Sergio Santos Goes On DL; Brett Lawrie Activated

Won’t be seeing this again for at least 15 days. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY SportsIt seems like a bit of good news doesn’t last that long for the Blue Jays early on in the 2013 season. After a promising 4-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox by Mark Buehrle, news comes out that Sergio Santos has been put on the 15-Day DL with triceps strain. Correlating with the move comes news that Brett Lawrie will be activated from the DL, according to John Lott.

Sergio Santos is no stranger to injury, as he spent 166 days last season on the DL due to a frayed labrum in his shoulder. It’ll be a huge blow to the Blue Jays bullpen, as he has given up only one run on a ridiculous neck-high home run to Mark Reynolds, while striking out 6 and giving up a walk and 3 hits over 4.1 innings. Hopefully it won’t be a long stay for Sergio Santos on the DL, as the team could use more of his swing and miss stuff.

The silver lining is that Brett Lawrie will be coming back for tomorrow’s game. He spent about 45 days being injured with and recovering from a ribcage injury, on the opposite side from his oblique injury from last season’s campaign. In rehab starts, Lawrie spent time at second base in order to utilize a stronger infield defense than what would be provided by having Emilio Bonifacio, Maicer Izturis and Mark DeRosa at either second or third base. But with Jose Bautista out of today’s game due to back spasms (which may or may not have been caused by spending time at third base), the team might look to have Jose return to right field and have Lawrie field at third base just to avoid further injuries.

Essentially, losing Sergio Santos at this time has forced Brett Lawrie to (possibly) come up from rehab assignment early. Hopefully that won’t result in further injuries down the road, as well. After the Blue Jays’ 2012 season, staying off the DL as long as possible is priority #1.