Sunday, March 7, 2010

Yanks must be careful with Cervelli head injury


Let's hope the New York Yankees are better at handling concussions than their cross-town rivals. Francisco Cervelli, the Yanks backup catcher to Jorge Posada, got beaned in the head yesterday, suffering his second concussion in less than four months. Injuries are a part of baseball, but fastballs to the head are particularly scary.

Cervelli is set to be a key player for the Yankees, catching at least 50 games this year after doing a nice job filling in for both Posada and Jose Molina last year. How many times have we seen a young player finally getting his chance to shine, only to be interrupted by something terrible and unexpected?

The Mets were rightly criticized for rushing Ryan Church back after he suffered two concussions (and then criticizing him even after they traded him to the Braves). Joe Girardi, a cautious guy by nature, will not repeat that mistake. Out of an abundance of concern for his player, he will not allow Cervelli to take the field again until he is convinced that his catcher is truly healthy.

Not the best birthday present for Cervelli, who turned 24 yesterday. Let's hope this concussion doesn't cause him too much pain.

Thanks to Keith Allison via Wikipedia for the photo.

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