Placido Polanco Experiencing Back Trouble

Back problems might already be a concern for Placido Polanco, who’s already dealt with multiple injuries over the past three seasons. (Image Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports)

Name a part of the body and chances are good that it’s kept Placido Polanco out of the lineup at one point or another. The oft-injured veteran third baseman, who’s also now 37 years old, struggled to find much interest on the open market this past winter and wound up signing a one year, $2.75 Million deal to join the Miami Marlins. It would seem, according to NBC Sports’ Hardball Talk’s Aaron Gleeman, that Polanco is already running into some health concerns as he’s once again experiencing pain and soreness in his back.

He’s been sidelined since Saturday and had been scheduled to rejoin the lineup today, but was a late scratch leaving his status in doubt.

Limited to just 328 PA this past season with the Philadelphia Phillies, Polanco hit .257/.302/.327 with just 2 HR and 15 2B. As Gleeman points out, Polanco suffered from knee, finger, and back problems in 2012. He dealt with a hernia, toe, hip, elbow, and finger problems in 2011. His injury history is a spotty one that would cause any team to have some concerns, but given Polanco’s age the concern becomes magnified. It doesn’t sound as though he’s going to miss significant time, but back concerns are easy to flare up again so it’s too tough to say this won’t be the last we’ll hear of this issues for Polanco.

Miami doesn’t have many internal options to cover third base should he miss a significant portion of time. Initially some of the at bats might be split between Nick Green, Greg Dobbs, and potentially even Chone Figgins as those three already project to be on the team’s 25-man roster. Other possibilities could include Zach Cox, Matt Downs, and Kevin Kouzmanoff.