Tigers put Matt Treanor on DL

Sunday, April 26, 2009
Tigers put Matt Treanor on DL
Lynn Henning / The Detroit News

Kansas City, Mo. -- Tigers backup catcher Matt Treanor is on the 15-day disabled list and is expected to be lost for at least three months because of surgery to repair a nagging problem with his left hip labrum.

The Tigers called up catcher Dane Sardinha from Triple-A Toledo to replace Treanor, 33, who formerly played for the Florida Marlins before signing with the Tigers during the off-season.

"It's just sad for Matt," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said, speaking before Sunday's game between the Tigers and Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. "He's like all players. He just wants to play. But it's not getting any better."

Treanor had surgery last October for the three tears in his hip but was given an all-clear ahead of spring camp. Although he had no serious setbacks during the Grapefruit League season, he has been increasingly bothered by pain in the same area and surgery is now expected as early as this week after he confers with doctors.

"The ideal situation would be to get back in late July or early August," Treanor said Sunday, a day after he met for "serious" discussions with Leyland, and Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski.

"Yesterday I had my little emotional day," Treanor said. "Now it's time to move and to think about getting better and getting back into shape. I see a lot of good things happening with this club. But Mr. Leyland didn't like seeing me in pain."

Sardinha, 30, played in 17 games for the Tigers in 2008 and batted .229 with one triple and three RBIs.

"I really like Sardinha," Leyland said. "He's an excellent catcher. I don't expect a lot of offense, but I'm not sure anybody expects much offense from a backup catcher."

Treanor appeared in four games for the Tigers. He was hitless in 13 at-bats.

Dunno if I like this whole Sardinha thing. I would rather just have Laird and Ryan.

Dusty Ryan is still with the Mud Hens.

That's what I mean, why call up Sardinha, Ryan can do much better I think.

gdennis59 wrote:

Dunno if I like this whole Sardinha thing. I would rather just have Laird and Ryan.

Dusty still needs to work on his batting and the blocking bad pitches. If he was brought up, he would be riding the bench, and not getting the experience he needs. By Dane coming up, it actually helps get Dusty more playing time in Toledo.

He just had surgery to fix that after the season last year. Poor Matt