that LaRoche guy.

[Marty]

5.  This made me laugh.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c6a5728047

No nudity, but drug references

[Jacob L]

6.  I fell asleep before the end of the UCLA/Stanford game, and haven't seen any replays of the foul that was debated in the last thread. I just gotta ask why this is a big deal? Poor officiating influencing the result of a Pac-10 basketball game? Unheard of!

[Eric Enders]

7.  The funny thing is, it was really a very well officiated game IMO until the blatantly blown call at the end.

[trainwreck]

8.  From previous thread:

BH, that guy is going to be in for a let down. Jrue Holiday is the best player in the country, let alone point guard.

[El Lay Dave]

9.  5 My company firewall deems that website NSFW - "Pornography/Sexual Materials". Guess I'll get my laughs later, at home.

[trainwreck]

10.  5
That was good. That guy nails the Plainview voice down. I also loved the bowling alley on the television.

"I clear your bong load."

[Kevin Lewis]

11.  Just watched the video. There was plenty of body contact before the block, so it looks like it could have gone either way.

[Eric Enders]

12.  5 Holy cow that's funny.

[El Lay Dave]

13.  From Gurnick's Notes:
Garciaparra said his wrist was numb, but it wasn't nearly as swollen as LaRoche's thumb.

I don't like the sound of that.

[El Lay Dave]

14.  13 The wrist being Nomar's.

[El Lay Dave]

15.  Also in Gurnick's Notes is this from Saito:
"I don't want to be on the mound Opening Day if I'm worried about my calf. If I have to, I would tell the coaches I'm not ready. I don't want to affect the team because of an injury. I would like to be 100 percent."

[Gen3Blue]

16.  Was the game today on MLB-TV, and did someone see it. I had been under the impression that Laroche fell on his wrist, and this conjured horrible thoughts of a serious sprain, that could be worse than the already bad broken wrist. Now I hear that it was the ball hitting his thumb. A broken or sprained thumb is bad enough, but not quite as complicated as a wrist. Did anybody see this?

[silverwidow]

17.  LaRoche out 8-10 weeks

Damnit.

[Dodgers49]

18.  13 but it wasn't nearly as swollen as LaRoche's thumb.

I'm still trying to figure out how LaRoche managed to get hit on the thumb of his right hand by a thrown ball he was diving for while having a glove on his left hand.

[trainwreck]

19.  17
Stupid life.

[underdog]

20.  Crud.

Yep, more from tony jax:
http://www.insidesocal.com/dodgers/

Ah well, get the injury out of the way now, I guess. :-/ Maybe by the time he comes back (which would be, May?) Nomar could be in a bad slump and Andy will get another chance.

[fanerman]

21.  17 Sigh. Alright Nomar. Keep mashing and stay healthy so we don't trade for Inge.

[Humma Kavula]

22.  These things happen. These things happen. These things happen.

(sways, holding knees; sits up, removes i, n, g, and e keys from keyboard)

[underdog]

23.  I'm still confused as to how he injured himself, too. Was it Ardoin's throw, or by falling on it?

[KG16]

24.  17 - hope Andy likes, Vegas, he's going to be spending a lot of time there this summer.

[fanerman]

25.  24 If Nomar is our primary 3rd baseman, Andy won't spend thaaat much time there. If we get Inge, then he probably will.

[Eric Enders]

26.  "What is the recovery after ulnar collateral ligament repair?
Following surgery, patients will be placed in a cast for four to six weeks to protect the repaired ligament. At that point, gentle motion of the finger will begin. Most patients are able to play sports 3 to 4 months after surgery"

http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/handcondiitions/a/gamekeepers.htm

[KG16]

27.  Hey, Furcal has a cannon, yeah? He could maybe play third if Nomar isn't producing and Hu can play short?

Yeah?

Please, someone tell me this can work.

Please...

[underdog]

28.  26 3-4 months?! Why did they say 8-10 weeks then? Being overly optimistic?

Sigh. I hate Spring Training.

Ah well, Andy will be our starting 3rd baseman next year.

[Humma Kavula]

29.  20 The proper thing now is to root as hard as we can for Nomar to hit and to stay healthy. If he does neither, there will be a trade and we will not like it, I promise you.

[ROC]

30.  17 Diamond shares the bad news.

I already leaned toward's his blog more than Tony's, mostly because I think it's cool that a baseball reporter speaks the extra languages he does. Not complaining about elevators helps, too.

But now that Jackson's ego seems to be have become a factor, I've got no reason to visit given timely news comes from other sources.

[fanerman]

31.  29 Exactly.

[Dodgers49]

32.  23 Was it Ardoin's throw, or by falling on it?

From Tony Jackson:

>> In the top of the fifth, with runners on first and third, catcher Danny Ardoin tried to pick D'Angelo Jimenez off third. But LaRoche, who might have been screened out by Jimenez trying to get back to the bag, was hit in the right wrist by the throw. <<

[bigcpa]

33.  28 In order for LaRoche to be as secure in March 2009 as say Loney is now, he would have to log 100 games this year and play well.

[trainwreck]

34.  Just another reason to hate the St. Louis Cardinals.

[El Lay Dave]

35.  Danny Ardoin is this year's Jason Repko. Except Repko had a legitimate shot at the major league roster.

[Eric Enders]

36.  According to Dr. Frank Jobe's website, "with a complete tear, the patient can anticipate six to eight weeks in a cast prior to beginning strengthening and rehabilitation exercises."
http://tinyurl.com/23cbl6

The Dodgers' estimate of 8-10 weeks is frankly sounding a little optimistic.

[bhsportsguy]

37.  From another site, sounds like you get the cast off in about 6-8 weeks but then you have to regain your strength.

You will be placed in a thumb spica cast after surgery for four weeks. Some surgeons will take the spica cast off at four weeks and then place your thumb in an immobilizing splint for another two weeks.

Some patients work with a physical or occupational therapist to help regain range of motion and strength in the thumb. Most patients are able to return to normal activity three months after their surgery.

[Humma Kavula]

38.  36 Is LaRoche's injury a "complete tear?" If not -- if it is a partial tear -- does that lessen the healing time?

That is the straw I am currently grasping at. Damn... straw... always out of reach!

[Jon Weisman]

39.  24 - Vegas is completely beside the point.

[underdog]

40.  Welp, now I hope Nomar can stay healthy, as was said above, because I don't like the idea of whatever "Plan B" is in Ned's safe.

So Nomar, Abreu and then who? Angel Chavez (this year's Wilson Valdez).

[Bob Timmermann]

41.  29 and 38
both contain the letters i, n, g, and e.

He lied to me!

[Disabled List]

42.  Too bad Ethier can't play 3B. What a bummer.

[Humma Kavula]

43.  41 You'r r ht. just thought t would b a fu y th to say.

[Eric Enders]

44.  Also, the ulnar collateral ligament is the same one that pitchers tear which requires Tommy John surgery, except in the elbow. So this is basically like the thumb version of TJ surgery. Except it sounds like instead of using a replacement ligament from elsewhere in your body, they simply repair the one that's already there.

[fanerman]

45.  Delwyn should buy a 3B glove to go along with 2B and OF (and his catcher's gear).

[fanerman]

46.  42 I'd take a Nomar-Ethier 3B/LF over Ethier-Pierre 3B/LF.

[ibleedbloo]

47.  You know its bad news when the title of the article you're reading changes 3 times before you get to the last post.

I liked it better when I was in the waiting room.

[Icaros]

48.  All these injuries, and they never happen to Juan Pierre...

[Eric Enders]

49.  Another bad thing about this is that even when LaRoche comes back, the Plaschkes of the world are going to pin a J.D. Drew-type reputation for fragility on him, even though this was a freak injury unrelated to his durability.

[El Lay Dave]

50.  LaRoche entered the game as a PR for Nomar after the HBP. I wonder if/when he was scheduled to play today. Is it irony if he was on the field only because of what happened to Nomar?

[fanerman]

51.  sigh. limb by limb and tooth by tooth, i wish andy laroche was bulletproof.

[Humma Kavula]

52.  Perhaps it's time for a calmly worded letter urging Mr. Colletti not to make a panic move. This is bad, but let's wait and see how Nomar is, if he hits, if anyone (Abreu?) can fill in, and so on. Wait a beat and see what happens.

[Kevin Lewis]

53.  I feel like Chunk in Goonies. Where is the whip cream

[bhsportsguy]

54.  52 It is not as if LaRoche is never coming back, basically they are kind of the situation they were in last year.

Now, if something was to happen to another player, then I might begin to worry.

[fanerman]

55.  30 I like Diamond Leung's blog, too, but for some reason it slows down my browser (Firefox) a ton. Is there some script I can disable or anything? Anybody know?

Thanks.

[ImprobableImpossible]

56.  I get out of a two-hour meeting with the boss and flip to DT to get my spirits back up.

Well, there's always happy hour.

[Zach the Ripper]

57.  Not only will we now have to watch Nomar flail at first pitch strikes for the next 3 months, but I'm guessing Laroche's injury also hurts our lineup by forcing Kemp ( or Ethier if Joe knows whats best for the team)into the 8th spot.
Laroche woudl have hit 8th if he earned the 3b job, but since it is now Nomar's, there is no way Torre bats Nomar behing Kemp or Ethier...the funny thing is we know he'll bat Pierre before Nomar. What a topsy turvy world this is.

[underdog]

60.  56 That's where I'm heading now. Drink up, and then going to Cobb's Comedy Club. If that doesn't make me forget about Andy's thumb, nothing will.

[Zach the Ripper]

61.  58, 59

Uhh...i'm gonna blame that one on my PC.

[Humma Kavula]

64.  54 And what happened last year? He got Shea Hillenbrand.

Maybe the Inge rumor came out of nowhere. That's entirely possible. But if it didn't come out of nowhere -- if there was some small shred of truth, even if it was just a call to see if the Tigers would take Pierre for him -- it's a sign that the Dodgers have Inge on their radar... and having both third basemen go down, even briefly, on the same day, scares me.

[jtrichey]

65.  44 They are the same ligament in name only. They are completely separate ligaments in actuality and the surgeries really should not be compared.

I am surprisingly not depressed by this. Nomar now has to either put up or shut up, and if he puts up, that can only be good for the Dodgers. June isn't that bad a starting time for LaRoche. The worst thing is this could be a power sapping injury for this year.

[Zach the Ripper]

66.  62, 63

Yep, not my fault....but regardless...Sorry about that guys.

[Bob Timmermann]

69.  This isn't nearly as bad as the 1986 spring training injury to Pedro Guerrero.

[fanerman]

70.  61 62 63 That one, too?

That's a hypothetical question. You don't have to answer that.

[Bob Timmermann]

71.  Good luck, Zack, we're all counting on you...

[underdog]

72.  So if LATed refers to being preempted by a new post up top, and underdogged is an accidentally giant cut and paste, can a "zach the ripper" be multiple triple posts? that'd be cool.

okay, i'm off to drink and laugh and cry.

[Marty]

73.  You must have the new Intel Tri-core chipset.

[Zach the Ripper]

74.  How fast do you guys want that comment #'s to go up? I can keep doing it if we want to go for a record.

[StolenMonkey86]

77.  The record is over 1000 from the 4+1 game. Just hit refresh instead of submit again. :)

[Bob Timmermann]

78.  This isn't Inside the Dodgers. Jon isn't worried about the comment count.

[Zach the Ripper]

79.  I swear it is my computer...I just hit submit one time...and didn't hit another key....it appears to be some sort of conspiracy to take the focus off my words of wisdom in post 57....and 58...and 59.

[fanerman]

82.  We're not big on breaking comment records. They kind of just happen. Anyway, how the heck is your computer doing that? You don't have to answer that question.

[Zach the Ripper]

83.  There is no place like home.....

[evenatriple]

86.  Totally off the subject, but does anyone have suggestions for parking at the Coliseum for the 3/29 game? Somehow the idea of trusting the McCourts to handle properly a shuttle from Dodger Stadium for thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people, seems foolhardy. I have this image of a line of 15,000 people waiting at midnight for the six buses to come back. On the other hand, the idea of fighting with 115,000 other people for parking in the area seems crazy too. Any USC fans have suggestions? I'm told that people in that area often "rent" their front lawns for football game parking. Does anyone have suggestions for residential streets in that area where this happens, and that might be easy/safe to get in and out of? Thanks

[Marty]

87.  I'll be your Helpdesk: Reboot!

[Jon Weisman]

88.  83 - Time for you to reboot.

[Jon Weisman]

89.  87 - Hey, I'm as smart as the tech guy!

69 - God, that's true.

[MC Safety]

90.  I could almost cry right now. Lets hope Nomar can top last years campaign.

[trainwreck]

91.  60
Who are you going to see?

I worked at Cobbs last week for Last Comic Standing. I got to feel important watching the show from the balcony.

[trainwreck]

92.  I see that Hal Sparks is performing. No wonder underdog had to go get drunk.

[underdog]

93.  92 Sigh. I'm still stuck at work. Drinking and comedy has to wait. Stupid computer. Yeah, Hal Sparks. Not my first choice. I wanted to go see Dana Gould, whom I love, tonight, but my friends already had tix for this one and it was free and what the heck. I should sit in the front row with my arms crossed and look at him like, "You better be funny!"

And here we go.

[Gen3Blue]

94.  The worst problem with this is it begins to make Andy seem like Jason Werth, Drew, or Nomar. I hope it is not true. There is something I am missing here, but I can't grasp it yet.

[Andrew Shimmin]

95.  I haven't had a left arrow key for about six months. Tapping the sensor that's below the key (if the key were there, that is) still works.

[Bumsrap]

96.  I am now rooting for D. Young to be moved to third and surprise there like he has been doing at second. There is always Dewitt.

[Eric Enders]

97.  If Brandon Inge is Option C, I have to think DeWitt is something like Option J.

[Humma Kavula]

99.  97 Option J, in the BTF sense? Because no one wants to see that.

[Bob Timmermann]

98.  America's streets are safe again. Marion Jones has entered prison.

[MC Safety]

100.  93 Dana Gould is hilarious.

[fanerman]

101.  98 If you were a stand-up comedian and a friend of mine had free tickets to one of your shows, I'd wish I could go see Dana Gould but figure "what the heck" and go see you instead.

[CanuckDodger]

102.  I have to be the only person here who felt HAPPY reading the news about LaRoche. Why? Because I had already resigned myself to the inevitability of Torre choosing Garciaparra over LaRoche, and whether LaRoche went to the bench or to Vegas, either way it would be a huge injustice directed at LaRoche, in my opinion. And it probably would have embittered LaRoche. But now, Torre can't CHOOSE Nomar over LaRoche. The decision has been made for him. And LaRoche can't feel slighted by the Dodgers the way Loney did last year when he got upset and asked for a trade.

[GMac In The 909]

103.  56 Pssshaw. Like you know anything aboot happy hour.

[fanerman]

104.  102 A lot of my sadness comes from being uncertain about whether or not Ned overreacts and decides to "add some depth." Part of me did feel relief for the reasons you said.

[gpellamjr]

105.  102 That's exactly how I felt. One less thing to be infuriated about as the season begins. And Nomar is a guy I can root for. Now there's no reason not to.

[Jack Dawkins]

107.  Was at the game today and had a good view --happened to be standing just to the 1st base side of the press box -- of both Nomar's HBP and the LaRoche injury. At the time Nomar's looked more painful and serious than Roche's, but alas . . .

At this stage, there just seem like so many other options -- Abreu, DYoung -- to act as a stopgap at 3rd so I also don't see why Coletti should be considering Inge or something worse.

Other tidbits if anyone cares: Kent's hammy may be bothering him but he took a lot of BP. Also saw him talking to Plaschke so brace yourself for a Kent column tomorrow.

Aaand, Mark Sweeney signs a lot of autographs.

Going to Sunday's game, so it looks like it will practically be another DT Day :)

[regfairfield]

108.  Sadly, I think going to go get someone, not necassarily Inge, might be a good idea. Finger injuries have a tendency to linger and cause people to forget how to hit (see Julio Lugo and Coco Crisp for recent examples) and I don't know if we can count on Nomar to be healthy, or Abreu/Young to be productive enough to play a corner. This injury might have just killed our third base production for the season.

[CanuckDodger]

109.  Jon, if Frip isn't banned from this site for #106 IMMEDIATELY I am going to be pretty angry about it. It is only out of respect for you and the other commenters that I have resisted telling Frip what I would very much like to happen to him and where he can go after it happens.

[Andrew Shimmin]

110.  109- Jon's email address is in the side bar.

I don't think I'd have been able to convince him to kill D4P's account if I'd made it a public ultimatum. . .(just kidding)

[Eric Stephen]

111.  LaRoche's injury is further proof that Kobe is the Pie Man. Since Kobe didn't have the finger surgery within his allotted time period, someone else in the vicinity had to bear that burden.

108
I don't share your pessimism toward 3B. I think April and most of May will feature Nomar plus a healthy dose of Abreu. I don't think Ned will go into panic mode or anything to block LaRoche long term. I'm sure the front office is still high on Andy.

[natepurcell]

112.  At least its not his left thumb since he's a right handed hitter.

[regfairfield]

113.  108 I'm actually not scared of blocking LaRoche right now. I'm more concerned about LaRoche being lame for the rest of the season.