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The dreaded oblique injury strikes again!

All these oblique injuries are starting to sound like that terrible banjo sound on those old Wurlitzer home organs.

oblique oblique oblique oblique oblique

Or Porky Pig.

oblique oblique that's all folks.

I wish the best for him, but I don't think he's a deal breaker.

I don't think it's a deal breaker either, but I'm not nearly as confident in Hancock, Franklin, or Springer as some are. I don't like Franklin at all. Hancock will probably be just fine, but I don't see him as a reliable pitcher. Springer has a very checkered history, and really only has two seasons that I consider quality for a reliever.

I thought going in that we would have a good pen largely because of Kinney, then Thompson and lots of depth. We need a strikeout arm out there, and right now, we don't have any.

So the pitching staff is...?

My guess would be:

Carpenter
Wells
Wainwright
Reyes
Looper

Hancock
Flores
Franklin
Johnson
Rincon
Thompson
Isringhausen

We need Springer to come back healthy. We're putting a lot of pressure on Izzy getting healthy. I really hope he doesn't come back too soon.

Phyrkrakr wrote:The dreaded oblique injury strikes again!

Dag-nabbit! I never herd a' so much tawk about them oh-bleeks!

OH-BLEEK THIS AND OH-BLEEK THAT!!

War in'the hail's an oh-bleek anyhoo?

In the long run it might've been best that Kinney went down before the season. He had quite a bit of success with everyone's friend BABIP last year, and I'm not sure if he would've kept up that success, regressed a little bit(aka Brad Thompson style), or fallen into oblivion like dozens of relievers before him.

Matthew Leach has the specifics.

JUPITER, Fla. -- The Cardinals announced on Thursday that reliever Josh Kinney will undergo ligament replacement surgery in his right elbow. Kinney has an almost complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow.

Dr. George Paletta, the Cardinals head team physician, will perform the surgery in St. Louis on Tuesday. Kinney is expected to miss the entire season following the procedure, commonly known as Tommy John elbow surgery. He should make a full recovery in time for the 2008 season.

The first time I heard elbow I thought "Tommy John."

That might affect his slider, his MLB pitch, and that might mean the end of the road for him. I'm not usually this pessimistic, so someone please tell me of someone that's come back with their same/better moving pitch... [-o<

TAZ wrote:The first time I heard elbow I thought "Tommy John."

That might affect his slider, his MLB pitch, and that might mean the end of the road for him. I'm not usually this pessimistic, so someone please tell me of someone that's come back with their same/better moving pitch... [-o<

You are asking if pitchers have come back from Tommy John? It's getting hard to find a pitching staff that doesn't have a pitcher who has come back from it. It's not routine, but the success rate is very high on the surgery and is certainly not a death sentence to a career.

jim wrote:You are asking if pitchers have come back from Tommy John? It's getting hard to find a pitching staff that doesn't have a pitcher who has come back from it. It's not routine, but the success rate is very high on the surgery and is certainly not a death sentence to a career.

I'm asking about breaking balls in particular after Tommy John. I don't think Kinney can make it back to the Bigs without his slider. His other stuff isn't that great...
Will it be the same when he comes back? I don't know... but that's what I'm pessimistic about.