The bubble wrap didn’t work.
San Diego Padres manager Mike Schildt promised that he’d keep his players bubble-wrapped in the final games of the season, but of course that proved to be impossible.
Players need to play to stay sharp, and outfielder Ramon Laureano was the latest victim of the Padres' bad injury luck when he fractured the index finger of his right hand against the Brewers in Wednesday’s loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
The injury happened in the most innocuous way possible. Laureano fouled off an ordinary sinker from Brewers starter Chad Patrick, and this wasn’t one of those inside pitches where the batter is basically forced to do self defense and winds up getting hurt in the process.
“I want to temper expectations, but I also want to keep anything and everything on the table,” Shildt said to Dennis Lin of The Athletic in his assessment of the injury. “I wouldn’t expect to see him early in the playoffs, but I would hold out hope for later.”
Regardless of Laureano’s comeback timeline, the injury will force Shildt to do a lineup scramble. Laureano’s immediate replacement was outfielder Bryce Johnson, who took over in right field for the rest of the game.
So who replaces the injured Laureano going forward? Johnson is one candidate, especially since he’s come out of nowhere to hit .342 this year, albeit in just 75 at-bats. The more likely replacement is left fielder Gavin Sheets, who’s been serving as the Padres DH for most of the season.
Regardless of who steps in, Shildt will have to do some lineup juggling against the Chicago Cubs in the wild card round. He’s already used to doing this with the pitching staff, and the best guess here is that that the Padres will have to play more small ball to manufacture runs.
But the spotlight on several stars just got a lot brighter. Outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. has been out with an illness, but he’ll have a lot more on his plate in this series when he does come back. The same goes for third baseman Manny Machado, and both stars will have to bump up their power production, which has been down for most of the year.
Centerfielder Jackson Merrill just became a lot more important, too. He went on a power tear recently, and at the very least he, too, will have to supply some production. The Cubs are a tough matchup with a couple of top-shelf starters who can shut down a lineup, and the Padres just took a significant hit that could make it easier for Chicago to do just that.
