Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal has had another rough season with injuries, and his latest one is a strain of the dreaded, mysterious oblique muscle. He was put on the DL on Saturday, and Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times has more:
Furcal: received PRP injection. Expected back in 25-30 days.
A PRP injection sounds ominous, but it's a fairly new procedure that involves taking platelet cells from your own blood and injecting them in the injured area to speed up the healing process. The treatment might not be the most exciting story, but Hernandez also gave a timeline for the first time, with Furcal expected to miss a month or so.
The Dodgers called up the organizational Lou Gehrig to Furcal's Wally Pipp, promoting top prospect Dee Gordon and inserting him into the lineup right away. Furcal was frustrated enough with an earlier injury that he openly contemplated retirement, so the ambiguity of an oblique muscle -- finicky enough to torment even the youngest athletes -- seems like an especially bad match for Furcal.
Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal only recently returned to the team after spending time on the disabled list with a broken thumb. But Friday night, while attempting a throw to third base, Furcal injured something in his side and had to be removed from the game. Manager Don Mattingly said afterwards that he expected Furcal to end up on the DL, and sure enough, that's what has happened, as Furcal is dealing with an oblique strain.
The oblique strain continues to claim new victims, and though we don't have a timeline specific for Furcal, we've seen enough comparable oblique strains in the recent past to figure that he'll probably be out for the better part of a month. He'll rest for some time to let it heal before gradually easing himself back into baseball activities.
The Dodgers have promoted infielder Ivan DeJesus Jr. to take Furcal's roster spot, and Jamey Carroll will shoulder the regular load at shortstop until Furcal's good to return. Given that Furcal's sitting on a season .519 OPS, this isn't necessarily the worst news in the world, but he's much better than his numbers, and he's still a loss.
