Collateral Damage Daily for May 4

Not all the injury information is about players currently on the disabled list. Mariano Rivera twisted his knee after half-leaping for a ball during batting practice and landing awkwardly. He had to be carted off the field. The knee buckled and looked like a significant injury. Many outlets are reporting an ACL and meniscus tear, but we will have more information for you as it becomes available.

Additions

• Pablo Sandoval was placed on the disabled list with a fractured left hamate bone in his wrist and will undergo surgery today. Sandoval is no stranger to the disabled list; in fact, he had the same wrist surgery on his right wrist almost a year to the day. He missed 45 days last year and expects to have a similar timeline this time. Conor Gillaspie was brought up from Fresno to take the roster spot.
• Yuniesky Betancourt was never able to get that troublesome right ankle under control and was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Thursday. He actually suffered the injury in spring training, when he missed some time for a sore ankle, but further tests more recently revealed the high ankle sprain. We know that high ankle sprains can be extremely slow to heal, so it would not surprise us if he needed more time than the minimum. Irving Falu was brought up from the minors, but Chris Getz will get the majority of the time at second base.
• Just when we thought we had Eric Chavez figured out, Chavez had to go get injured again. On Wednesday, Chavez dove for a ball and suffered whiplash and a concussion. He was placed on the seven-day disabled list for concussions and will continue to be monitored over the next week. Initial estimates are that he will be out for a week, but we will have to see how he responds to the rest.

Subtractions

• Kerry Wood was activated the disabled list after recovering from right shoulder fatigue and inflammation. Despite the troubles at the back end of the bullpen, there is no plan to rush him into the closer’s role. In fact, the Cubs plan on doing just the opposite. Wood will first be used in the sixth and seventh innings and may never be used in the closer role. Scott Maine was optioned for Wood to be activated.
• Ryan Dempster also was activated from the disabled list and immediately started against the Cincinnati Reds. His mild quad strain healed very quickly, and the Cubs were confident that it would not be an issue. He proved them right and threw eight shutout innings before the bullpen blew the game. Randy Wells was sent down for Dempster.