Knee Surgery For Floyd, No Surgery For Garza

Posted Apr 9, 2008 by Aaron Knox

Updated Apr 9, 2008 at 06:05 PM

An MRI on DH/OF Cliff Floyd’s right knee revealed a torn medial meniscus that will require surgery to repair. The surgery will be performed Friday by Rays orthopedist Koco Eaton and Floyd was placed on the 15-day disabled list.

OF Justin Ruggiano was recalled from Triple-A Durham and will be here in time for tonight’s game against the Mariners. We’ll find out the timetable for Floyd’s recovery later today.

Nothing new yet on the radial nerve injury suffered Tuesday night by RHP Matt Garza. Also no word yet on who will make the start Sunday in Garza’s place. RHP Jae Kuk Ryu will be here today to begin working out of the bullpen, but he isn’t a candidate to make Sunday’s start. There’s a chance the Rays might give RHP Jeff Niemann his major-league debut that day, considering he pitched Tuesday and Sunday is his next scheduled start. But LHP J.P. Howell, who has made only one relief appearance and was a rotation candidate during spring training, also is likely to be considered.

Here’s a little more on Floyd’s injury history. In 1999, he had surgery to repair torn cartilage in the medial meniscus of his LEFT knee on April 6 and came back on April 27. He ended up playing 69 games for the Marlins that year.

But there’s more.

In 2007, he missed games with neck, shoulder and elbow injuries. In 2006, he was disabled with an ankle injury and with inflammation in his left Achilles tendon. In 2004, he had a strained right quadcriceps and a strained right oblique. In 2003, he was disabled with a sore right foot and his season ended in late August after surgery to remove a bone spur from under his right Achilles. In 2000, he underwent off-season surgery to repair tendons and remove scar tissure from his right wrist. In 1999, the same year he had his left knee surgery, he was disabled with a slight tear of his right Achilles. In 1997, he was disabled with a strained left hamstring. In 1995, what would have been his second full season with the Expos, he collided with the Mets’ Todd Hundley and either broke or dislocated six of eight bones in his right wrist.

UPDATE, 5:15 p.m.

Details on Floyd and Garza’s injuries below. First, the starting lineups for tonight’s game, in which Andy Sonnanstine will try to improve to 2-0 and the Mariners’ Jarrod Washburn will try to keep alive his history of success at Tropicana Field, where his 1.99 ERA is the third-best for an opposing pitcher with five or more starts.

Mariners
Ichiro, CF
Lopez, 2B
Beltre, 3B
Ibanez, LF
Sexson, 1B
Wilkerson, RF
Vidro, DH
Burke, C
Betancourt, SS

Washburn, P

Rays
Iwamura, 2B
Crawford, LF
Pena, 1B
Upton, CF
Gomes, DH
Aybar, 3B
Riggans, C
Ruggiano, RF
Bartlett, SS

Sonnanstine, P

Manager Joe Maddon said Floyd is expected to be out 4-6 weeks. In his absence, it looks like the Rays will have a four-man RF/DH platoon, with Gomes and Ruggiano in there against lefties and Eric Hinske and Nathan Haynes in there against righties.

Maddon said Garza will rest for two weeks, then be evaluated. The initial prognosis isn’t bad, actually. Maddon said doctors were optimistic that Garza might not have to miss more than four weeks, if that. The good news, obviously, is that Garza (at this point) doesn’t need surgery.

As for Garza’s replacement in the rotation, you can rule out newly recalled J.K. Ryu and LHP J.P. Howell. Maddon said he wants to use both of them out of the bullpen exclusively. So, that means (more than likely), someone will have to be promoted from Triple-A Durham to start Sunday. That’s RHP Jeff Niemann’s turn in the rotation for the Bulls, and Niemann seems to be the logical choice to make the start. It would be the major-league debut for Tampa Bay’s first-round selection in the 2004 draft.

Maddon took a moment before batting practice to give the players a brief pep talk regarding the plethora of injuries.

“I felt it was important,” Maddon said. “We got so many major items going on at the same time. A tough loss last night, and then you find out you lose two of your better players in one fell swoop. Plus, Kaz is still not here yet, and Navi’s down there, too. They’re starting to pile up a bit. So, I just thought it would be wise to bring everybody together and have everybody understand that this is somebody else’s opportunity now to shine.”

Also, Maddon said LHP Scott Kazmir (left elbow strain) will pitch one more live batting practice before appearing in a controlled extended spring training game. After throwing 60 pitches in a bullpen session this past Saturday and 70 in a live BP/bullpen combo on Tuesday, Kazmir is expected to aim for 80 or so pitches in his next live BP. The target pitch total is 90, at which point Kazmir would return if all goes well. He could reach that 90-pitch level fairly quickly, perhaps with only one or two games. It’s beginning to look more and more like he’ll be back in the next two weeks or so. The weekend home series against the Red Sox April 25-27 looks like a good bet for his return.