FanHouse AugieOjeda

Jon was supposed to cover the Diamondbacks yesterday to close out our Spring preview of the NL West, but he got busy and I will be taking over today. I know you were expecting something wacky and facetious, but this is the Diamondbacks, and Arizona is a franchise deserving only the most reserved, tactful perspective. My original idea was to cover all of the new faces in the ballpark this year and the ramifications of agism and maturity in baseball, but then I remembered that D. Baxter the Bobcat was arrested for DUI and all I could type was "lol" with a bunch of o's in the middle. As a Cleveland resident, I eagerly await the story about Slider punching a woman in the face.

Today's Dugout is after the jump.

They're called the dog days of August for a reason. With the trade deadline in the books, major league teams are, barring a waiver trade, stuck with what they've got on the roster for the duration of the regular season. That means injuries, like the one suffered by Arizona's Orlando Hudson in the photo to the right, will shape the pennant races much more than they have over the last four months.

Five teams in the hunt for a playoff spot got bad injury news in the last 24 hours. Here's a look at who's hurt and how each team will cope with the absence of a key player over the final seven weeks.

- Carl Crawford, LF, Rays: The speedy Tampa Bay outfielder injured a tendon in his right middle finger on a check swing last night and was placed on the 15-day DL. The Rays are unsure how much time he'll miss, but a Seattle trainer told him he could miss six-to-eight weeks. If he's out that long, it could be devastating to their chances of holding off Boston in the AL East.

On Friday I told you that Orlando Hudson was out "days" with a torn ligament in his thumb. Now it turns out that Hudson decided to end his season by undergoing season-ending surgery today. And let me tell you, it doesn't sound pleasant. Manager Bob Melvin said the ligament was torn completely off the bone. Melvin also said the decision to have surgery today gives Hudson a better chance of returner to the team sooner.

"It is the type of surgery," manager Bob Melvin said, "where the sooner you do it the better off you are and the better chance you have to rehabilitate it and get it healthy in a quicker period of time."

Well, I guess the good thing is Hudson didn't dawdle and just got the surgery done. Still, as I said Friday, this is a big loss for Arizona given where they stand in the playoff race. Expect Augie Ojeda and Alberto Callaspo to sub in for the All-Star the rest of the way.

While the D-Backs reeled in some good news by adding Bob Wickman to the bullpen mix, they got some bad news that All-Star second baseman Orlando Hudson has a torn ligament in his left thumb. Hudson jammed his thumb stealing third base in the 7th inning against the Padres on Tuesday. The D-Backs expect to lose Hudson for several days, but aren't sure what the extent of the injury is.

"He probably will miss at least a day or two unless the swelling really goes down," D-Backs general manager Josh Byrnes said.

"We don't have the pressure of getting him in the lineup tonight. We will sit down with the doctors and Orlando and see what it looks like. What is the best-case scenario. What is the worst case? What are the risks involved?"

I guess a lot depends on how much of a gamer Orlando chooses to be. He can elect to sit out until he's fully recovered, or he can try and come back as soon as possible. My guess is that he'll be back quickly given the heat of the playoff race. O-Dawg doesn't strike me as the type of player who will let the D-Backs try to win the division with Augie Ojeda or Emilio Bonifacio at second.