The Toronto Blue Jays have struggled during the first two weeks of the season and things took a turn for the worse on Friday when newly-acquired shortstop Jose Reyes suffered a bad ankle injury.General manager Alex Anthopoulo said Reyes has a badly sprained ankle and will miss up to three months of action because of it. Reyes suffered the left ankle injury while sliding into second base after stealing it in the sixth inning of an 8-4 win in Kansas city.
Reyes had an MRI performed at a local hospital and is now walking around on crutches. Surgery won’t fix the problem and it will now be just a matter of having to wait until the ankle heals.
Reyes, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list, said he felt something pop as he slid into the bag and he then rolled around for several moments in obvious agony. Reyes suffered a similar injury back in the 2003 season, as he usually dives headfirst. However, he said he thought the batter had hit a foul ball and that’s why he slid in feet first.
At the time of the injury, Reyes had been at-bat 38 times for the Blue Jays and had a batting-average of .395. The Jays said they’re looking around for a replacement shortstop until Reyes can return. For the time-being, the club has called up Munenori Kawasaki to fill in. Kawasaki, a native of Japan, was playing Triple-A across the border with the Bisons.
The Jays can also use Brett Lawrie there, but he’s recovering from an injury himself. Anthopoulos said "injuries are part of the game" unfortunately, and the team "will just have to work that much harder to get over it." He added that Reyes "is a superb player and the team will miss him greatly", but he doesn’t believe "teams are built on just one player."
Reyes said he thinks he’ll be back before three months pass by. He said he’ll do whatever the doctors tell him and hopes he can speed up his recovery however possible. He added that the Toronto fans and the Blue Jays franchise have high expectations this season and he wants to be a part of them.
He thanked everybody who had sent him best wishes via various social media networks. It looks like Toronto will replace Reyes with Emilio Bonifacio as the team’s lead-off batter.
Anthopoulos said his club "needs more depth" and realizes that with Reyes injured he might have to "pay a steep price" via a trade to acquire another elite shortstop. However, he said since Reyes will be back around the All-Star break, the team doesn’t really have to go after a top-class player.
He feels as long as the team can add some depth to the infield they should be okay until Reyes returns. He stated that Reyes "is a great player with the bat and the glove", but he’ll probably be looking at somebody who is better defensively than offensively when he seeks a replacement.
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