Lorenzo Cain hurts knee -- Latest: May Miss Only 4-6 Weeks

[kramnoj]

Per http://spreadsheets.googl...=p4ew-fwu2XT3ddd43YDhgJQ : Hardy, Hart, Bush, Weeks, McClung, Coffey, Villenueva, Rivera.

[battlekow]

Cain explains exactly what happened:

"I was in a 'no doubles' situation, playing deep, and on a fly ball I ran in and made a sliding catch on my knees," Cain said on Sunday while at the airport awaiting a flight to Milwaukee, where he was scheduled to undergo an MRI on Monday. "The outfield there is kind of hard, and I banged my knee against the ground."

Cain actually stayed in the game after the injury and came to the plate for his next at-bat, but when he hit a line drive to center, he felt his knee go out on him as he broke out of the box. Although he is able to walk without aid, he said it hurts to move the knee.

[TheCrew07]

Unless he damaged the knee cap it's sounds like what was a hyper extension back in the old days, a low grade MCL these days, and probably a nasty bruise with swelling.

 

edit. I was doing my morning recaps and I totally missed the part where he felt a "pop" coming out of the box in his next AB. That's unusual as we usually have to treat 3-4 MCL injuries per football season and I don't ever recall a post injury "pop", usually the "pop" is when the injury happens. I don't feel as confident about this as I did initially.

[battlekow]

Update from McCalvy:

This qualifies as very good news for Brewers prospect Lorenzo Cain: He won't need surgery to repair his injured left knee.

 

Cain underwent an MRI scan on Monday that revealed a posterior cruciate ligament tear from an injury he suffered diving in the outfield on Thursday for Double-A Huntsville. He is expected to miss 4-6 weeks, according to Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash.

 

There was an initial fear that Cain had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, and injury that might have required season-ending surgery.

[twobrewers]

Wow. Four to Six weeks is worlds better than "season ending"...

 

That is hardly enough to stump his development time.

[TheCrew07]

PCL.. interesting. Good news at least.

[DHonks]

I thought PCL was the second worst to injure, only behind ACL

[LouisEly]

I think Braun will get moved from left field eventually because he's athletic enough and has a strong enough arm to play CF or RF; it's a matter of taking a couple of years getting used to playing the OF before the switch happens. Prolly 2011 at the earliest, but I think eventually a switch will be made. Then again, if Cain pans out and Hart is signed long-term, then Braun might stay.

 

Something tells me though that in a couple of years Prince will be gone, Gamel will be playing 1B, and Green will be at 3B, but that's a comment for a different thread.

 

Back to the topic at hand, the Posterior cruciate ligament injury is the least serious IIRC. ACL and MCL are worse and take longer to heal.

[DHonks]

Best of luck to Cain. I'm still more weary than most, because we've seen plenty of toolsy, raw OF prospects that "can't miss" wind up missing. I'm thinking of Alex Escobar, Jay Payton, Corey Patterson, etc. For that reason, I still don't have Cain penciled in for anything

[southpaw121505]

Wow this stinks. Thankfully, it doesn't appear to be season ending but you hate to see the kid miss important time. I really like Cain, I hope he comes back soon.



X ellence wrote:
I think he tracks flyballs better in CF than RF.

I think there is something to that. I've talked about this in other threads, but I think it's way easier to read balls in center than it is on a corner. I'd imagine that is even more so for guys that aren't natural outfielders.

[TheCrew07]

PCL and MCL are pretty similar, PCL is rare is all

[battlekow]

I think there is something to that. I've talked about this in other threads, but I think it's way easier to read balls in center than it is on a corner. I'd imagine that is even more so for guys that aren't natural outfielders.

 

Yeah, like Bill Hall.

[TheCrew07]

PCL Info

[GormanHarvey]

Kind of interesting that it goes from MCL, to concern it was the ACL, to it being revealed from the MRI that it is the PCL. If they thought it might be the ACL that would explain why they were talking season ending. MCL tears primarily don't require surgery as it receives plenty of blood flow and heals fairly quickly on its own. PCL injuries can be a little more tricky and sometimes require surgery when severe. So basically it order of most severe to least it would be ACL>PCL>MCL

[battlekow]

The poor, neglected LCL.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Great news because now we still have Plan B in CF next year if Cameron decides to take more money in free agency from another team with more money. Those of you hoping for Hart in CF, I disagree. He doesn't have the instincts of a CF and our ability to prevent runs would be greatly damaged. Let's hope Cain comes back and is ready for a possible 2010 Brewers debut in CF.

[TooLiveBrew]

I agree with TWR on Hart's profile as a CF. I think he could be below-average there, and his offense would probably be above-avg. for CF... but his bat is fine at RF, and his defense there actually seems to be a plus (if only a slight one).

 

I think Cam will probably be back for another tour of duty in 2010, but if Cain is ready he gives the Brewers a lot of payroll flexibility. I'm really glad to see that his injury (though sucky) is basically a best-case scenario here.