It’s bad enough when a player heads to the disabled list, but it’s got to be 10 times worse for that player when his team and his manager rip him a new one for it.
Texas Rangers catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia was placed on the 15-day DL yesterday because of upper back stiffness.
Being hurt is nothing new for Saltalamacchia. Saltalamacchia was hurt twice during spring training, once for pain related to scar tissue near his September operation and later with spasms in the rhomboid muscle on the left side of his back.
Saltalamacchia has been “day-to-day” 10 times and on the DL once since his debut in 2007. That is a lot.
More importantly, Saltalamacchia really hasn’t produced even when he has been on the field. He is a career .251 hitter and has a career .313 OBP. I don’t think I am out of place to say he has been a bust so far at the major league level.
But this injury and stint to the DL is different for “Salty.” It’s different because his team and manager Ron Washington feel this could have been avoided.
"He needs to mature,” said Washington. “He has put us in a bad situation. What if he had walked last night and we tied the game? Was he going to tell me then that he couldn’t catch?
"I don’t care how badly he wants to play, you can’t just think about yourself. He was supposed to be healthy when we left spring training. That’s what he told us. I’m not disappointed in him for being hurt; that happens. I’m disappointed in how he has handled it."
I think it is safe to say that Salty will be in Washington’s doghouse when he gets back. Look for Taylor Teagarden to get most of the playing time behind the plate while Saltalamacchia is out.
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