As expected, the bizarre injuries have been piling up all throughout spring training for various MLB teams. For the most part, the damage has been minor. Unfortunately for the Yankees and Joba Chamberlain, that was not the case on Thursday.
“Joba Chamberlain dislocated right ankle yesterday and had surgery last night,” Jack Curry of the YES Network wrote on Twitter Friday morning. “(Brian) Cashman called it a significant injury. Cashman said Joba injured himself while playing with his son. They were jumping around on a ‘trampoline’ of sorts.
“When Cashman was asked if Joba’s injury was career threatening, he said, ‘I’d’ like to say no. My heart and my gut tell me no,'” Curry continued. “Cashman said he feels for Joba on a personal level. He added that its a ‘massive’ loss for the team.”
Judging by the way Curry described Cashman’s tone, this is obviously a very significant injury. Curry added that it is not believed that Chamberlain’s son was injured, and that Cashman was noticeably “shaken” when delivering the news.
We joke about other strange injuries like this one and this one — which both happened over the past few weeks — but you hate to see something like this happen. Joba was reportedly making good progress in his return from Tommy John surgery, and the ankle injury is obviously going to be a major setback for him. With the way it sounds at the moment, it wouldn’t be surprising if Chamberlain misses all of 2012.
H/T Hardball Talk
