NEWSLETTER
Hopefully this Alfonso Soriano injury isn’t serious.
Last night, Soriano was a late scratch thanks to some swelling and soreness in his hand. He suffered the injury the night before on a slide into second base, when he was inadvertently spiked by Logan Forsythe. On the scratch, Soriano said that he wanted to play, but he wasn’t “Superman,” and couldn’t make a go of it. No real worries – Soriano could probably use a breather day anyway. All indications were that he was going to miss only that game.
But this morning we learn that he’s undergoing a precautionary x-ray, and that he didn’t feel comfortable holding the bat. Dale Sveum added that Soriano couldn’t really swing a bat yesterday. Um. I mean, I don’t reckon Soriano would say he was going to play today if he was worried at all, but … he couldn’t swing a bat yesterday? That seems a bit more serious than a little ouchy from which a guy comes back the next day no worse for the wear.
I’m hoping the injury isn’t serious, the x-ray really is just uber-precautionary, and the fact that he “couldn’t” swing a bat yesterday was a bit of an exaggeration.
You don’t need me to explain to you why a serious Alfonso Soriano injury right now would be a huge bummer. The Cubs are undoubtedly working hard to put together a Soriano deal this month while he has some value (if the Cubs eat enough of his contract, I now believe they could actually get back a decent (not top) prospect), and an injury of even marginal severity will torpedo those efforts. We’ve heard this story before.
We’ll see if Soriano plays today, and if he looks normal in doing so. My fingers are crossed that this is a total non-story.
