Roberts gets injections in back, out several days
Brian Roberts, who has been out since Monday with spasms in his troublesome back, had “trigger-point injections” on Friday and is expected to have a MRI on Saturday.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter said his All-Star second baseman, who has had just 12 at-bats this spring, will be out until at least Tuesday. He saw a specialist on Friday who examined him last year.
“He’s got a lot of tests from previous times that we are able to compare it to, and there wasn’t any real red flags today,” Showalter said. “So we’ll see how he plays in the next day or two but will probably let it quiet down for at least two or three days.”
Roberts, 33, has played in just four games this spring, going 3-for-12 with a double and two runs scored. The offense’s table setter was limited to 59 games in 2010 because of injuries including a herniated disk in his back.
He entered the spring saying he hadn’t felt so good in nearly two years, but now there is no set timetable for his return.
Showalter said it is early enough that the team is not too concerned.
“We are at a stage still in spring training where we’ve got opportunity, where time is on our side a little bit right now,” Showalter said. “So I don’t think we are at that point [of worrying] yet. But the big thing is to identify and see if we can do something to eliminate it and make sure we rule out anything else. But so far so good.”
Cesar Izturis played second base on Friday and minor leaguer Ryan Adams is expected to start at second in Saturday’s exhibition. The Orioles also have Robert Andino, Brendan Harris and Nick Green who can play second base.
“We have got plenty of people there we have been looking at,” Showalter said. “We’ll see what the rest of spring brings.”
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Comments
Dan this lastest setback has to send up a major red flag. He went from feeling the best that he had ever felt in 2 years to getting injections in his back. This situation is getting really old and we fans are getting the same veryday lip service that we got last year.
Posted by: blancione | March 11, 2011 5:30 PM
Once you start having back problems it will be with you forever. I hope Brian is one of the few who can get over his problem but being a major league baseball player and with all the running and jostling from sliding, etc I can't help but think he won't be at 100% ever again. I hope I'm wrong.
Posted by: bob | March 11, 2011 5:39 PM
Dan,
I will not claim to be the medical expert, but I do see a lot of patients as a resident in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, who complain of chronic back pain, that have signs of degenerative disk disease, or evidence of disc bulging or protrusion. I obviously have not had the chance to see Roberts' MRIs etc, but the patients I remember from my clinic days would not ever respond to the conservative measures such as trigger point (unless the cause of pain was really soft tissue/muscle), and physical therapy. I certainly hope this not a severe enough injury that would require back surgery but
I at this point believe the O's would be better off looking for other 2B options. I would even consider trading a player like Pie, or even Scott for a solid 2B who is young, not injury prone, and who has produced. Do you know of any options?
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teams with young, inexpensive 2Bmen want to keep them. Right now, it's premature to talk about trading for another 2Bman. We'll have to see how this plays out. But as I have written before, back injuries are scary.
Posted by: O's fan in CA | March 11, 2011 6:41 PM
Steroid Boy (Brian Roberts) is done. Is Roberts going to continue to lie to us about the severity of his injury like he repeatedly lied to us about his steroid use? This means that Cesar Izturis is going to have a lot of playing time this season. By the way, Izturis was the worst everyday player in all of baseball last season.
Posted by: Mike | March 11, 2011 6:49 PM
It's easier to say than to do when it's not your body, but I thought last year that maybe Roberts should explore surgery. There is only so much you can do before surgery is the only remedy and it seems like Brian might be at the point where going under the knife is the only option. I am hoping for the best, but I think Brian will be on and off the DL, all season.
I know Izzy is the backup SS/2B and I like him for defensive purposes, as well as to spell Hardy and Roberts, but I am not thrilled with him as an everyday player, but realistically only Harris and Andino are the only other options right now. Fox can't play 2B, can he? Seems like Jake is sort of like Wiggy so I was just curious if they would try him there because of his bat?
I know it's early like you said, but with Utley hurting, other teams are looking at 2B and the Mets are looking to get rid of Louis Castillo. I would think he would be a decent guy to have on the team.
Posted by: Birdland Todd | March 12, 2011 12:48 AM