Last Friday night, a pitch got away from Jonathan Sanchez - I know! - and hit Indians outfielder Shin-Soo Choo in the thumb. The pitch broke the thumb, and early estimates had Choo out of action for six weeks.
Shin-Soo Choo Injury: Indians Outfielder Has Surgery
That timetable just grew longer. Buster Olney:
Shin-Soo Choo had surgery on his broken thumb today. Range of possible return before the surgery: back in late August to out for year.
So we’ve gone from six weeks to eight weeks or even the rest of the season. And even if Choo does come back before the end of the year, there’s no guarantee that the Indians will still be in the race, or that Choo will hit like Choo.
Not that he’d been hitting like his normal self in 2011. That might be the silver lining here - the Indians have been competitive while Choo has underachieved. The team was counting on him to improve in the second half, but they’ve gotten this far without him making a big contribution, so this is a DL stint they might survive.
Austin Kearns, Travis Buck, and Shelley Duncan have all started games in right field since Choo got injured.
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