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Bad News For People Who Love Good News: Crawford Out, Hollands Next

Hey, how about something to cut the oppressive optimism we've all been feeling about the 2015 season???

By Trev223
"OW! My oblique!"
"OW! My oblique!"
Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

I know it's difficult to imagine a downside for the 2015 Phillies: led by a core of Cole Hamels; young minor league deal and Rule five sparkplugs; and the various knees, ACLs, and bone dust that the baseball ops team has been able to smuggle out of darkest Transyl...er...Pennsylvania, I think most if not all of us had Championship dreams. Well, time to put a big ol wet blanket on those, friends because it's Injury Thursday!

It is, as the estimable Corinne Landrey puts it

Obviously the more troubling piece of news here for us fans looking forward is Crawford's oblique injury, but as Bill Baer puts it on our kissin'-cousin-site, Crashburn Alley, it's not the end of the world. Crawford should overcome his oblique issues, and while it might be a nagging injury for 8-10 weeks, it shouldn't dramatically alter his performance this year unlike, say, a Hamate bone fracture or an ACL tear (not that we'd have any experience with those). Still, for a team whose only real points of pride are (1) a potential franchise SS, (2) a near-ready number 3 starter, (3) some fun lottery tickets on the farm, and (4) Hatfield dollar dog night at Citizen's Bank Park, this is a bummer.

While not nearly as dramatic, the Hollands news is a pretty serious drag too. Much like Cliff Lee, Hollands has a tear in a flexor tendon, but unlike Lee, he's not going to attempt to rehab, and is leaning toward surgery. This would put Hollands out for the year, but you can see his logic -- it's not as if he's pitching for a particularly competitive team this year, and even if he was, he's 26 years old and has no real reason to waste years trying a rehab that he's pretty sure won't work. Better to just bite the bullet.

It's a problem for the Phillies though, as they're running out of pitchers -- Hollands was not likely going to start or anything, but 70 innings out of the bullpen in the high 3, low 4 ERA realm is not nothin' for any team, let alone one that just needs meat for the machine of a 100 loss season. You'd have to assume this makes Andy Oliver a lock to make the team and contribute, though, which is maybe a silver lining.

Anyway, happy Thursday!

UPDATE: LMAO

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Cody Asche scratched. Tightness in back. Party on</p>&mdash; David Murphy (@ByDavidMurphy) <a href="https://twitter.com/ByDavidMurphy/status/581114322975363072">March 26, 2015</a></blockquote>

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