Luke Scott Out for Season
By Editorial Staff
Luke Scott’s return to the Orioles’ lineup only lasted a single game. Scott is back on the disabled list and Baltimore has decided to shut him down for the rest of the season.
Scott’s been playing with a tear in his labrum for most of the season and the shoulder injury shelved him in the beginning of July. At that point it wasn’t known if Scott would be able to return this season for the O’s.
But the slugger received positive reports during a July 13th checkup, and was told that the shoulder was progressing to the point where surgery wouldn’t be necessary. Instead Scott received a cortisone shot, hoping it would allow him to return to action.
After a short minor league rehab assignment, Scott was able to return for the Orioles Friday night, but went 0 for 3 and continued experiencing discomfort in his shoulder.
Now Scott has to decide if he wants to continue rehabbing the shoulder or undergo surgery. Either way he will be out for the rest of the year.
"“Yeah, there’s nothing I can do,” Scott said of being out the rest of the season. “I mean [my shoulder] is not going to heal on its own. I’ve been playing with it since the beginning of May. May 2nd is the day when it started really throbbing. I battled through it the best I could, but I’m not helping the team by going out there and swinging with my bat underwater. I’m not helping myself either, so I thought I should do what’s best now and try to get ready for the next year.”"
The injury has caused Scott to struggle to a line of .220/301/.403 on the year.
Baltimore now has to decide if they want to keep the 33 year old beyond this season. Scott’s been solid for the O’s over the past three seasons, posting OPS’s of .807, .828 and .902 while averaging 25 home runs a year.
But Scott is earning $6.4 million this year and is arbitration eligible one more time before he hits free agency in 2013. The Orioles may decide they don’t want to shell out the cash it would take to retain Scott and simply non tender him.
The Orioles will use a combination of Nolan Reimold and Felix Pie as a left field platoon going forward.
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