Triunfel Update; Generic News

by Graham MacAree on Apr 11, 2009 6:44 PM PDT in Seattle Mariners News, Regular

Turns out it's not his tibia that's broken, as was initially reported, but his fibula. I have no idea whether that's an easier injury to recover from or not, but this quote from Waka (from an MLB.com article) seems hopeful:

"We don't know the extent of the injury, whether or not he would need surgery," Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said prior to Saturday afternoon's game against the Athletics. "Hopefully, he doesn't, but it could be six to eight weeks."

Triunfel's flying to Seattle for an examination, and hopefully they don't find anything surgery worthy. If they don't this might not be nearly as bad as it first looked (although it's still very bad).

Speaking of people flying into Seattle, Ichiro's rejoining the team on Monday, and seems on track to come off the DL on Wednesday as expected. The team's been doing ok without him, but it'll be nice to have him to patch up our right field defence and get his bat back in as a leadoff hitter. It'll also be nice not having to worry about whether Wakamatsu would be crazy enough to actually use Matt Tuiasosopo ever.

We may not be long for having one lefty in the bullpen - former Cardinal Tyler Johnson is close to being ready for a rehab assignment (same as the Ichiro article) and will likely join the team as soon as he's done with that. Hopefully he can stop us being terrified by the likes of Morneau and Cust in late, high leverage innings.

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I wonder who will get sent down when Johnson is ready?

Kelley?

For those who looked over the numbers, is Johnson pretty good vs lefties?

by Rudy4three on Apr 11, 2009 6:58 PM PDT reply actions

Definitely Tui

We can’t send Kelley down, he’s the only guy in the pen that knows where the ball is going before it hits the catcher’s mitt.

by Bearskin Rugburn on Apr 11, 2009 8:43 PM PDT up reply actions

Tui is going down for Ichiro.

Another roster move will have to be made.

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by BrettJMiller on Apr 11, 2009 9:09 PM PDT up reply actions

I was hoping Batista would suck enough to warrant cutting him in favor of Johnson.

by BrianL on Apr 11, 2009 9:39 PM PDT up reply actions

Oh and Johnson doesn't have a platoon split in the Majors over a smallish sample

He’d been fairly effective against both handed batters, but as his FB is a very unimpressive 88/89 and he is pretty much a FB/SL guy, I would expect he’s well suited to a LOOGY role.

by Bearskin Rugburn on Apr 11, 2009 8:52 PM PDT up reply actions

This basically means that

Triunfel’s speed on the baseballs will be greatly diminished, even if he does indeed make a full recovery. I’m glad it’s not his foot speed that we’re so in love with. But yeah, this will hurt his ability to his for power, too.

by fresnofan on Apr 11, 2009 6:59 PM PDT reply actions

I feel like a broken bone is easier to come back from than a soft tissue injury.

I hope you die. I hope we BOTH die.

by BRKLN M'S on Apr 11, 2009 7:00 PM PDT up reply actions

If it's not a serious break, we won't see any lasting effects

I broke mine a few years back and have no effects remaining. Michael Vick broke his pretty badly around the same time and didn’t see any continued leg/ankle problems.

by edddgar on Apr 11, 2009 7:02 PM PDT up reply actions

Tibu...wha?

Just to be fussy: it’s tibia, not tibula. The fibula, as I understand, isn’t so load-bearing, so this is indeed good news.

by paulkersey on Apr 11, 2009 7:02 PM PDT reply actions

Thanks for the correction

I hate bones.

by Graham MacAree on Apr 11, 2009 7:14 PM PDT up reply actions

It isn't load bearing,

but it’s also a lot harder to break. The tibia is the one in the front that’s subjected to all the stresses you inflict upon your lower leg. The fibula usually only breaks in combination with bad knee or ankle injuries (because twisting of the lower leg placed the fibula under tension).

I like using semi-colons; they make me feel smart.

by Llewdor on Apr 11, 2009 8:19 PM PDT up reply actions

I know that people walk around without their entire fibulas. That said, I don't know how it would affect Triunfel's play.

by Susheel Ramasahayam on Apr 11, 2009 8:42 PM PDT up reply actions

It is rather odd not to have a single lefty reliever in our bullpen.

I’ve been following this team since 2000 and never, during that time span, did we not have a lefty reliever in the pen.

by Susheel Ramasahayam on Apr 11, 2009 8:45 PM PDT reply actions

Interestingly enough

a coworker of mine actually broke the same bone playing in our summer softball league sliding into third. He waited to long to start his slide and then caught his heel on the bag with the force of his body weight still driving forward. He was on crutches for about a month afterwords and didnt really get back to full movement until about 2 months after.

by DCMariner on Apr 11, 2009 9:06 PM PDT reply actions

That's good news

2 months for a non athlete usually translates to about six weeks for a 19 year-old pseudo-professional who will undoubtedly get all the available care a professional would.

by cwel87 on Apr 12, 2009 4:43 AM PDT up reply actions

Not sure if this helps,

but I broke both and another bone down near the achilles, called a trimalloidal. I was in a cast for 8 weeks. After that, it’s just a matter of learning how to walk and run again, which, with therapy, took about a month or so. I’m sure it could be done more quickly with better therapy.

The worst thing about it was the fact that I like beer, Standing up after keeping the ankle area elevated for awhile sucks

by hairofthedawg on Apr 11, 2009 10:11 PM PDT reply actions

I fractured my Fibula 3 weeks ago.

I got a walking cast within a week, and although I still walk gingerly, I can walk without the cast. The doctors told me about 5 weeks to be walking normal but should avoid sports for 8 weeks.

Manu Ginobili fractured his fibula earlier this week and he’s out for the rest of the NBA season + Playoffs. Just to give somewhat of a timeline.

Fracturing the fibula is much better than the tibia.

by Patton on Apr 12, 2009 10:53 AM PDT reply actions