Welcome to the club, Ishikawa

The Brewers have to be breaking some sort of record this season. Unfortunately, it’s not a good record to break.

The rate that Brewers players are flying to the disabled list is incredible. I honestly can’t recall any season for the Brewers- or any Major League team, for that matter- in recent history in which they had this many injuries. And these injuries have all come before we’ve even hit June.

Today, first baseman Travis Ishikawa joined what is becoming a very crowded disabled list. He reportedly has been enduring a left rib-cage strain, and was officially placed on the 15-day DL before today’s game against the Diamondbacks. Ishikawa wasn’t having a great season, but he did put up decent power numbers at times. Overall he had four home runs with 14 RBIs, along with a .250 average, in 32 games. He figured to see a lot of time at first base after Mat Gamel went down for the season with a torn ACL, but wasn’t consistent enough to earn a permanent starting role.

Ishikawa shouldn’t be gone for long. I’m not usually very good at gauging how long an injury will last, but, considering it’s only a strain, he should be able to come back around the time the minimum 15 days ends. It’s not like he tore anything; he had better luck than Chris Narveson (rotator cuff), Gamel (ACL), and Alex Gonzalez (ACL), all of whom had tears involved in their respective injuries. All of their seasons are over.

But I don’t know how much the Brewers can take before they turn into the 2011 Minnesota Twins. If you don’t know the story behind the 2011 Twins, virtually all of their star players got injured. By the end of the season, practically half of their team consisted of Minor League call-ups, most of them forced into action that they weren’t ready for. That resulted in a 63-99 record, and I’m seriously starting to get worried that’s the direction the Brewers are headed.

Anyway, back to our injuries. Ishikawa was not the only one suffering. He was the first of a group of players that all have at least minor injuries to visit the DL. Kameron Loe was apparently unavailable all weekend and we didn’t know it; Ron Roenicke said after today’s game that he had been battling right elbow discomfort. He was warming up in the sixth inning during today’s game, but was pulled back and Jose Veras began to throw (he would go on to lose the game). Then, George Kottaras’ hamstring cramped while he was running home in the sixth inning. He went back out to catch the next inning, but eventually left in favor of Jonathan Lucroy. Lastly, Aramis Ramirez missed another start due to a bruised left elbow he got after being hit by a pitch on Friday. Also, Carlos Gomez still isn’t at 100 percent since returning from the DL, but his case is much less serious than the others.

Needless to say, this nightmare needs to stop now. It feels like the Brewers have been losing two to three players a day over the past week. And, although that sounds exaggerated, it’s actually held true. The Brewers’ bench was already depleted enough before the injuries, but look at it now. Any more injuries, and, like I said before, we might as well be the 2011 Twins.