Hafner Hit and Removed From Game

[shortsavage]

Does anyone know how hard and where Hafner was hit? Stupid Fox buying all the games on Saturday so they are not viewable on mlb.tv.

[nmm]

I just found this on yahoo sports, "White Sox starter Mark Buehrle retired the first two batters, then threw a curveball up and in to Hafner on the first pitch. Hafner tried to get out of the way, but the ball appeared to slightly graze his right shoulder and lower lip."

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=a ... &type=lgns

[shmolex]

well, at least it was a curveball...

[ab]

Yeah, this is not good for my team...

Oh yeah, and I feel bad for Hafner and the Indians too...

[pangbones]

Great. First Thome, now Hafner. I may need to pick up Erstad or Hillenbrand.

[rentz]

according to yahoo sports, he might miss atleast a few games, they think he had a mild concussion. in anycase he isnt in todays lineup

[LouisC9999]

All things considered, the news isn't bad at all

From Yahoo:

Jul 17 Indians designated hitter Travis Hafner was doing well after he had a few hours to recover from taking a Mark Buehrle fastball off the face on Saturday night. Lonnie Soloff, Indians head athletic trainer, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that Hafner suffered a mild concussion and a cut on the inside of his upper lip from the impact of the ball. The 3rd year player underwent a CAT scan and a magnetic resonance imaging exam at Lutheran Hospital, and an exam by the team dentist showed no damage to his teeth. "We haven't gotten all the diagnostic tests back yet, but I think we dodged a bullet here," said Soloff.

[Sultans of Squat]

My question is: So was it a fastball or a curveball then??

I too saw that it was a curveball in the initial report, but I also saw that Westbrook(?) retaliated the first thing in the bottom of that inning by hitting Dye in the ankle. If it really was just a curveball, one might not expect a retaliation. But then again, Westbrook could've just acted out of the "unwritten rulebook" w/out caring whether it was an intentional beaning or not. OR maybe Westbrook knew it wasn't intentional, but feel like he should at least give the appearance of backing up his teammates. Afterall, he only threw at Dye's ankles, not anywhere near his head.

Anyway, yeah, you never want any player to get hurt, and it sounds like Hafner should probably be ok. If he has to hit the DL for this, I guess my trade didn't go so badly. I traded Hafner + Floyd for Beckett earlier in the year in my deep, points keeper league where you can keep everyone who doesn't officially enter real-life free agency. At the time, Floyd was just a free pickup and had cooled off and started getting niggling injuries, and Hafner was only beginning to come out of his slow start -- and only had 1 great year to his resume. Meanwhile, Beckett looked like he might finally shake his blister/injury problems, and I was able to snag a healthy, productive Nick Johnson for free. Oh well...

Anyway, I hope Hafner gets well quickly enough and comes back w/out much problems.

In the meantime, if you need a freebie replacement, see if Dan Johnson or Swisher are available for free in your league. DJ will only bat against RHPs, but he looks like he could become the next Hafner soon enough although probably not to his level this year. Swisher's been heating up himself over the past month although I'd like to see him walk some more -- kinda odd since he was dubbed a walk machine in the minors and had to learn to hit for power. Of course, if Shelton's still free, go grab him first.

[pangbones]

So is anyone going to sit Hafner this week?

[Sultans of Squat]

So is anyone going to sit Hafner this week?

Well, as I said, I don't have him anymore, but I guess it depends on what your replacement bat would be. And you're talking about weekly league, correct?

Anyway, it sounds like he might miss Monday's game and possibly Tuesday also. The thing is if he plays, he gets to feast on KC and Seattle pitching for 7 days. Looks like Howell is the only LHP for KC in this series, and he sucks against all batters, not just righties, while Hafner's been pretty good against LHPs this year, not just against RHPs. And Seattle doesn't have any good LHPs that can stop Hafner either as Moyer's usually better against righties than lefties, and Meche, Franklin and Pineiro all suck against lefties, if not righties too. Sele's the only one who was ever any good against lefty batters in his good years (not that Moyer's always been bad or anything), but he hasn't been that good in a few years now.

So basically, if Hafner plays and isn't hampered by the mild concussion and swollen lips, then he should have a monster week. Makes it a tough choice if you have a decent backup bat. If you don't have a good backup, then you're best off taking the risk and sticking w/ Hafner.