Some Things Will Never Change.

So I go into work Wednesday afternoon and things are dandy. I get out of there sixteen hours later, sleep the sleep of the dead, and awake to find that Julio Lugo was sent to St. Louis, they had acquired a first baseman from Pittsburgh in Adam LaRoche, and that they'd let Mark Kotsay go. The seeming shortsighted-ness of the last move is killing me--your backup outfielder is Rocco Baldelli. Should someone go down, which *knock on wood* doesn't seem that unlikely, and Rocco can't go, you've got yourself a problem--but I'm willing to concede that the front office knows better than I do.

So Adam LaRoche, huh? Slightly different coloring but he looks a lot like JD Drew, similar demeanor as well. He doesn't like to wear suits. (Big mistake. Only once in my life have I ever met a man who didn't look good in a suit and that was mostly because he slouched.) And he wants to play in the playoffs. So good luck to him.

That Didn't Take Long.

(Click to make bigger and to be able to read the labels.)

Mark Kotsay's back is not in good shape. He first went on the DL with a strained back in May of 2003 and missed sixteen games. He missed sixteen games of the 2005 season with back problems. He missed nineteen games in 2006 with back spasms. He started 2007 on the DL after having surgery on a herniated disc. He came back in June of that year but only lasted until mid-August when the pain came back and caused him to miss the rest of the season. He landed on the fifteen-day DL in May of last year and missed thirty-three games. So the news that his back has once again proved problematic shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

Back on January 29, Kotsay had endoscopic surgery to remove a displaced disc fragment from his back. When a disc herniates besides the nucleus pulposus leaking into the foramen and aggravating the spinal cord; bits of cartilage, apophyseal bone, and anulus can also enter and float around in the spinal cord's space. It's likely that one of these bits of anatomical litter was removed from his back.

His surgeon performs Micro-Endoscopic Discectomy (neat little animation of the procedure here by clicking on micro endoscopic disectomy.) A tiny slit in his back, make the hole slightly bigger by pushing the muscle to the side, insert a light and a tool, grab the errant fragments, and close him up.

Because the muscle isn't cut, the recovery from the procedure shouldn't be too bad. It can actually be performed under local anaesthesia, as an outpatient procedure. The idea that he might be ready to go by some time in April isn't too out there of an idea.

Ducks in a Row.

It seems that Mark Kotsay is on his way back to Boston. He has agreed, short of a physical and the hashing out of details, to return as the back-up first baseman/extra outfielder. He'll make $1.5 million plus incentives.

I like the idea. Offensively, he's not that hot but he does add nice depth. And given my weakness for centerfielders, I do like having an overabundance of them. I think it was against LA in the ALDS he made a fabulous sliding catch on a foul ball; it was shocking.

I Will Acknowledge Mark Kotsay.

The Front Office is against me. First, they took away my Manny (I'm currently in the vindictive stage of our break up.) Now, they're taking playing time away from my Coco. But I will welcome the new guy. Erm, welcome new guy!

I do like centerfielders. And I do like centerfielders who do Spiderman impersonations. One of my favorite pictures from the post-season last year was Coco, hair freed from the confining braids, peering over the centerfield fence in Denver. And Mark Kotsay is probably a fine fellow. But. The man is already planning on not playing in October: "It'll be a fun experience for the next 30 days, that's for sure." Umm, honeybun? Thirty days will take you until September 26-the start of the Yankee series.

I suppose it signals the return of Jacoco. Jacoby gets the righty starters, Coco gets the lefties. When the Bay-by (too corny?) arrives in September, Coco will undoubtedly get some starting time. (I don't even know where Bay's wife is-Canada? Pittsburgh? Probably not Boston.) Sucks for Coco, though.