Berkman tears meniscus (not ACL) — Latest prognosis: out 6-9 weeks

[Bombers]

Didn't see this posted anywhere ...

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/05/lance-berkman-likely-has-torn-acl.html

 

As we all knew, it was just a matter of time before some injuries started happening in StL. With the Cardinals luck, his replacement at 1B will probably bat .300. In any case, this is a blow for them.

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

This is good news...

 

... for the Reds.

[homer]

The first of what will be several injuries for an aging Cardinals squad. Reports on Twitter are that Beltran is already favoring his knee and Furcal is due to go down for about three weeks any day now. The catch is that St. Louis has guys in the minors ready to step in (e.g. Adams).

[fondybrewfan]

Now if only the Brewers didn't suck so we could take advantage of the Cards misfortune.........

[umphrey]

There have been rumors of retirement if it is indeed a torn ACL

[RockCoCougars]

What is the deal with all the torn ACL's in baseball this year? This year, guys are going down like NFL running backs. Obviously the Brewers have been hit hard, but I can't remember more than a few others in the past. Seems like a fluky spike or something.

 

As for the Cardinals, it appears that maybe their run of luck that started last August is turning a bit. They have been pretty bad for the past week plus. As bad as the Brewers have been, they are only 5 games out, so they are pretty lucky. If they were in a division of good teams, this poor play could have buried them already. If only the Brewers could put together a solid two week stretch of baseball, they'd be right back in the mix. I still think that the Reds are the team to beat, and they are starting to heat up a bit.

[Funketown]

It's amazing that given how awful the first 1.5 months have been, the Brewers are still in this race. The Cardinals have struggled and they are really starting to get beat up, and Cincinnati hasn't exactly blown out of the gate either.

 

Even with the injuries, the Brewers might be a .500 talent level team in a weak division (probably just short of that actually), so we certainly shouldn't give up the hope of postseason baseball just yet. The pitching staff on this team is still very solid. The bullpen still has two big time stoppers. Braun is a monster. What we really, desperately need is for Weeks to get things figured out. Plug a 2009-2011 Rickie Weeks into that batting order and the hole created by Izturis and (to a lesser extent) Ishikawa doesn't seem to gape quite so wide.

 

Had the Cardinals gone 6-4 rather than 2-8, I might be throwing in the towel. As horrible as the Brewers have been, they haven't lost a ton of ground. There's still a chance, and it's not a Lloyd and Mary Swanson chance.

[monty57]

Losing Berkman will hurt them, but Carpenter is hitting for an .845 OPS, and Matt Adams was destroying the ball in AAA (something like a .340 avg and 10 HR). The Cardinals have a lot of 30-somethings on their team, so they have extra injury and "regression" risks, but I wouldn't count them out for this season. Unlike the Brewers, the Cards have some good MLB-ready talent ready to step in, and knowing them, everyone who "steps in" will play like an All Star.

[reillymcshane]

Fangraphs pointed out the Cardinals starting line up the other day AVERAGED a 6.4 WAR over 600 plate appearances.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/daily-notes-seriously-the-cardinals-offense/

 

Okay, a couple of those guys only had 50-80 ABs, but the point is that they have been playing insanely great baseball on the offensive side.

 

Those numbers are unsustainable. Combine that with some aging players with significant injury history performing incredible (Beltran and Furcal), the offensive numbers are going to fall off.

 

The key for St. Louis is who's healthy (and hot) when the playoffs come around. Furcal hitting .360 in May is great, but if he's on the DL on Oct. 1, he doesn't matter.

 

They also appear to have some good young position players (not to mention pitchers) that they are comfortable bringing up and moving into the line up. Their 1B goes down and they aren't responding with recycled guys like Brooks Conrad. If they needed other guys, I wouldn't be shocked to see them go down to AA where they have OF Oscar Taveras - who's having a great year. Or even 2B Koltan Wong. Both guys are probably a bit premature to call up, but they have upside and project as big league starters.

[AZBrewCrew]

Oscar Taveras aka "minor league guy"

[splitterpfj]

Berkman's MRI showed it's NOT his ACL, it is a meniscus tear. Right now, they're saying he's out 6-89 weeks, but they also said they won't know for sure how much damage there is until his surgery is performed.

[logan82]

So he will be back on the field next week with a little help from the hitting coach.

[trwi7]

Right now, they're saying he's out 6-89 weeks

 

That's a pretty big gap.