Fairfield West goes wild
Extreme Makeover: Home edition
2008 homecomings
Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 36th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > May > 13 > Entry
Keppinger fractures knee
Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad news.
Shortstop Jeff Keppinger fractured his left knee in the second inning Tuesday night. X-rays showed the fracture and he’ll undergo a more detailed MRI Wednesday morning.
Keppinger fouled a ball off the knee in the second inning and gamely remained in the game, but left after the third inning.
That leaves the Reds with two broken-kneed shortstops. Alex Gonzalez has missed all season with a broken left knee.
The loss is disastrous to the Reds because Keppinger was, by far, the most efficient, productive and enthusiastic participant - witness his playing an inning on the fractured knee.
Her was hitting .320 with three homers and 20 RBIs after going 8 for 12 in a three-games series in New York.
Jerry Hairston Jr. took over at shortstop and at the moment is the natural replacement for Keppinger.
But the Reds most likely will call up shortstop Paul Janish from Class AAA Louisville, where he is hitting .289, but has no major-league experience.
The Reds have made no announcement, but Janish was pulled from the Louisville lineup tonight after he batted twice and drove in two runs against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Permalink | Comments (29) | Post your comment |
Comments
By chris amis
May 14, 2008 4:29 PM | Link to this
with kepp out reds defense will struggle and offense even more.. put freel at short until janish comes up and trade the 10 + million sitting in left fieldBy preacher franklin ohio
May 14, 2008 3:49 PM | Link to this
pray that reds get better ,geter done for jesus god bless you all.By bruce
May 14, 2008 3:33 PM | Link to this
Hairston has been a utility guy for a long time and probably for good reason. He has played very little shortstop at the major league level and probably for good reason. Let the kid start and Hairston can fill in where needed, I think he is good for this team in that role.By BIG C
May 14, 2008 2:47 PM | Link to this
resign castro good defence not much bat he could help at ssBy Cait
May 14, 2008 2:36 PM | Link to this
I like the thought of Valaika eventually. We’ll have the “killer V’s” in Valaika, Votto and Volquez!By Rob
May 14, 2008 2:11 PM | Link to this
He’ll be here soon enough. I imagine they’re going to follow a similar philosophy as the Brewers did with Braun, who came up late May last season. When he comes up, he’ll play everyday. I wouldn’t say there is a spot for him right now. Patterson and Freel are sharing CF for the time-being. And then you have the clogs on the corners until mid-June at least, unless they decide to move Griff before then. Janish will be ok, but i see Hairston with the bulk of the load, great Sac bunt yesterday and his stick has been ok. Besides, Valaika is probably the ‘future’ there.By got milk
May 14, 2008 1:33 PM | Link to this
Jay Bruce just homered in his 5th at bat of the game.By Josh
May 14, 2008 12:58 PM | Link to this
I love all the ‘get rid of Dunn NOW!’ proposals. Everbody seems to be forgetting that pesky ‘no trades til mid June’ clause in his contract. And as the original Mr. Redlegs has said, Janish can flat play D.By got milk
May 14, 2008 12:57 PM | Link to this
Bet Jay Bruce wishes he played shortstop. He’s 2 fer 2 in the Bats game today with a double and a triple. He also has 2 RBI and 2 walks. His batting average is up to .361.By got milk
May 14, 2008 12:49 PM | Link to this
Will Carrol, writing for Baseball Prospectus, estimates that Kepp’s recovery time will be in the neighborhood of 60 days.By Brian
May 14, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this
What’s the latest on Gonzalez? I haven’t seen anything on him in some time.By Steven Ross
May 14, 2008 11:49 AM | Link to this
Aurilia? When pigs fly. Never. Are we daft? Hariston most of the time, Jarish part of the time. Dusty loves vets so do the math.By Dustin
May 14, 2008 11:13 AM | Link to this
I find it funny that when a starter goes down (Keppinger)everybody instantly wants to trade for that position(SS). That’s why we have a Triple A team. Give the young guy a chance. That’s how Keppinger got his shot, the starter went down and he stepped in a produced. Let’s give Janish his shot and see what he can do. What do the Reds have to lose?By Dustin
May 14, 2008 11:13 AM | Link to this
I find it funny that when a starter goes down (Keppinger)everybody instantly wants to trade for that position(SS). That’s why we have a Triple A team. Give the young guy a chance. That’s how Keppinger got his shot, the starter went down and he stepped in a produced. Let’s give Janish his shot and see what he can do. What do the Reds have to lose?By bob.w
May 14, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this
If they can get anything for Dunn and Griffey then they need to do it. The Reds are not winning with them. Go young and go for hits not just homers.By jack
May 14, 2008 9:28 AM | Link to this
Janish is the future shortstop. Let him play.By You know it
May 14, 2008 8:37 AM | Link to this
Get Janish up here see how he does…..if it doesn’t go well, Hairston,jr. or Freel could handle it just fine. AND YES for gosh sakes, please dump Weathers AND Belisle…they SUCK….this year the bullpen sucks, last year it was starting pitching….could we please get a good year out of the whole pitching staff?????By Michael
May 14, 2008 8:13 AM | Link to this
Shop around, maybe get a decent SS for Griffey. If not, start Janish, if he don’t work out go back to Hairston Jr until Kep gets back.By Ron H.
May 14, 2008 8:07 AM | Link to this
I agree with the trade of Dunn,but we dont need Rich Aurilia we had him already and he left .So give the spot to the younger Paul Janish.By Pete
May 14, 2008 7:35 AM | Link to this
C’mon…. Aurilia? I’ll state the same question as I did when the Reds signed Patterson — WHY? Aurilia would only be a stop gap & that’s exactly what the Reds DON’T need right now. That’s all they’ve pasted on the field for the past seven years. Get rid of Dunce & Jr, bring up Janish & let’s start getting a new face to this team. Oh yeah, trade Dusty, too. Maybe the Reds could get a melted ice cream & a warm, flat beer for him from say, maybe Washington?By tom
May 14, 2008 7:29 AM | Link to this
Start Janish! End of story.By ME
May 13, 2008 11:47 PM | Link to this
Weathers: two strikeouts, and one ground ball out—in four batters!!!! What a dipsh_ _!By Mr. Redlegs (Original)
May 13, 2008 10:57 PM | Link to this
Paul Janish can play major league shortstop today, right now, without any doubt. That kid can flat out freakin’ pick it.By Steve
May 13, 2008 10:44 PM | Link to this
Terrible news about Keppinger. The team we can trade Dunn to is Toronto - they really have a need for a LH power bat. Maybe for one of their second-tier SP?By Michael in Monterey, CA
May 13, 2008 10:31 PM | Link to this
Release Weathers NOW!!!!By JImmy
May 13, 2008 10:30 PM | Link to this
Steve Phillips is a JOKE!!! If he was anykind of G.M. he wouldn’t be on ESPN! Trade Dunn were ever you want. But stop listening to Phillips. Anybody remember that mock espn what would I d if I was the G.M. espn did with him? You could just see the careers of the repoters going down the drain. I hate himBy got milk
May 13, 2008 9:55 PM | Link to this
I just checked the Bats box score, and Janish was pulled for a pinch hitter after two ABs tonight.By got milk
May 13, 2008 9:53 PM | Link to this
I’d rather see Janish given a shot a short than Rich.By Steveg
May 13, 2008 9:36 PM | Link to this
The Keppinger situation just makes the need to start making moves more important. Steve Phillips had a suggestion on ESPN the other day to offer Dunn to the Giants…ok so offer Dunn and another player to SF for Matt Cain and Rich Aurilia - at his age Aurilia may be above market price but he is a solid player with tons of SS experience. If Gonzales or Keppinger make it back you can move Aurilia to the bench as a capable right handed batter (which is missing) and let him back up Votto. Dunn’s 14M comes off the books and you add an experience starter to the roster.