Adam LaRoche started the year with a partial tear of the labrum in his left shoulder. He was shot up with some cortisone, shuffled back out on the field, and considered to be something in between "healthy" and "day-to-day." After a look under the hood, though, things have gotten far worse. The progression of tweets from William Ladson of MLB.com tells the story:

According to #Nats 1B Adam LaRoche, he has a large tear in the labrum and some tearing in the rotator cuff.

"That’s not what I wanted to hear," Adam LaRoche said about his shoulder injuries. "I wish it didn’t take me 45 games to figure out something was totally wrong."

I'm not going to lie to you: After talking to #Nats 1B Adam LaRoche this evening, I'll be shocked if he came back this year.

It looks like the Nats are going to put off surgery for a while, prescribing rest and rehabilitation for right now, but it doesn't sound good coming from Ladson.

In LaRoche's place, the Nationals have been giving at-bats to Matt Stairs, Mike Morse, and Alex Cora, even though that last scenario is in direct violation of the Geneva Convention.