Well Shit

I've been pretty busy lately, but after seeing Wells' injury, I have to say that despite my lack of an MD, and with keeping in mind the fact this is totally unofficial and my opinion, that Wells is done until a best case scenario of August, and late August at that.

Recently I hurt my wrist in a similar fashion as Wells - landing with all my weight on my wrist. I managed to cushion the blow on snow, and managed to deflect some of the weight, so that I didn't crush my wrist like he did. Still, I pulled a tendon, and it took me over a month to heal. And I heal pretty damn fast, and faster than the doctor's estimated time of 2 months.

Wells, on the other hand, looked like he absolutely destroyed his wrist. A break would be a good thing, as it would mean the bone would fully heal and there wouldn't be many long-term issues. A sprain, or a pulled muscle, would be the worst possible news. Soft tissue injuries (sprains) never fully heal, so he'd have to deal with lingering pain every now & then for the rest of his life.

The reason I suggest August - the bone has to heal, and that might just take a month. But after that, he'll have extreme difficulty squeezing, or holding, or applying pressure with the wrist. I know it took me a month of using a tensor band to be able to function, and even now my wrist isn't 100% up to strength. So I'm thinking since Wells got it even worse, he'll be out 2-3 months, and even then he won't be 100%.

As I was writing this my friend sent me this link from TSN:

Wells suffered a fractured left wrist diving for a ball during Friday's game against Cleveland. He is expected to miss six to eight weeks.

Accardo is sidelined with right forearm tightness. The righthander is 0-3 with a 6.57 ERA.

Both have been placed on the 15-day DL.

As I suspected, the injury would take around 2 months to heal. I assume that's the physical injury - he won't have any strength in his wrist, and I will guarantee right now he will have zero power when/if he returns in July or August. Look at Overbay or Derrick Lee of the Cubs as other wrist injury victims who took a year to gain strength back.

So don't kid yourselves - Wells is done for the year. He may be back in uniform on the active roster, but he'll be a glove man, and not an offensive player. I say this not out of pessimism, but from personal experience. I really feel for Wells as I understand what he's going through, and it's not going to be pleasant.

I haven't been following the Jays much, so the Accardo injury was a surprise. But at least we have some depth, and ironically it comes in the form of Benitez:

To fill the roster spots, the Blue Jays recalled infielder Joe Inglett from Syracuse and selected the contract of pitcher Armando Benitez from Syracuse.

So yeah, Inglett comes up as a utility guy, and Benitez comes up as the new RP. I figured Benitez would have little value, but he might be a key guy if this keeps up. Interesting that Wolfe stays down, but I mean Benitez would have been a FA had he not been brought up so it makes sense.

Wilkerson has new value in that he can be a capable 4th OF, able to play all 3 OF positions and 1B. Although he'll probably start in RF, which will be disappointing at some level if he plays like he did in Seattle. Lind needs to be looked at and given the job for the rest of the season sooner, rather than later. Unfortunately, I don't see this happening till June/July when we're out of the race, and Wilkerson & Stewart are batting 240 with a 669 OPS.

The Wells news is just killer though. I'm not buying 6-8 weeks, because IMO that's only for the physical damage to heal, and not the time frame for him to regain any meaningful amount of strength. Like I said before, he might somehow make the active roster in Late July or Early August, but he'll be totally ineffective with the bat because his wrist is going to have no strength. Vibrations from the bat, squeezing of the glove - that's gonna hurt like a bitch.

I really wish I had better news for all of you. We should all buy some of Colbert's Wrist Strong bracelets for Wells, cause he's gonna need em...

Twitch.