Ken Gurnick, a reporter at Dodgers.com, has just tweeted that Zack Greinke will indeed make his next start on Wednesday, but it's unclear yet if that will be in the majors or minors. The concern, obviously, is that he'll do something again to his collarbone, which has healed way ahead of schedule.
It was only a month ago that Greinke got hurt in his now infamous brawl with the Padres' Carlos Quentin after Quentin took exception to getting beaned in a close game. The original thought was that Greinke would be gone eight weeks, yet here we are right around four and he's supposedly ready to go.
That could be great news for the Dodgers, and just as equally as scary. Take Matt Kemp circa 2012, for example. He tried to comeback way too soon from a hamstring injury, only to be shelved again, which completely derailed his season. Plus he tried to play through a bad shoulder injury late in the year that required offseason surgery, and hasn't looked the same since. There's two examples from the same body of not taking the proper time to heal.
There's no doubt the Dodgers can use a player of Greinke's caliber on the mound, as he's a legit #1 starter on many others teams. But starting pitching is not their biggest issue. It's an issue, just not the biggest one. Scoring runs is their biggest area of concern, followed by the bullpen. Greinke can help a little bit in each category by putting up blanks deep into the game, but he's not there to hit homers and get saves.
My point being that I'm already more than a little nervous about putting Greinke back out there so soon, especially when there's other areas that need more help. I'd like to see him take another week or two to ensure he's all good. Hey, I'm no doctor, but I'm scratching my head a bit that he went from suffering a potential season-altering injury to back in a month. But, maybe that's a testament to modern medicine. I sure hope so.
Stay tuned in the next couple of days to see where Greinke ends up.
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