Indians cleanup hitter Edwin Encarnacion left last night’s game with an ankle injury. While trying to get back to second base in order to avoid being doubled up, his ankle hit the bag and appeared to bend to a gruesome extent. The right-handed DH could not put weight on his right leg as he was helped off the field. While there’s no word yet on the severity of the injury, Encarnacion appeared to be in a lot of pain. The Indians added the slugger on a three-year, $60 million contract this past offseason, and he rewarded them with a .258/.377/.504 season in which he smacked 38 homers and drove in 107 runs. He’s a tremendous right-handed power hitter amidst a left-heavy lineup, and his absence for any length of time would be a huge blow to a Cleveland team that is searching for its first title since 1948.
More from some teams still playing baseball in October…
- Dallas Keuchel of the Astros had always felt as though the team was missing a strong veteran presence in the clubhouse. “Guys were just waiting for the Astros to get a lot better,” he tells Tim Britton of the Providence Journal. After adding Brian McCann, Josh Reddick and Carlos Beltran, Houston soared to a 101-61 record and currently have a 2-0 lead on Boston in the ALDS. A.J. Hinch also appreciates the value of having these veteran players. “They’ve taken everybody under their wing, they’ve developed a culture in the clubhouse and a chemistry that’s all inclusive, which I can appreciate.” Most notably, the piece reveals that Carlos Beltran has become a strong mentor for fellow Puerto Rican Carlos Correa.
- Nationals assistant hitting coach Jacque Jones has been suspended indefinitely, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post reports. According to a civil suit filed on September 28th, Jones allegedly distributed nude photos of an ex, causing her to suffer “general and special damages”. Dusty Baker described the news as “kind of a downer” before last night’s game, describing Jones as a big part of the team. In Jones’ absence, minor league hitting coordinator Troy Gingrich will serve as the assistant to hitting coach Rick Schu.
It looks like a season ender for Edwin.
That sucks for the Indians. I really don’t like it when players get hurt, and I wanted to beat them at full strength, but I guess this is a break for the Astros.
However, they made it to the World Series without him, so I still they’re good enough to go all the way.
It is a big blow to their team but Cleveland never gives up. Last night’s win proved that.
I hope the Indians and Astros meet in the ALCS. It seems like they’ve got the most team chemistry in MLB. It’ll be a fun series one way or another :D
Jay Bruce and Edwin have done great. Without them both they still made it to game 7 last year, but it’s someone the Astros don’t have to face through the lineup so we’ll see
Yet we still can’t quantify “veteran presence”. Does Bill James have a new formula yet? Because it doesn’t exist if it can’t be calculated.
If something can’t be measured or calculated how do you know it exists?
Oh those Blue Jays … they took back Bautista who stunk the place up as most of us suspected and they passed on E.
Those huge mistakes set back the Blue Jays tremendously