With the latest Carlos Quentin injury update, White Sox fans can somewhat exhale this morning after getting a scare in last night’s 6-2 loss to the Balitmore Orioles.
LF Carlos Quentin, whose importance to the White Sox I explained a few days back, was hit by a pitch on his left hand last night. He was forced to leave the game, immediately conjuring up images of last season in which the Sox star missed the final month of the season with a wrist injury.
Seeing Carlos Quentin pulled the from the game and head to the showers prompted the following text message between me and KVB:
KVB: Damn it TCQ just got drilled on the hand and left the game.
JRod: I saw. It’s on MLB Network. He’ll be okay.
KVB: I hope so.
JRod: He’s magic.
KVB: So is Jenks’ blonde goatee.
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Luckily, upon waking up today, it appears that Carlos Quentin will be okay. Mark Gonzalez of the Tribune reported late last night in his Carlos Quentin injury update that Quentin suffered a bruise on his left hand and would be re-evaluated today. Quentin reportedly says he’ll be fine. Joe Cowley, on his Twitter feed, said that Quentin seems fine and it appeared no X-Rays would be necessary.
So I guess we can’t completely exhale, but it’s a hell of a lot better than waking up to news that Quentin will be going on the DL. We could survive without him, but it would be difficult. Despite his current 1-11 skid, Quentin already has 7 HRs and is the anchor of the middle of the order. Hopefully the injury is nothing more than a bruise and at most he just takes a few days off.
In other White Sox news, could Alexei Ramirez’s spot in the starting lineup, or even with the big league club, be in jeopardy? Jow Cowley reported last night that Jayson Nix has been playing SS at both AA and AAA during his rehab assignment and will have to either be called up or sent through waivers once he is declared healthy. Cowley speculates that if Alexei continues to struggle, Nix could supplant Cuban Missile at SS while Alexei zips off to Charlotte to get well.
I don’t think anyone doubts that Ozzie Guillen and the White Sox are committed to Alexei Ramirez long-term, nor does anyone doubt that Alexei has the talent to be a top-flight middle infielder in the big leagues. I obviously would not like to see him get sent down, but I’d rather have him get right. Still, I think he deserves a few more weeks to work things out in the bigs. If his April struggles continue into mid-May, I’ll start to worry. Alexei started slow last year too, and is having to make sophomore adjustments. We all know the offense needs Alexei to pick it up, but I am a proponent of patience with the Cuban Missile. Hopefully the White Sox are too.
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