Friday, March 17, 2000
Ankle swelling slows Sanders
It's unlikely he can be ready for Opening Day
BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Deion Sanders' latest physical setback, soreness and swelling in his right ankle, is likely to keep the aspiring Reds outfielder from being ready to play by Opening Day.
Reds team physician Dr. Tim Kremchek said Thursday that Sanders will be prevented from running for at least three to four days. This will halt Sanders' one-week trial period of playing in minor-league exhibitions, though he'll be able to throw and take batting practice. “In the long run, he's probably going to be five to seven to eight to nine days behind everybody,” Kremchek said.
With two weeks left in spring training, that's a crucial stretch of time for Sanders, who hasn't played baseball since 1997 and has not yet proven that he's close to being able to play at the big-league level again.
“It would be very, very difficult at this point to envision him being ready by Opening Day, for physical reasons,” said Reds General Manager Jim Bowden, Sanders' biggest supporter within the organization. “It's not anything we need to put a timetable on. We'll keep working at it. He has a lot of fight in him to succeed at whatever he does. The main thing right now is getting him healthy.”
Placing Sanders on the disabled list to begin the season and leaving him in Florida to refine his game in extended spring training has been a viable option since he signed his non-guaranteed minor-league contract with Cincinnati on Jan. 20. That's because of the arthroscopic right knee surgery he underwent that month to repair a football injury.
Asked about the prospect of ex tended spring training for Sanders, Bowden said, “We'd have to sit down and talk about it at that time.”
Sanders underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination Wednesday night that revealed inflammation in the ankle. Kremchek said that the ailment stemmed from Sanders' rehabilitation of his knee, which has required extensive care all spring and has restricted the astounding speed which was his lone asset during his off-and-on baseball career.
“It's not a gross, terrible injury,” Kremchek said.
Bowden reiterated that Sanders must be at top speed to help the Reds: “The one thing he brings to the table that we don't have is a guy who, in the ninth inning of a one-run game, can get on first base, steal second, steal third and score on a fly ball. He can be disruptive on offense. Right now, even before this ankle (injury), he has been an average runner.”
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