Organizational Injury Report - 5/5 It's the Minors So Who Knows?

Sorry for the hiatus in the injury report, but final exams will do that. The end result is a lot of injury news to cover. At the big league level, the primary new injury of the past two weeks was to Chris Heisey, who suffered a strained hamstring on April 28. Heisey was hitting poorly, but LF is a spot where the Reds could ill afford injuries at this point, as Derrick Robinson and Xavier Paul are no sure bets to do much better, and the Reds have the 7th man on the depth chart playing games for them now. Heisey is on the 15-day DL, and with Ludwick's transfer to the 60-day DL his return is not on the horizon. Barring a trade (and not for Joe Mather), the Reds are going to have to settle for whatever they can get from LF at this point.

Johnny Cueto experienced a setback when he was scratched from a scheduled rehab start due to soreness. The Reds were almost certainly being overly optimistic when stating that Cueto would miss 3 or 4 starts. Cingrani has gotten 4 starts now, and Cueto has yet to make a single rehab start. Of concern with this development is that Cueto was scratched due to oblique soreness, not the lat injury that put him on the DL. With Cingrani's impressive performance so far, the Reds need to take every precaution to ensure that Cueto is fully healthy before returning, rather than rush him back.

Ryan Hanigan is set to begin his rehab games, but it is not known yet what minor league team he will join. On the bright side, the rest has Hanigan's thumb feeling much better now, by his own account. It is thought (and hoped!) that the thumb injury was largely due for Hanigan's terrible start to the season at the plate. With the way Mesoraco is playing, and with Corky Miller third on the depth chart, having Hanigan back and healthy with the big club is somewhat more urgent than Cueto's return.

Manny Parra was placed on the 15-day DL on April 24 due to a pectoral strain. Sean Marshall made his return to the Reds roster on April 27, and has thrown 2.1 innings over 3 appearances. He missed 19 on the DL days with shoulder fatigue, though since the injury occurred, he actually only pitched once over a span of 35 days. The Reds really should have placed him on the DL to begin with rather than drag out the injury the way they did, IMHO. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, though this isn't all hindsight talking.

On the minor league front, C Nevin Ashley returned to the AAA Louisville Bats roster on April 21. He had missed 11 days with shoulder tendinitis. Armando Galarraga has pitched twice since going on the DL with a blister, returning on April 26. Also, he was listed as inactive on the roster even after he had returned, which made me wonder if he had sustained another injury, but I think this was a case of typical shoddy accounting work with minor league transactions. Still, he only pitched two thirds of an inning in his latest start, throwing only 12 pitches, so he must have reinjured himself (or gotten ejected), but no transaction has yet been listed. Justin Freeman went on the 7-day DL on April 24 with shoulder impingement, and Mark Prior joined him one day later with a shoulder strain. IF Jason Donald went on the DL on April 28 with a strained left shoulder as well. Shoulders are the en vogue injuries for the Reds system so far this year.

AA Pensacola remains completely unaffected by injuries to this point in the season. Pretty neat.

At A+ Bakersfield, 1B Dominic D'Anna returned on April 30 after spending the minimum 7 days on the DL for an undisclosed injury. 1B Sean Buckley remains on the DL.

At A- Dayton, C Nick O'Shea returned on May 1, and homered as mentioned in Farmers Only, after spending 12 days on the DL. 1B Carlos Sanchez and SP M.O. Wiley remain on the DL. Lastly for A-, P Kevin Arico and OF Jon Matthews are listed as being on the 7-day DL on the roster, but no transactions were ever listed to any such effect. Even more strange, Matthews was promoted to Dayton apparently while injured, since he hasn't played at all this year. Sometimes I think teams just do whatever they want in the minors, and nobody really much cares.

Reds injuries and injuries for the minors are kept up to date on the Reds Injury List. Click the link to check it out yourself whenever you like.