Brewers Blog The Journal Sentinel sports staff brings fans the latest news and inside information on the Brewers SHARE

By of the

Phoenix - Now we know what Zack Greinke did to his ribs. And it's not good.

The Brewers just announced that Greinke has a hairline crack in the seventh rib on his left side and the eighth rib is bruised. He will go on the disabled list at some point and won't be ready for the start of the season, much less an expected opening day start.

Greinke had been nursing sore ribs throughout camp but kept saying they were feeling better and wouldn't tell us what he did other than to say "it was something stupid." Today, he admitted he was hurt playing a pickup basketball game at the outset of camp and fell on the side going for a rebound.

"I've been doing this for a couple of years now and people always said, 'You're going to get hurt.' It finally caught up to me, playing basketball. I was going up for a rebound and fell on the side. I was hoping it was just bruised. I had a lot of fun doing it but it wasn't worth it.

"I didn't think it was going to be as bad as it was. I was thinking it was just a bruise and pitching through it. There's a lot more negative pitching with it than positive. I'm going to have to take a little bit of time off. Hopefully, not too much time."

X-rays taken earlier did not reveal anything but when the discomfort persisted, an MRI was performed that revealed the true nature of the injury. Team physician William Raasch said the normal healing time for a cracked rib was 4-6 weeks but said Greinke already was two weeks into that period.

After a few weeks of rest, Greinke will have to build his arm back up, which takes time. So, doing the math, he can be expected to miss the first few weeks of the season.

Now, not only have the Brewers lost their prized acquistion of the off-season, they have to find another starting pitcher. Because rookie Mark Rogers has been set back by shoulder tightness, there is no obvious candidate. Manager Ron Roenicke said he would talk it over with GM Doug Melvin and come up with a plan.

Roenicke had delayed announcing the plans for the rotation because club officials were worried about Greinke's ribs. Once the MRI showed the crack, they knew they needed to come up with a new plan. Greinke was expected to pitch the season opener March 31 in Cincinnati before this development.

"He won't be ready for opening day," said Roenicke. "How far we go past that, we don't know. He'll have one week with no throwing. Then, they maybe he can play some catch. We want to make sure we get him 100%. That's what we're going to do.

"We've got to find somebody else."

Asked if Yovani Gallardo probably would start on opening day now, Roenicke said, "That's what we've got to talk about. We'll figure things out."

Greinke had been taking treatment on the ribs and made two starts, though he battled control issues in both. Now, we know why. After his last outing Sunday against Texas, he told club officials the ribs were still bothering him and the MRI was scheduled.

"It's not good at all but hopefully it won't be too long," said Greinke. "I don't want to be away from the team, especially at the beginning. Hopefully, I'll be back with the team when the season starts or at least close to win the season starts.

"Until the bone heals, there's nothing you can really do except make it worse. You've just got to let it heal. I'm just going to try to get back as fast as possible healthy and ready to pitch."

Raasch said the hairline crack didn't show at all on the X-Ray and barely on the MRI. He said if it was the playoffs Greinke might even try to pitch through it but that it made no sense at this point.

"He was a little bit more sore with the last outing," said Raasch. "Our first act is get him asymptomatic, where he's not having any discomfort. During that time, we're going to try to keep his (rotator) cuff strong and his arm strong. We can do that without trying to irritate two little ribs. We're going to keep his cardio-vascular work going as well. We're going to do everything we can to keep him going.

"It's something very subtle. We're not real concerned about it. It's just bad timing. It's a very mild injury as far as a rib is concerned. It still causes discomfort as you throw and do things. As it's healing, we're going to let him do more things. First, there's the healing process. Secondly, because he's a pitcher, you have to build up the arm again. That takes time as well. That's the hard part. "