I’m back. Thanks to Matt Pitman for taking over the blog while I was gone. Came back to the Casa KOMO and found the trash can full of Chik-Fil-A wrappers. Does he like those?

On to the serious stuff. Adrian Beltre is famous for playing through some pretty tough injuries. It is hard to take him out of a line up because he is very stoic about these injuries and determined to play. As far as toughness and ability to play through pain or injury goes he is in the Jay Buhner category. It looks like he will need that toughness this season.

It would be nice if every player could come in to Spring Training rested and recovered from whatever ailed them the previous season. This will not be the case for Beltre who told me that the thumb he injured June 1 last season is far from 100%. Adrian is in fact dealing with a torn ligament in his left thumb.

Because of HIPAA laws it is very hard these days to get specific information about player injuries. Baseball used to be very open about sharing injury information, but because of the law, it is now sounding more and more like the NFL every day. Not quite “he has a knee” or “he’s a bit dinged up” but it is getting there.

When Adrian fell awkwardly on his left thumb while fielding a ball June 1 of last year we were told it was a sprain (which technically it was) and that he would be day to day. The injury appeared to affect him for the rest of the season, you could see him wince when he took a ball off that spot and he admitted to having good days and bad days with it.

Adrian has already suffered through some bad days with the thumb this spring after getting hit on the exact same spot in an early game. It is an injury that can be played through. When the ligament is partially torn, as it is in this case, the name of the game is to protect it. The danger is that it can continue to tear and eventually tear all the way through. At that point, surgery would be required.

Adrian is receiving extra treatment on the thumb, taping it up and wearing a small pad over the area. If he is not hit in the affected spot he will be fine. When he does get hit there swinging a bat can be painful as it is the bottom hand that is affected. When he swings the bat rolls right over the sore spot. Adrian is one who has dealt with extraordinary pain in the past, but if he takes a direct hit or falls funny on it, extreme pain can linger for a few days.

How will this affect Adrian this season? Probably like it did last season. He may need an extra day off here or there when it becomes too painful. The swing should not be affected and the defense, well, he did win a Gold Glove last year. That Gold Glove however, should have a little pad attached to the thumb.