This sucks.
That was my first thought, and is still my only thought when I read the news that injuries have yet again derailed Andy LaRoche's rise to the majors. This time, it was a freak play involving an attempted pickoff play that caused the injury. No matter how you look at it, Nomar Garciaparra is now the man at 3rd base on Opening Day and beyond.
According to my 5-star math skills, 8-10 weeks means a return in early-mid May. Nomar will have a good month and a half to prove if he's the man for the job. If he slips, I can only hope that LaRoche is ready to step in.
It's a shame this happened because we'll never know what direction Torre was going to lean in. I always was a believer that both men would get their shot at starting and showing what they have, but that's all for naught right now.
The ironic part to all of this is that Nomar also left today's game when he was pegged in the right wrist with a pitch, but fortunately X-rays were negative and the injury is considered minor. Both men were hitting very well so far, and Nomar even went deep today, so that's a good sign. His days of hitting for power are gone, but I can assume he'll hit in the bottom part of the lineup and still get on base if all is well.
With LaRoche's injury, that takes care of 1 position battle and leaves the focus on 2 more: left field and 5th starter.
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