New York — Catcher Gregg Zaun is expected to be out six to eight weeks after suffering a non-displaced fracture of a bone near the base of his right thumb, according to Toronto Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi.
"We're not putting him on the 60-day disabled list because we think he will be back faster than that," Ricciardi said Wednesday, before the Blue Jays game at Yankee Stadium against the New York Yankees was postponed because of an unfavorable weather forecast.
A steady rain started to fall on the Bronx around 4:30, cancelling batting practice.
Zaun injured his thumb in the first inning of Tuesday's 10-3 win over the Boston Red Sox when he was hit by a foul tip off the bat of Eric Hinske. Zaun batted in the top of the second inning, then took himself out of the game after he was unable to throw the ball back to the mound after Roy Halladay's first warm-up pitch.
Related Articles
Related Information
Dr. Thomas Graham, a Baltimore-based hand specialist, is scheduled to perform the surgery in the Maryland city. He will insert two pins in the hand. The surgery could have economic implications for Zaun, since he needs to play in 270 games this season and next for a $3.75-million (U.S.) option year to automatically kick in 2009. "This won't help him," Ricciardi said.
Zaun is off to a slow start offensively, batting .186 with one home run and eight runs batted in. But Zaun is a switch hitter, and with left fielder Reed Johnson out for a prolonged period of time after surgery for a herniated disk and third baseman Troy Glaus suffering from bone spurs in his heel that will require daily monitoring even after he returns as early as this weekend from the DL, manager John Gibbons will have a third of his opening-day roster sidelined Thursday.
"We knew [Tuesday] it wasn't good," Ricciardi said. "We like Zaun because of his offensive potential, even though he's had a tough start."
The Blue Jays selected the contract of Sal Fasano from Triple-A Syracuse, designating John Hattig for assignment in order to make room for Fasano on the 40-man roster. Fasano had five solo homers (accounting for all his RBIs) and was hitting .317 at Syracuse.
"Sal probably throws better than the other guys we have," Ricciardi said, shrugging. "That probably gives us a little more confidence."
Gibbons said that A.J. Burnett, who was scheduled to start the postponed game, will instead pitch Thursday night.
The rest of the rotation will simply fall back a day. Yankees manager Joe Torre, however, took the opportunity presented by the postponement and will start Andy Pettitte, his scheduled starter Wednesday night, Friday against the Boston Red Sox. Phil Hughes, one of the most highly touted pitching prospects in the organization, will still start Thursday night's game for the Yankees.
Gibbons hadn't decided how he would split the workload between Jason Phillips and Fasano. But in the meantime, the team is putting utility infielder Ryan Roberts through catching drills to get him ready to fill in as the emergency backstop.
Ricciardi smiled ruefully when he was asked if this was the toughest start to a year he'd seen as Toronto's GM.
"Nah, a couple years ago [2004] we had Carlos Delgado, Orlando Hudson, Vernon [Wells], Doc [Roy Halladay] and Frank Catalanotto all hurt with a bunch of injuries. There was a game against the San Diego Padres I was listening to and I remember Jerry Howarth saying that Howie Clark was batting and, I think, Frank Menechino was on deck and he said: 'Who are these guys?' That year, we just wanted to put a team on the field. We're built a little better this year."
