I’m a huge Tsuyoshi Nishioka fan. I figured he’d be hitting ahead of Morneau and Mauer, steal a tonne of bases and score boatloads of runs. The Twins started slow against the Blue Jays but I wasn’t worrying…
and then, Nick Swisher breaks Nishioka’s leg sliding into second base. Nishioka absolved Swisher of all responsibility says Heyman via Twitter: “Swisher says he told nishioka: I thought u were going to jump. Also says nishi told him: it’s not your fault.”
First, Matt Tolbert will get the majority of the work at second and Luke Hughes should be called up. Tolbert’s an AL-Only desperation play and doesn’t carry nearly the upside that Nishioka had.
Secondly, I think there’s a problem when people are getting their legs busted during slides. I understand that it doesn’t take much when the second basemen is standing flat footed with cleats that provide extra traction, but a broken leg is a pretty big deal…
In almost every draft, I tried to secure at least decent starters at the Middle Infield positions because of the lack of depth and I’ll now be left scrambling for ideas.
Alas, this is a broke FIBULA not TIBIA. This is a good thing. Let’s remember that Donovan McNabb played half a damn football game on a broken fibula. The problem for Nishioka is going to be regaining strength is his calf and ankle after the bone’s healed. The absolute best case scenario is resuming baseball activities after about six weeks, I’d figure. That would make for about a 2.5-3 month recovery period.
After the All-Star Break, maybe?
Edit: ..and a Royal Canadian Mounted Eff-You Goes Out to MillionDollarSleeper for picking up Tolbert while I was writing this article. Remember Kris, Act First and then write article.
