Juan Uribe and the season that wasn’t ends with surgery
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And so ends one of the most disappointing seasons ever for a Dodger.
Juan Uribe is going under the knife.
I’m not sure if a season that never really was can actually come to an end, but Uribe is scheduled to have surgery to repair a left sports hernia Wednesday.
In the Dodgers’ brief announcement of the surgery they said:
‘Juan will be able to start his rehab within the next two weeks and recovery is expected to be 6-8 weeks. It is anticipated that he will be ready to compete in spring training.’’
Let’s see, the outside of an eight-week recovery would have him all better by early November. Yep, better just anticipate he’ll be ready to compete in spring training three months after that.
Listen, I thought signing Uribe was a smart move. Not three years and $21-million smart, but considering the infield need and general lack of available power on the market, he seemed a very nice fit. Apparently, though, the market pushed him to three years and that $21 million, which was a problem at the outset, considering he was coming off a career year and was 32.
And then at no point did he actually deliver, although he was more disappointing than completely awful the first month (.247, 3 homers, 14 RBI). He injured his hip the first time in May, and it was all downhill, even if starting pretty far down the hill to begin with. He went on the disabled list the first time with a left hip flexor strain on May 22, and then again on July 30, never to be seen again. When the hip healed and he still had trouble running, they gravitated to the sports hernia.
On the season, he appeared in only 77 games, batting .204 with four homers and 28 RBI. His on-base percentage was a lowly .264, his slugging percentage .293. To his credit, he did prove valuable as a versatile glove. He was signed to primarily be a second baseman, but with Casey Blake’s injury-filled season he mostly played third and dabbled some at short.
How hard he actually worked to get better I cannot honestly tell you. When you have that roundish frame to begin with, suspicions are going to run high. Still, sports hernias are no joke and there is little choice but to give him the benefit of the doubt.
The Dodgers have two more years and $16 million left on his contract, so they’d better hope the surgery performed by Dr. Craig Smith in Los Angeles cures what ails him.
A bankrupt team still in almost desperate need of power has to try and unearth it someplace. Even under the scalpel.
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-- Steve Dilbeck