One of the things that was so amazing about Tampa Bay's 2008 regular season was that they were playing so well even though B.J. Upton wasn't fully healthy. Shoulder problems limited Upton all season, sapping him of his power and keeping his home run total to nine -- a total he nearly surpassed in the playoffs when his seven homers helped get the Rays to the World Series.Now Upton enters the 2009 season still recovering from shoulder surgery and with a bone bruise on his right hand after being hit by a pitch on Saturday, so it's likely that Upton won't be homering at such a staggering rate this season. It's also likely that Upton will be missing not only Opening Day, but the first week of the season.
The Rays hadn't been particularly optimistic that Upton would be ready for the April 6 opener anyway, and even though the bone bruise won't lead to "too much of a slowdown," the Rays are okay being without him.Something tells me the Rays will manage without Upton for a few days, as they do have some other young talent in their lineup. Still, even though it's only the first three games of the season, considering how tight the AL East is bound to be this season, not having Upton available to start the season against the Red Sox could come back to haunt the Rays come October.
"It's not a huge issue for me,'' Maddon said. "I want him to be healthy and well and ready and I want him to have the kind the year that he's capable of because he is healthy. I want to do nothing to jeopardize the latter part of the season by being a little bit too quick now. We're better off, I believe, to be prudent right now and do the right things. If he has to miss a couple days, so be it and we'll reap the benefits of that.''
