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Injuries Plague Franchise Faces in 2017

Injuries are commonplace throughout sports, and it is unfortunate when any player is forced to miss time because he is hurt. While some players have bigger shoes to fill than others, the 2017 season has seen its share of franchise faces spending prolonged time on the disabled list.

The most recent big name to land on the DL is All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa. He re-injured his left thumb and will need surgery to repair a torn ligament. There is a timetable return of 6-8 weeks, but the Astros will have to wait until after the surgery to speculate if that time frame will be accurate.

Houston has the 2nd best record in the Major Leagues this season and hold a 15.5 game lead over their closest competitor in the AL West. That is the good news. The other good news is that they have replacements capable of filling the hole left by Correa, at least to a degree. Alex Bregman can play shortstop along with Marwin Gonzalez. Colin Moran was called up to fill the roster spot voided by Correa with the injury.

Injuries Plague Franchise Faces in 2017 <a rel=Correa’s initial injury of his thumb came against an opponent that was without its own star player for most of the first half of the season. The Atlanta Braves saw soring numbers from first baseman Freddie Freeman before the slugger was hit by a pitch on the hand in mid-May. Freeman was leading the NL with 14 home runs at that point and still was among the league leaders at the All-Star break, despite missing over a month and a half on the DL.

Freeman was slated to be out until late in the season, and the Braves made a trade for Cardinals’ first baseman Matt Adams. Adams filled in nicely and found his role remain relatively unchanged with Freeman’s return – Freddie opted to play third base to allow Adams to remain in the lineup. This was an “out of the blue” suggestion and one that the Braves embraced. With other injuries, they were already without regular third baseman Adonis Garcia, and utility man Sean Rodriguez was still a few weeks from being ready to make his season debut.

The Braves now have an extra piece essentially in Adams, as they would not have made the trade for him had Freeman not been injured. Atlanta is over 10 games back in the NL East, but are 7 games back from the second wild card spot and are looking to possibly be buyers at the trade deadline now that Freddie and company are finding some winning streaks.

Injuries even impact superstars

Injuries Plague Franchise Faces in 2017 <a rel=The biggest name to hit the DL this season has to be two-time AL MVP Mike Trout. The young superstar injured his left thumb sliding headfirst into second base and, what looked like a jammed finger, ended up being a UCL tear requiring surgery. Trout was scheduled to miss 6-8 weeks initially, but ended up missing about 5 weeks. He was still selected to his sixth straight All-Star Game, but will have a hard time finishing in the top two of the MVP race for a sixth straight year.

Trout’s Angels are 17 games back of the Astros, and we will see if Houston can maintain its massive lead over the rest of the division. The Angels aren’t much of a threat right now, but teams get hot, and a healthy Mike Trout never hurt anybody.

The finger and hand injuries for these three players put a hold on any season records they were thinking about breaking. Luckily, Freeman and Trout were able to come back quicker than predicted; hopefully, Correa can do the same. No matter what team you cheer for, the games mean that much more when rosters are at full strength. There are few things as disappointing as a fan than to get to the ballpark and see that your favorite player isn’t playing.

Other notable players who have seen DL stints from injuries this season include: Troy Tulowitzki, Josh Donaldson, Kevin Kiermaier, Greg Bird, and every member of the New York Mets.

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