The guess here is that there is a little bit of snickering going on among Royals fans now that they've learned that former Royal Zack Greinke will miss possibly the first month of the season because of a cracked rib suffered while playing basketball.
Some Royals fans no doubt feel betrayed after Greinke bailed on them. Greinke asked the Royals several times last season to trade him, and right now, there are probably plenty of fans in Kansas City who feel any heat Greinke is feeling from disappointed Brewers fans is well-earned.
But Greinke's injury also should serve as a reminder to some current Royals - those who used to play pick-up basketball with him - that there are other ways to stay in shape during the off-season (or during the season). Playing basketball is a great way to stay in shape - so is racquetball - but it is too high-risk for injury to justify.
Deep down, Greinke knew that. He always did. Earlier in camp he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he suffered the injury doing "something stupid."
Yep.
Then Tuesday he told the newspaper, "I've been doing this for a couple of years now and people have always said 'You're going to get hurt.' It finally caught up to me, playing basketball. I was going up for a rebound and fell on that side. I was hoping it was just bruised. I had a lot of fun doing it (playing basketball), but it wasn't worth it."
Greinke has had company playing basketball over the past couple of years - namely other Royals - and hopefully, they'll heed this warning, too.
Even Greinke was hoping to hide the source of the injury. He finally revealed how he injured his ribs - he has a cracked seventh rib and a bruised eighth rib - after the Brewers announced he will start the season on the disabled list.
Greinke admitted he had sore ribs at the onset of camp but after two so-so starts (six hits, three walks, one run), he and the Brewers decided it was best for him to shut down his activity to allow his ribs to heal.
The Brewers had been planning on using him as their Opening Day starter.
The time table for Greinke's return is uncertain. Cracked ribs normally require about eight weeks to recover. Greinke is about two weeks into his recovery but his attempt to pitch through the injury may have aggravated the area and therefore might prolong his recovery.
In case you're wondering, player contracts do have clauses in them designed to discourage players from taking part in risky, athletic endeavors off the field, such as playing basketball. But such clauses are rarely enforced (in terms of holding back payment), mainly because they're hard to prove.
And, as Brewers general manager Doug Melvin told the Journal Sentinel, most player contracts only stipulate that players not partake in competitive basketball.
"They don't want players playing in men's leagues and things like that," he said. "If he suffered a severe injury doing that, there probably would be repercussions with his salary."
