Minnesota Twins Anthony Swarzak Injury: What Does it Mean?

Rhett Bollinger reported yesterday on MLB.com that long reliever and spot starter Anthony Swarzak cracked two ribs on January 25th at Twinsfest, and will be out for a month.

September 22, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Anthony Swarzak (51) walks off the field after being relieved against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Here’s the quote from Terry Ryan:

“When he was up here for TwinsFest, he was messing around with a couple guys and cracked a couple ribs, so he’ll be out a month,” Ryan said. “He was wrestling around. It was some horseplay. He was out with a couple friends and the team and cracked a couple ribs fooling around. It wasn’t a fight or anything. It was just bad judgment wrestling around.”

With pitchers and catchers set to report in less than a week, what does this mean for Swarzak and the Twins? Swarzak’s spot on the club may already have been in jeopardy due to the presence of Rule 5 draftee Ryan Pressly and a lack of consistency I discussed briefly in my article on Kevin Correia.

Although Swarzak should be able to return to the mound before the team heads north, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Twins put Swarzak on the DL in order to give Pressly a long look in the Majors before figuring out what they want to do with the converted reliever.

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