Juan Uribe Placed On 15 Day Disabled List

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

So in some pretty horrible news, the muscle injury that Juan Uribe sustained yesterday was more serious than believed. After we thought the move was precautionary, the team who consistently takes days to decide the fate of an injured player (see Ramirez, Hanley, Ellis, Mark, etc, etc) immediately placed the reliable Uribe on the disable list due to a hamstring strain.

This season Uribe has been a key part of one of the best teams in the National League, being a slightly above average hitter (.731 OPS) mixed in with absolute gold glove type defense had him on pace to be worth 3 fWAR even while missing a 5 weeks earlier with a similar hamstring injury.

Oh and if you want to compare the hamstring injuries, please do because apparently Uribe feels about the same

I can’t tell you that this is a good thing. Losing arguably your best defender, a solid bat in the middle of the order, a player who has been worth 7.3 fWAR in his past 213 games is nearly irreplaceable. Nearly.

Of course I say nearly because the options to replace Juan Uribe this season seem way more apt than in previous seasons. One of the best signings of the offseason, Justin Turner has been the reason the Dodgers have gotten anything from the hot corner when Uribe was away. Turner has put up a .797 OPS, been a plus baserunner, and while he hasn’t been Juan Uribe, saving 5 runs on defense at the hot corner is something to be proud of.

Turner has actually excelled at 3rd base, and with that, means not a ton of value us lost, if any.

Where Uribe will be missed is on the bench. Carlos Triunfel will be recalled as he’s not in the Albuquerque lineup tonight for the Albuquerque Isotopes, and Alexander Guerrero you’ll see is batting 6th and playing second base. I’m frustrated Guerrero isn’t up, but looking at it, Guerrero isn’t really a left side of the infield type defender, which is where the team needs help at this moment. He has been bad recently, .233/.273/.301 since getting finished with his rehab assignment, so it’s not like he’s been great recently. If he hits, he’ll be promoted soon, Darwin Barney gives them some depth at the left side, and it’s not like Carlos Triunfel is going to completely block Alexander Guerrero (if he does it’s a travesty). It sucks not seeing Alex on the big league club, especially right now, but hey, hopefully he breaks out of the slump he’s mired in.

Listen, going from Juan Uribe to Carlos Triunfel is like going from [something totally great] to [something completely bad and horrible].  Triunfel can’t hit (has managed a .251 OBP at Albuquerque), can’t really defend all that well, but he plays 3 infield positions, so he’s up, and if the team is to go late into October, they really need a healthy Juan Uribe, get well soon, Juan.