The Disabled List Informer

Tuesday night brings two new injuries - the severity of which are unknown at this time. Cincinnati shortstop Jeff Keppinger apparently has fractured his left Patella (kneecap) after fouling a ball off his knee. A fractured Patella is one of the worst bones to fracture, as it is responsible for accepting tensile force through the Quadriceps. With a fracture in the Patella, the knee has no way of functioning properly - and there is no way for running, squatting, kneeling, etc. A minor, non-displaced fracture of the Patella would take 4-6 weeks to heal. A more serious fracture would likely require internal fixation via surgery, followed by a more lengthy rehab of 8-12 weeks. The fact that he was able to go back into the game leads me to believe that the fracture was non-displaced. He is going to have an MRI tomorrow to determine the extent of the injury. Should surgery be necessary, pins and wires would likely be used to approximate the fractured bone surfaces.

As for Boston right fielder J.D. Drew , the x-rays of his left wrist were negative. He had injured the wrist while sliding feet-first to catch a fly ball to right field . The wrist caught underneath him, and bent backwards awkwardly - it did not look good. For the time being, we will have to wait and see for further examination by the Red Sox medical staff to see what exactly is involved with this injury. Given Drew’s injury history (he injured the same wrist in 2005 and missed the season), caution must be taken. If you rely on Drew for one of your outfield spots, you should be nabbing a replacement outfielder, because a DL stint seems possible - though he is likely to be tagged as day-to-day.