After leaving game one of the doubleheader against the New York Yankees in the fourth inning, Jose Bautista lands on the disabled list with a bruised left hip, according to a Barry Davis tweet. According to John Gibbons, Bautista went to get an MRI on his hip. The Blue Jays will shut him down for two weeks of treatment before a re-evaluation can be completed. This means that all three of the Blue Jays' starting outfielders, Jose Bautista, Melky Cabrera, and Colby Rasmus, are on the disabled list.
Gibbons said that the injury was sustained last week on a slide in the home series against the Red Sox. I haven't gotten a chance to look at his slides from that series so I'm not sure which one it may have been.
The corresponding move to bring someone up to fill Bautista's roster spot has yet to be made [see update below]; however Shi Davidi announced that the Blue Jays have optioned their 26th man Thad Weber back to the Buffalo Bisons. Speaking about the Bisons, they are really hurting for offense right now--they have scored all of one run in their last three games, falling into a tie for third place, 4.5 games behind first place in the division, and 3.5 games behind the Wild Card. Now the Bisons will be losing one of their outfielders, most probably Moises Sierra, the only remaining outfielder on the 40-man roster. The Bisons have already lost Kevin Pillar and Anthony Gose to the big club (all in a week), so they will have to try to push for a playoff spot with Brad Glenn, Ricardo Nanita, and Mike McCoy.
But hey--I heard Jeff Francoeur was just designated for assignment. And this time I am only half-kidding!
In game two of the doubleheader, Maicer Izturis also left the game with an apparent ankle injury.
UPDATE 1
Some quotes from the great assemblage of beat reporters:
Bautista said he hurt his hip when he pulled up while scoring a run about 2 wks ago. Thought he'd have to slide, got signal to stay up.
— John Lott (@LottOnBaseball) August 21, 2013
Bautista said no problems for about 3 days after that, then started to hurt. By today, felt he was at about 50%.
— John Lott (@LottOnBaseball) August 21, 2013
Bautista says it got worse as the week went on but today it got to the point where it was too painful to keep playing. #bluejays
— Barry Davis (@SNBarryDavis) August 21, 2013
As for when he'll play again, Bautista says he doesn't expect to be shut down for the rest of the season. #bluejays
— Barry Davis (@SNBarryDavis) August 21, 2013
Jose Bautista has a bone bruise in left hip. He'll remain with the club during his DL stint. #BlueJays#MLB
— Scott MacArthur (@TSNScottyMac) August 21, 2013
A particular tweet was surprising, though:
Jose Bautista says injury didn't happen vs Boston, happened about two weeks ago when he pulled up while scoring, jamming hip. #BlueJays
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) August 21, 2013
It seems that Bautista and Gibbons had problems communicating about exactly when the injury occurred.
Bautista on ways to treat his injury: "Just rest. There’s no surgery, no more aggressive therapy or way to heal it. It’s just resting."
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) August 21, 2013
Just to note, when Bautista is ready to play again in two weeks, he will have to rehab with a minor league club that is in the playoffs, as their regular season ends next week. Hopefully it would be with the Bisons, if Buffalo is out of it by then, Bautista can rehab with Dunedin. I guess that's good news for them!
Also, there was some news, bad news, about Izturis:
Gibbons says Izturis should be fine but he was limping in the clubhouse and says ankle is quite sore now. #bluejays
— Barry Davis (@SNBarryDavis) August 21, 2013
Sigh.
UPDATE 2
As expected, the Blue Jays have recalled Moises Sierra to replace Jose Bautista, as reported--as a fact--by Mike Wilner.
Moises Sierra will be recalled from Buffalo to replace the injured Jose Bautista. #Bluejays#Jays
— Mike Wilner (@Wilnerness590) August 21, 2013
This means that on Wednesday, the Blue Jays are likely to start an outfield comprised of Gose, Pillar, and Sierra--the same outfield the Bisons used just seven days ago. With Maicer Izturis hurt, perhaps Munenori Kawasaki would start at short too. I wonder how often four of nine starters of a minor league affiliate become four of nine starters of the major league club in the span of a week.