Take that National League Rookie of the Year Award, engrave Ryan Braun's name in it, and wrap it up for the awards ceremony now. Any chance that Hunter Pence had of catching Braun for the award pretty much went out the window today when the Astros said they would have him rehab his wrist injury (which has kept him out since July 23rd) slowly.
From the Houston Chronicle:
"He's not ready yet," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "But he was pretty sore (Wednesday). He had a big workout the day before. So he was sore, but he had a good bounce-back day (Thursday). He's probably ready to go, but it won't do us any good right now."
Garner is right on this one, I think. I know the Astros are technically still in the NL Central race at 7.5 games out, but they'd have to leapfrog over three teams in the Central to make it to the top, which isn't terribly likely at this point in the season. There's just no point in risking getting a player like Pence seriously hurt for a season that's already mostly lost, even if it does cost him a shot at Rookie of the Year.
