Kinsler put on disabled list - may miss rest of season

08/18/2008 8:29 PM ET
Kinsler put on disabled list
Infielder may miss rest of season; Arias called up
By Shawn Shroyer / MLB.com

ARLINGTON -- Ian Kinsler is on his way to the disabled list and he may remain there for the rest of the season.

Kinsler underwent an MRI on Monday afternoon with team physician Dr. Keith Meister and the initial prognosis was that Kinsler has a sports hernia. Kinsler will seek a second opinion from a specialist that Meister recommended as soon as he can, but he had come to terms with the strong possibility that he's going to be out for a while.

Infielder Joaquin Arias was in the Rangers clubhouse before Monday's game and was called up from Triple-A Oklahoma to replace Kinsler.

"Pretty much, I'm on the DL," Kinsler said.

The only questions now are the severity of the injury, if it is in fact a sports hernia, and whether or not Kinsler will have to have surgery, which is the normal result of a sports hernia.

If Kinsler can simply rehab the injury, he could return this season. If he undergoes surgery, he will miss eight weeks, which would end his season.

"Hopefully, I don't have to get surgery, but I'll just go by what this doctor says," Kinsler said. "Hopefully, he says it's not as bad as we thought."

Kinsler suffered the injury on Sunday night against the Rays. He made a play on a ground ball to second base in the first inning and first experienced some discomfort in his left groin, but remained in the game.

Kinsler felt the same symptoms later in the game when he grounded out to third in the seventh inning and didn't come out for the eighth. However, Kinsler didn't think anything -- ranging from leaving the game earlier to altering his weight lifting regimen -- would have prevented the injury.

"There's a few instances that I think back to that maybe did it, but the first inning probably was what did it," Kinsler said.

This is the third year in a row that Kinsler has gone on the DL and the first time that he's suffered such an injury. Kinsler was on the DL from April 12 to May 25 in 2006 with a dislocated left thumb. Last season, he was on the disabled list from July 2-31 with a stress fracture in his right foot.

While Kinsler is out, manager Ron Washington will use a platoon of Arias and Ramon Vazquez at second base, depending on who is playing third base and what opposing pitcher the Rangers are facing. Brandon Boggs started in the leadoff spot in place of Kinsler on Monday.

Against left-handers, Arias would play second base and Travis Metcalf would start at third while Vazquez would likely play second base against right-handers. Then Chris Davis could play third base and Frank Catalanotto could play first base.

The situation may get simpler by the end of the week if Hank Blalock is able to play first base and Davis is able to play third base full-time. That remains to be seen.

"This obviously hurts," Michael Young said. "We can't replace [Kinsler]. We won't be able to duplicate what he does on the field every night. We'll just have to pick up the pieces and claw our way through this."

Shawn Shroyer is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

08/19/2008 8:09 PM ET
Rangers' Kinsler might avoid surgery
Second baseman's hernia injury could be strain, not tear
By Shawn Shroyer / MLB.com

ARLINGTON -- Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler has a good method of gauging how bad his sports hernia is. He wakes up.

"I woke up [Tuesday] and it felt much better," Kinsler said as the Rangers played the Tigers. "I could actually sit up rather than roll over and fall out of bed on my face."

After a relatively pain-free morning, Kinsler learned he won't immediately need surgery on his sports hernia and might be able to avoid it entirely. So, there's hope for Texas that he'll return when he's eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list or soon thereafter.

Earlier Tuesday, Kinsler visited Dr. John Preskitt at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. Preskitt didn't detect any tear in Kinsler's abdominal wall and wanted to give him a couple weeks to see how the injury heals.

"Finally, some good news," manager Ron Washington said. "It's not 100 percent that he'll be back, but it's not 100 percent that he'll miss the rest of the season. We've got that window to work with, and that's good news."

Instead of a tear, Preskitt thought the injury was just a strain. Even though a tear didn't occur, Kinsler's injury is still classified as a sports hernia.

There are three different severity levels to a sports hernia, and Kinsler's is believed to be the least traumatic. Like his manager, Kinsler couldn't have been much happier to know surgery was less likely than originally thought.

"Surgery definitely isn't on my life checklist, so hopefully I can put off going under the knife," Kinsler said.

But Kinsler isn't out of the woods just yet.

He could begin riding an exercise bike in a matter of days and run on an elliptical machine by the end of the week.

How Kinsler feels after each test of his sports hernia will dictate how hard he can push himself to return.

If the injury doesn't improve during his 15-day DL stint, surgery would become more likely. Sport hernia surgery would then cost Kinsler six to eight weeks. That timeframe wouldn't affect his 2009 availability, but it would set back his offseason conditioning.

For now, though, Kinsler will continue his daily routine of monitoring the injury and hoping for the best.

"Hopefully, I wake up the next day and it feels good, and I wake up the day after that and it feels even better," Kinsler said.

Shawn Shroyer is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

I like Kinsler.

I love Ian Kinsler!!