Two more lumps of coal in the Cincinnati stocking, perhaps?
Do you even remember which Cincinnati Reds have been, or are currently shelved due to serious injuries so far in 2024?
Edwin Arroyo shredded a shoulder in spring training and is done for the year. Matt McLain had a somewhat similar shoulder injury (and subsequent surgery), and there’s an outside chance he’s back at the end of the season in some form or fashion.
TJ Friedl, you’ll recall, missed some 50 games with both a broken wrist and broken finger.
Tejay Antone? Poor guy’s elbow simply went kaboom for what feels like the 20th time. There’s at least a little bit of hope that Ian Gibaut, whom we have not seen all season, can avoid a similar fate.
We’ve not yet had the chance to see Brandon Willamson at all, as his shoulder issues have wrecked his entire campaign, a short rehab stint in the minors having been cut short barely after it started. Meanwhile, Christian Encarnacion-Strand – the heir apparent to Joey Votto at 1B we all hoped – played through a fractured wrist that the Reds now have relayed actually has ligament damage in it, too.
Those final two issues were addressed by Reds manager David Bell on Tuesday in a Q & A session with the media. You’ll be nonplussed to hear that Bell mentioned that both Williamson and CES are under consideration for season-ending surgery, too.
MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon relayed the godawfulcrappy news.
Manager David Bell fielded questions today about statuses of Encarnacion-Strand and Williamson. Both have been considering options that include season ending surgeries.
CES has ligament damage with his fractured hand. Williamson has a lesion in his shoulder.
— Mark Sheldon (@m_sheldon) June 11, 2024
There will be a time and place for a retrospective of the 2023 Cincinnati Reds, a team that once stood 9 games over the .500 mark and held the 1st place spot in the National League’s Central division at the August 1st trade deadline. I don’t think I need to rehash that series of non-events to you, but ever since the Reds opted against making a more aggressive push for success that year – Votto’s final year with the club – the wheels of the roster have continued to fall off.
Fingers crossed the Reds receive some miracle news on both Williamson and CES that turns around this wretched news spiral, but at this point I’m not holding my breath.