Injury Report 7/4 - How Many Injuries Can Phillips Play Through At Once?

Sorry for the delay, but I have been sans internet for a week, so there is going to be a lot of injury news covered in this one.  Brandon Phillips took the lede, because even with his reputation and history of playing through injuries, this is just starting to border on impressive (or maybe depressive, depending on how you look at it).  Phillips has been playing through turf toe since mid May, then he strained his groin in early June, but has also been soldiering right along through that.  Then he jammed his thumb on June 23.  Then he hurt his hand again on June 28, but has returned from that after missing only two games.  I wonder if there's anything on Phillips that isn't hurt.  BP was doing OK when it was just turf toe, but since the groin injury his production has been decidedly not-good.  Sometimes I wonder what Phillips' end-of-year stat lines would look like if he ever actually decided not to try playing through every injury he suffers, putting up .600 OPS's for months at a time seemingly every season as a result.  But, we've probably never had better options than even an injured BP most of those times, and you have to like the competitive drive and love of playing.

In what is definitely old news at this point, both Jon Moscot and Tony Cingrani are on the DL with shoulder injuries.  Moscot dislocated his shoulder on June 15 in that ill-advised rundown, and is going to miss the rest of the year.  It's a sad break for the kid who had just reached MLB with a chance to have some success and earn a rotation spot.  The silver lining is that the injury is not to his pitching arm.  Cingrani last pitched on June 13 because of a strained left shoulder.  Cingrani's persistent injury problems probably explain the Reds' decision to place him in a bullpen role even to begin a year where the rotation competition was wide open.  He missed 111 days last season to the DL, and is currently at 21 days this year.

Marlon Byrd rather impressively missed only 16 days with his fractured wrist, returning on June 19.  What's more, he's actually returned better than ever, hitting for an .802 OPS in 12 games since coming back.  Manny Parra returned from the DL on May 27, after missing 33 days with a strained neck.  In 11 innings since then, Parra has put up a 1.64 ERA and held opponents to a nearly unbelievable .238 OPS.  Before we get too excited, I would probably expect that the .038 BABIP is not sustainable.  Everything since his return has basically just been silly video game numbers.  The very solid play of Byrd and Parra since their returns may be just what convinces Castellini/Jocketty that this team has enough to compete after all, now that the reinforcements have arrived!  Moving on.

In minor league injury news, there is a ton to report.  At AAA Louisville, RP Layne Somsen fractured his toe and was placed on the 7-day DL on June 17, OF Steve Selsky has a left meniscus injury that landed him on the DL on June 21, OF Nick Benedetto landed on the DL June 26 with a strained lower back, and SS Josciel Veras Sprained his right wrist and went on the 7-day DL on June 27.

At AA Pensacola, one-time prospect OF Juan Duran returned on July 1 after missing 83 days with an undisclosed injury.  C Yovan Gonzalez returned on June 19 after missing 29 days with an undisclosed injury, C Kyle Skipworth returned on June 25 after missing 25 days, 3B Seth Mejias-Brean missed the minimum 7 days upon returning from right shoulder tendinitis on June 13.  RP Kevin Shackelford was placed on the DL that same day.  RP Jose Cisnero was place don the 7-day DL on June 15, 3B Ryan Wright went to the DL on June 17, and C Cam Maron went to the DL on June 30 with a strained right calf.  They really beat their catchers up at Pensacola.

At A+ Daytona, OF Juan Silva returned on April 9 from a fractured thumb he suffered at the end of last season.  In total, he missed 68 days with the injury.  SP Nick Travieso was hit by a line drive and removed from his start on June 15, and then placed on the 7-day DL on June 20.  OF Phillip Ervin was placed on the DL on June 28, RP Alejandro Chacin and C Chad Wallach went on the DL on June 29 (do we have enough catchers in the organization to cover all this?), and SS Alex Blandino went on the DL July 3.  Too many actual prospects suffered injuries for my liking here...

At A- Dayton, Junior Morillo returned from the DL on June 3, having missed 63 days in this season.  He also missed 141 days last year (going on the DL April 10 of that year), for a combined 204 days missed for this injury.  RP Nick Routt had what might be the worst strained lower back of all time, returning on May 6 of this year, but for which he went on the DL on June 12 of last year!  That's 116 combined days missed over the two seasons.

Check injuries at your convenience via the link.