Link: Rollins Finally Lands on DL | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/20/2008.
This is absurd. It's this type of stuff that makes Phillies fans question whether management knows what they are doing or not. Now in many cases, when head-scratching decisions are made, I always try and assume that there is information that we as fans are just not privy to.
But in the case of Rollins, I think everything is right there in front of us. Rollins rolled his ankle on April 8th, hasn't been able to start since, we're told its day-to-day, that he his getting close... Then he pinch-hits and we are told he's "getting close", but not there yet. Then has an MRI, but we are told it is still day-to-day.
Yeah. Right.
Here's the kicker: had Rollins been placed on the disabled list on, lets say, April 10, which is two days after he injured his ankle and the powers-that-be had enough time to know what they were dealing with, then he would be eligible to come off the disabled list on April 25th, which is five days from now. But by pussy-footing around with the ankle, now the earliest Rollins can return is May 5th. Which will mean Rollins will have gone nearly a month without starting a game.
Meanwhile, the offense languishes in station-to-station drudgery.
-----------------
Tonight, Adam Eaton will try and help to snap the four-game skid the Phillies against the Mets. Eaton has a 101 ERA+ so far this season, which is miraculous given his 73 ERA+ last season. When asked what the difference between this year and last year, Eaton had this to say:
"It's just a matter of being healthy; this time last year, I wasn't healthy, and now I am."
Oh so he was injured this time last year? No one thought it would be a good idea to send him to the disabled-list early on rather than cause problems that lingered throughout the season? Anyone seeing a pattern here?
-----------------
In the last year, we have seen one injury after another mishandled by the Phillies. Freddy Garcia was not given a physical before the Phillies traded for him and in doing so, prospects and $10 million was wasted. Adam Eaton's injuries were not properly taken care of in April last year and it nearly cost the Phillies their first playoff berth in 15 years. At the same time, Ryan Howard was playing on an injury to his leg that eventually sent him to the disabled list after a poor April. Injuries to Brett Myers and Ryan Madson later in the season ended up costing a significantly greater amount of playing time missed than originally thought would be the case for muscle injuries.
This season it's Jimmy Rollins. Who else is injured?
At this point I don't think you can ignore the fact that the medical and training staff in not taking care of things they way should. Perhaps they are dropping the ball or perhaps they are not getting the cooperation they need from players and management on the recommendations they make.
But if the Phillies miss the playoffs this season by a game or two this season, one of the first places you can point a finger is the way Jimmy Rollins injury was handled.
