[mikev]

Spring Training: Down goes Avila! Down goes Mendez! Down goes Hollingsworth!

Ahh, Spring Training.

It's a wonderful time in baseball when March rolls around. Every team is still in the race, everybody has hope. Established veterans looking to break a sweat, get in a few at bats, and take a few grounders are out there, as well as youngsters trying to make their mark on the game, trying to become the next great player, one that kids talk about and trade cards for.

For several key members of the California Crusaders, this won't happen.

It started with center fielder Jose Avila. In a game against Chicago, Avila was hit in the head by a Joe Wilson fastball. Upon being hit, Avila instantly fell to the ground, unconscious. Emergency responders took Avila to the local hospital, and later in the day it was revealed that his skull had been fractured from the impact of the pitch. Before it had even started, Avila's 2010 season was over. Doctors stated that Avila could probably play again, but nothing was for sure. As Avila is in the last year of his contract, fans have questioned whether the wildly popular Argentina native will ever don the red pinstripes of the Crusaders again.

The next Crusader to go down was none other than star outfielder Francisco Mendez. Mendez took himself out of a game against Vancouver after making a throw, complaining that he'd felt a pop in his elbow. Several hours later, X-Rays had revealed that bone chips in Mendez' elbow had been floating around, and he would need season-ending surgery in order to remove them.

Finally, newly signed free agent infielder Carl Hollingsworth was injured while throwing a ball in a victory over Jackson. In the top of the seventh, Hollingsworth fielded a grounder off the bat of Mark Perry, and immediately after throwing the ball to first base grabbed his elbow and summoned trainers onto the diamond. Hollingsworth complained that his elbow had somehow bent the wrong way when he made the diving stop, and throwing to first had made it even worse. The on-field trainer suspected that the elbow had been hyperextended, and was proven correct after the game when medical examinations were completed. Hollingsworth was to miss at least a month, if not six weeks, to enusure that his elbow had time to heal.

Just like that, over the course of 10 days, three players expected to be major contributors towards a Crusaders playoff run in 2010 are all gone for signifigant time. Crusaders GM Mike Voelker was certainly, well, "displeased" with the situation. "****ING ****, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO REPLACE MENDEZ AND AVILA BEFORE THE SEASON STARTS?" was pretty much all that was heard behind the closed doors of the GM's office.

It will definitely be interesting to see how the team manages to replace a combined 80 points of VORP in the outfield, indeed.