TODAY: Turner is officially going on the 10-day injured list. Infielder Adrian Sanchez will take his spot on the active roster for the time being. Since Sanchez already has a 40-man spot, no further moves will be necessary.
YESTERDAY: The Nationals received bad news on shortstop Trea Turner tonight, as X-rays revealed that he sustained a fractured right index finger on a bunt attempt, manager Dave Martinez revealed following tonight’s loss (Twitter link via ESPN’s Buster Olney). He’ll be out for a yet-to-be-determined period of time.
Turner, looking to bunt his way aboard in the first inning of tonight’s game, left too much of his hand exposed and caught the brunt of a 92 mph Zach Eflin fastball on his right index finger. He was replaced by Wilmer Difo without finishing the at-bat and could very well be replaced by Difo for the foreseeable future with a trip to the injured list surely around the corner. Alternatively, the Nats have one of the game’s best infield prospects in Carter Kieboom, though the 21-year-old is not yet on the 40-man roster and has only played in 62 games above A-ball.
The loss of Turner comes at time when the Nats have opened the season 1-3 and been outscored by opponents at a 26-16 clip. Swapping out Turner, one of the team’s best offensive players, for the light-hitting Difo won’t do the lineup any favors. There’s little available on the open market at present, though the A’s did just cut veteran middle infielder Cliff Pennington loose if Washington is eyeing some veteran minor league depth from outside the organization.
Unfortunate.
So. Many. Injuries.
But yet pundits still slam AJ…why???
Change back to 15 day DL and the curse will be lifted.
Huge loss and that sucks. They should call up Kieboom because Difo can’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.
Would love to see Nats bring up Kieboom for a series or two and give him a taste of big leagues.
And an already terrible start to the Nats season gets worse. This team is a dumpster fire and we aren’t even a week in.
And another reason why bunting is just (mostly) a bad idea. Putting your hands up that high on the bat against pitchers that throw 100 MPH might be just a bit risky. And the only thing in baseball are outs. You only get 27 in a game. Giving up an out isn’t great baseball.
Agree but Trea was bunting for a hit
Turner is a good enough hitter that unless he was bunting against the shift (which seems unlikely) there is probably as much chance of him getting a hit the “normal” way rather than bunting.
Your absolutely right. Why bunt?
Why would Hellickson pitch down the middle of the plate and serve a meatball to Harper? Who does that? Amazing.
No one likes the Nationals…including Hellickson
Because it’s baseball, not a 9 inning home run derby and teams should do what it takes to win that game, up to and including bunting.
Agreed. If a team shifts on you and the pitcher works you outside, should you pull the ball into the shift? Might want to consider hitting the ball where they aren’t.
Trea sees a third basemen playing deep and wants to take a shot? Why not? Later in a game with a quick runner at the plate, third basemen plays in and suddenly a ground ball goes right by him when he gets to it playing normal depth. Thank you Trea.
StarbucksDave doesn’t realize that you have to score more runs than the other team. By any means, including that “awful” bunt idea.
Oh Samuel, you know I have always argued that runs are what win games. It’s why Harper, despite a low batting average, was so good last year – he created tons of runs and got on base more than almost anyone in baseball. Getting on base is the most important skill in baseball. Teams that win get on base and score more runs than their opponents. Runs win games. Bunting is a low-percentage play, even bunting for a hit, like a super speedy guy like Turner was trying to do.
My favorite player of all time is Rickey Henderson. When he retired he was the career leader in runs scored, stolen bases, and walks (he has since been eclipsed by Bonds in the last category. Nobody’s going to touch his SB record and it’s highly doubtful anyone will touch his runs record in the next twenty years either). You know what Rickey almost never did? Bunt. He walked, and stole bases, and hit for some power. His career batting average was “only” .279, but he knew what his role was better than almost any player I’ve ever seen – to get on base and score runs. He didn’t do that by sacrificing outs – the most times he ever bunted in a season was 8, and that was in his rookie year in 1979. In his amazing 1990 MVP season, he batted 325/439/577, scored 119 runs, led the league in steals, walked 40 more times than he struck out, led the league in OPS and OPS+. Oakland won 103 games that year.
Rickey, in that phenomenal 1990 season, in 594 plate appearances, bunted twice. The goal of the games, as a hitter, is to not make outs. The very name of the act of bunting – a sacrifice – means you just gave the team an extra out to work with.
Exception, of course, is pitchers, who have never been able to hit, and the squeeze, which is a really fun play IMO. But when you’re one of the five fastest players in baseball, as Turner is, there’s no real reason to be bunting when you can just put the ball in play and run like hell. And btw, there was no shift on against Turner in his finger-breaking bunt attempt. Teams don’t shift against right handers nearly as much as lefties, and the third baseman, from the video, seemed to be playing a few steps in front of normal positioning for a third baseman – not quite playing in, but he certainly wasn’t playing back. It was a pretty dumb bunt attempt, and now the dude might miss significant time for a team that already lost its most significant hitter.
Actually Starbucks I am not aware that you support the idea that scoring more runs than the other team wins games. Your opinion changes like the seconds on a clock. The only thing I blame myself for is reacting to your ignorance. It would imply I take your opinion seriously. For that I am sorry.
I’ve only written it like 100 times on this site, Samuel. You’re being intentionally obtuse.
I liked the Rickey Henderson stats at least
Unless its against the shift, which it was not in this case, then bunting has a lower run expectancy than any other action by the hitter. In other words, his team would score more runs and win more games if he was not bunting than if he is bunting. Turner should have been swinging away.
It’s called baseball, that’s why.. higher probability a guy with speed gets on bunting. Sacrifice, ever heard of that one also? It’s not about just hr’s.
It’s been around since the game began, let’s not get soft here…sheeesh!
Pretty soon it’s guna be balls and strikes called by a computer with pitchers behind an L-screen with a helmet on, gross..
well the computer umps should actually be a thing. there are still terrible plate umpires with jobs
There always have been, it’s just part of the game. Just because you could, doesn’t mean you should.
I saw Chris Archer walk Goldschmidt yesterday in the first inning. He threw five strikes.
The argument that robo-umps aren’t perfect ignores that the humans are lousy.
Human umpire getting calls right/wrong is part of game fun.
I don’t think there is that much being called way wrong to draw the ire of fans and the umpire’s union but if you look at James Shields in the playoffs/world series he’s not getting the bottom third of the strike zone at all. Worse I’ve ever seen. The umpire might have been fairly consistent but several weren’t and it killed Shields effectiveness. Granted the manager (Joe Maddon) knew the umpire was like that and should have started someone else but went with some stupid old saying. I thought it was against the Red Sox but either way it was horrible.
Well for decades pitchers throwing in the 90s were not part of the game,. now they are.
The ability of pitchers have exceeded the ability of umpires.
I think “its part of the game” argument is imbecilic. There is a problem. It can EASILY be addressed.
The game changes. Just because you always have, doesn’t mean you should.
Preach, brother Cam. (Not sarcasm, Thank u.)
What is your answer to the critics who say: “The subjectivity of the strike zone, is one of the most beautiful things about baseball?
End quote. (Personally, I cant wait, hope laser automated strikezone implemented in my life)
Just because computers might be more efficient and more “perfect” does not mean they should take over. I’d rather live with a little imperfection than take the humanity out of the game.
hflew has a good point. If baseball went with a technology-based plate umpire, there will be problems such as:
– Who calls catchers interference
– Who calls foul tips
– Who makes home plate calls
– One less human to see a balk
– Who calls any rule violation on hitters like obstructing catchers on throws
– Who makes calls on pop ups near the backstop netting
We could go on. More important, if the strike zone is set by the rule of baseball law you will see less strikes called East/West and many more strikes called above the jockstrap. Too many pitches between the belt and letters are called balls when they should be a strike. Also will see curves crossing the knees and the plate while landing well below the knees. Hitters, fans and the media will lose their minds.
Just because he would no longer call balls and strikes doesn’t mean there’d no longer be a home plate umpire. His duties would just be mostly similar to the other umpires.
That being said, everyone is in agreement that the technology still isn’t ready to accurately call balls and strikes electronically. Plus, the bigger issue beyond removing the human element is that it removes framing from a catcher’s defensive duties.
As for your last point, I’d personally consider it a very good thing for those strike zone tendencies to be corrected.
Who cares about the humanity? I just don’t want to see catchers lose framing as an important defensive contribution.
Guys like Jeff Mathis would be out of a job.
Lan – Absolutely. I think too many strikes up in the zone are called balls and it needs to stop. Want the game to go quicker? Call that pitch.
If you are a Padres fan, like I am, you know the absolute pain of the bad home-plate umpire. You know exactly what I’m talking about (Langston/Tino – changed the entire course of a World Series).
But there’s lots of other things the home plate umpires do besides call balls and strikes. Some of those are things that are super rare – catcher’s interference, hitter obstruction, etc. Plays at the plate would obviously be the biggest one, plus, who would brush off the plate between batters? The technology exists to have a computerized strike zone while also maintaining a home-plate umpire to do all the other stuff. I think MLB should experiment with it, but then the problem becomes one of how to implement it at all levels of baseball, including the minors, college and high school. They aren’t going to have the resources to implement a computerized ball/strike zone. But I do hope that eventually balls and strikes are called by a computer. The home plate umpire will still be important and useful. But umpires who have been doing this for 25 years just don’t have the eyes anymore to handle 100 MPH velocity.
Let’s go with modified hockey rules. If a batter disagrees with a call, they can challenge the umpire to a fight. The player wins and the call gets overturned.
What I would pay to see Giancarlo Stanton pummel Angel Hernandez into a pulp….
Trim, as good an argument/explanation as any I’ve read. Well done!
None of those points will be impacted by robotic umps. There would still be a home plate umpire, they’d just be notified if it was a ball or strike.
All of those points have an impact. That is why they are points in point form 🙂
7% of all ball and strike calls were wrong in 2018. More than a third of all borderline pitches were called wrong. Why do you think catchers that can’t hit their weight but are great at framing pitches still have jobs.
Pretty soon a grown man won’t have anyone close to talk baseball with so he’ll do computer to talk baseball with far away people.
And what exactly do you call what you are doing right now?
…that was his point.
Remember AJ Burnett?
After he was traded by the Yankees to Pirates, he wasn’t accostomed to bunting. Until that, he only pitched in AL
The ball popped up off his bunt and hit him in the eye and was O-U-T months. He had facial fracture surgery.
The Marlins were and are in the NL. There is life before the Yankees.
That’s more of an argument for eliminating the DH in the AL. That way pitchers can continue knowing how to bunt.
Bunting still works for NL pitchers, occasionally trying to bunt for a hit (particularly against the shift) as Turner was attempting to do, squeeze plays, and when the guy on deck is a significantly better hitter than the guy at the plate (with bigger allowances made when runners are on both first and second base).
However, I will agree that the sacrifice bunt never made much sense a good portion of the time, and I’m glad to see most teams have finally recognized the play’s shortcomings.
A sac bunt still works for me if you’re trying to get the runner on 2nd to 3rd with no outs in a tie game. I don’t mean a traditional sac bunt when you have the bat out there before the pitcher even winds up but bunting in that situation makes plenty of sense to me.
Is this supposed to be comedy?
Learn to bunt properly and you don’t break fingers….
Bunting is a bad idea? Come on. What’s next? We get rid of the pitchers and use a tee?
Injuries happen. Turner was trying to bunt for a base hit for some reason.
Bunting is a bad idea because it turns into fewer runs than any other action a hitter can take, not because one player is bad at it and broke his finger.
It is time baseball stops bunting and hitting balls to the right side with a runner on second and nobody out. Clearly they turn into fewer runs based on your logic. Maybe less strikeouts with runners on 3rd and less than 2 out would solve the pesky bunt issue. That is why Oakland can’t win in October.
He wasn’t sacrificing.
What’s a bad idea is bunting with your fingers on the mound side of the bat. You’re just asking for an injury.
Fundamentals can be fun, Trea !
My fantasy team will miss you, Mr. Turner
There is no great reason why batting gloves can’t have some padding on them. They are holding a bat, not playing the piano.
Not necessarily. Putting padding in the fingers could very well affect a player’s ability to make contact with the ball.
For a bunt? The padding is going to make the players unable to bunt? No shot. Now, if you go up to the plate with much larger batting gloves then you hit with it’s going to be fairly obvious you want to bunt. But I’m confident a big leaguer could adjust and get a bunt down.
Somebody tell these guys to start drinking milk again. Brittle bones
Don’t let PETA see this.
US Pentagon study shows new recruit average bone density is going down. Also finds correlation between young kids playing rough outside and development of injury resistant bodies.
Unfortunately more lame injuries number will go up.
Most people’s fingers are gonna break when you take 95 straight to the bone (sandwiched between solid maple).
He took a fastball to a finger that was resting on a wooden bat. I’m pretty sure milk isn’t going to fix that.
Back in my day in Texas we’d take 95 mph heaters off our fingers for fun! Why do you think they call me the madman!??!
If only they still had Daniel Murphy…oh…
bum cant stay healthy. total bust.
Possible Preller burner
How many days since he signed his first professional contract has he spent on the DL with non-HBP related injuries?
Brutal injury for the Nats with an already pedestrian-like start to the season. Kieboom was huge in preseason and hope he at least gets a look.
Well, the Phillies just became even bigger favorites to win the division this year.
The Nats should get Machado…….Dixon Machado.
I was watching that game. You could see his finger was out of place and they were trying to put it back. Its a shame, thats going to be the Nats Achilles heel this year…. Injuries
Time for a Carter Kieboom call-up. Let the kid play!!!
Call up Kieboom PLUS we need someone that can get us to our closer (without allowing runs)
Have the machine indicate directly to an umpire when it’s a strike, with a signal. He can still give the indication of a strike, strike out etc.
This would silently change the game.
Stick a fork in them…the Nationals are DONE.
Another injury. One season in 5 without significant time on the DL is not good.
The only seasons in which he’s been on the DL (major or minor league) for even a day were 2017 and 2019. And almost all of that was HBP related.
In 2017 he went on the DL in early April for a hamstring pull. Was out 15 days. I don’t know about the other years, I just happened to be at that game in Philadelphia. His 1st game back he hit for the cycle against the Rockies I think. He is quite a player that seems to have bad luck with HBP.
Went on the DL with the hamstring issue on April 10th, 2017. Came off the DL on April 21st, 2017. That’s 11 days. The hammy has not put him back on the DL since then and it clearly hasn’t affected his level of play.
Anyway, it’s odd to see you slam Turner after you posted these comments regarding Giancarlo Stanton…
“Here are all of Stanton’s DL visits and the reasons.
He was placed on the DL for the hamstring issue on April 30th and returned June 10th 2013 and has not had any issues with the hamstring since then. Obviously not a recurring injury.
On Sept 11th, 2014 Stanton was hit in the face by a pitch and missed the remainder of the season. Obviously not a recurring type of injury,
In 2015 he spent June 27th to October 5th on the DL for a broken hand that was the result of a HBP. Obviously not a recurring type of injury.
In 2016 he had a groin strain that kept him out from Aug 14th to Sept 5th.
Please explain how that type of injury history makes him ‘injury prone’?”
“Stanton is not injury prone. He is HBP prone. Both major trips to the DL have been because of injuries sustained when he was hit by a pitch. In his hand and in his face.”
Trea Turner is the same way. He’s not injury prone. Worst case scenario he is HBP prone.