Lidge Injured: Now What?

We’re finally starting to get some information about yesterday’s injury to Brad Lidge. He’ll have arthroscopic surgery on his no-longer-surgically-repaired right knee to fix a torn meniscus. The surgery will most likely keep him out 3-6 weeks, which means he’ll miss opening day.

Philscast, of course, will have a special report on this coming up as soon as possible. But in the meantime, you have to wonder about this injury. All we heard when the Phils signed Lidge was that his knee was fine and he would be ready for opening day. But he threw one pitch, and now he’s hurt already. One pitch. That’s upsetting, to say the least.

I remember last year when the Phillies made a trade to bring in pitching help. They brought in Freddie Garcia and they told us he was healthy and would be ready for opening day. He was never healthy, he was never ready, and he was certainly never effective in any of his starts.

Later, it came to light that the Phils had never bothered giving Garcia a physical, even though scouts had noticed a major drop in his velocity. You have to wonder if they gave Lidge a proper, thorough physical, or if they just repeated history.

Either way, it doesn’t seem to matter at this point. They can’t predict if Lidge’s injury will be something that nags him all season long. But he’s thrown one pitch, and his health count is at oh-and-one. All they can do now is show us their backup plan. Expect Tom Gordon to handle the closing duties for now. But if he can’t handle it, they’re really out of options. Brett Myers will have to move back to the bullpen.

That’s a move that would devistate their starting rotation, which leaves them in a tough spot. Of course, if they’re willing to spend the money, I have another suggestion:

Sign Kyle Lohse, and sign him now.

Every team is in camp and Spring Training games start this week. Lohse is still a free agent, and he has to be willing to lower his contract demands in the interest of finding a home. If Myers goes to the ‘pen, Lohse gives the Phils a viable number three starter to soften the blow. If Myers stays in the rotation, your starters just got that much stronger. It’s the perfect time to pull the trigger on this. Of course, they’d have to be willing to spend the money…