Bad timing for Nunez
Knee injury hurts in stretch run
Forgive me if I don’t ladee-da yesterday’s news about Eduardo Nunez’ knee injury.
Not, heaven forbid, to be Debbie Downer, but a sprain of any ligament in any knee of the true sparkplug of the team, the real difference-maker, the actual savior for the Red Sox lineup when the playoffs are just three weeks away is a big deal.
Nunez came out to the Red Sox dugout a bit before last night’s game and walked with a slight but noticeable limp each time he placed weight on his right leg. This was three days after he messed up the knee with a hard slide into second base.
He said he was lucky because if he had torn the ACL, which lies beneath the kneecap, he would have needed surgery that would have sidelined him for about a year.
But he sprained a “better” cruciate ligament, his PCL (posterior cruciate ligament), which sits in the back side of the knee.
A sprain is a tear, remember, of the ligament, and we do not know exactly how severe Nunez’ sprain is. Perhaps it’s the best case, Grade 1. Even if that is the case, nobody should expect to see him return any sooner than the final week of the regular season. Even that might be pushing it, and that’s based on the Red Sox themselves since manager John Farrell admitted yesterday it’s “too soon to tell” if Nunez can return before the playoffs.
That is if the Sox get to the playoffs without Nunez. Pushing him to come back too soon is a road nobody wants to go down.
The only problem with that is this is the time the Sox need Nunez the most. With a lead in the AL East that still is much closer to slim than comfortable, there is no understating the significance of their offensive catalyst sitting on the medical shelf. Nunez’ speed is as important a weapon to his offense as his bat, and now the Red Sox leadoff hitter has a bad knee. The team needs Nunez back running at full speed today.
Right now, there are no guarantees about how soon the infielder can recover and return to maximum effectiveness. None.
“This time of year, you don’t want to miss any games,” Nunez said. “You know, we’re in the race for the playoffs, but hopefully I’ll just be back soon. The good news, it’s nothing more serious. It’s nothing (that will keep me out for the) season. It’s just a week, and we’ll see what’s going on.”
If it truly is “just a week,” this entire essay would not exist. Nunez won’t be back in just a week.
“It depends on how your body reacts to treatment. It can be a week, it can be eight days, 10 days or six days. It depends how your body reacts with the treatment,” Nunez said.
The message that he will not be rushed has sunk in.
“Yeah, we will try to not push too much,” said Nunez, who is hitting .319 with eight home runs and 27 RBI in 37 games with the Red Sox. “We will try to push, but then at the same time be safe, make sure I’m back healthy and I can help the team win. I don’t want to come back without being able to run. That’s my big tool, my speed. So we’ll try to be safe.”
Farrell said there’s no way of knowing if Nunez can return before the regular season ends.
“Too early to tell,” the manager said. “Personally, in talking with him and seeing how he’s moving around today compared to the two days following, there’s improvement there, but we have to wait and see how this week plays out.”
Farrell also mentioned a timeline of 7-10 days that simply does not sound too definitive.
“He’s going to be down at least for another week,” Farrell said. “He still has some tightness, some swelling in the knee. It’s not MCL, it’s not ACLrelated, but there’s some sprain condition in the knee. So like I said, it’s going to be a 7-10 day reevaluation period from the time of the injury, which was Saturday night. We’ll miss him in the top part of the order, what he’s meant to us, but we’ve got an opportunity for other guys to step up and take on that added responsibility.”
It doesn’t help that the Red Sox’ primary second baseman, Dustin Pedroia, has to be monitored the rest of the season with his own aching knee. He will need plenty of rest down the stretch, and his contributions to the offense are no secret and just as important as Nunez’.
The Red Sox are in waitand-see mode with Eduardo Nunez, which is too bad for a team that does not have time to wait in order to win. They don’t know how long he’ll be out.
All they know for sure is that he’s out now, and he’s who they need.