Padres News: Myers Goes To The Boneyard

Just three games into his reinstatement from the 15-Day DL, Wil Myers was sent back, and is expected to miss 8 weeks after surgery on his left wrist.

I’m a big Myers fan.  I loved the way he handles center field and provides a spark in the Padres lineup.  It’s safe to say that he proved all of his critics wrong by being a solid center fielder and leadoff hitter.  Unfortunately for the San Diego Padres, the people who criticized him for being too injury prone nailed it.

It was well known that Myers had wrist issues in Tampa Bay, but what’s of particular concern is that the bone spur that has been bothering him is in the other wrist!  Not a good sign.  With the Padres giving up so many high profile prospects to acquire and control the young Myers, they really need him to deliver.

Seeing Myers thrown onto the heaping friar boneyard, I got to thinking about injuries in general.  Mainly, what percentage of these things are real?

Talking with fans about position battles, you always hear the phrase, “these things work themselves out.”  Well do they?  Or is there a higher power (Front Office) working them out.  I’m not saying these injuries are fake, but there are certainly plenty of weird coincidences with injuries in baseball.

For example, it seems anytime Brandon Morrow is due back and Odrisamer Despaigne has a good game, Morrow has a setback.  The Padres staff will normally justify the move by calling it “preventative” in nature.

Just a few weeks ago we were discussing what was going to happen to the outfield when Melvin Upton Jr. returned, and here we are with Myers.

Next I got to thinking, with what seems like an enormous amount of Padre injuries, there has to be something faulty in the Padre scouting, development, or training program.

Let’s not forget about the two men Padre fans have been hearing about for years now:  Josh Johnson and Cory Luebke.  These injuries are very real, but the Padres keep teasing us with their possible return.  So where are they now?

Josh Johnson started the season on the 15-day DL, but after a setback was placed on the 60 day DL.  After two Tommy John surgeries, any production the Padres can squander out of JJ has to be considered a victory.

Years ago the Friar prophecy foretold of a great low income ball team, spearheaded by homegrown talent in Nick Hundley, Cameron Maybin, Jedd Gyorko, and the chosen one – Cory Luebke.  These players were destined to lead us to victory.

Cory Luebke showed the promise to become the next Jake Peavy.  Shortly after signing a large $27.75 million contract, Luebke went down with Tommy John surgery.  The setback epitomized the contract misfires by the Padres front office, shadowing the poor contracts of Hundley, Maybin, and Gyorko.

Myers seems to be falling right into this category of players.  He’s young, talented, relatively cheap, controllable, and injury prone.  Let’s hope for the Padres sake Myers can bounce back, and prove his critics wrong by reestablishing himself as a consistent ball player.

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