According to the Pittsburgh Pirates, third baseman Pedro Alvarez will miss 4-6 weeks with a stress reaction of the fourth metatarsal on his left foot. The recovery time for that particular injury guarantees that he will be out for the rest of the regular season and the team would need to advance well into the playoffs for him to be an option. Effectively, the injury ends his season as he hasn’t played since August 26th, except for one pinch-hit at-bat last Friday, so he probably wouldn’t be up to game speed when he is healthy.
Pedro Alvarez has been diagnosed with a stress reaction in the 4th metatarsal in his left foot. Typical recovery time is 4-6 weeks.
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) September 10, 2014
UPDATE 7:04 PM: From Tim Williams…
I wrote a few weeks ago that Pedro Alvarez shouldn’t be starting over Ike Davis. I still think that’s the case. Alvarez did heat up a bit before he went out, but that just put him tied with Davis, with Alvarez having the slight edge. Not having Alvarez really doesn’t hurt the Pirates’ offense much.
Where this does hurt the Pirates is from a depth perspective at third base. Alvarez has struggled at third this year, and that blow has been softened by the emergence of Josh Harrison. But as we saw this week, if Harrison goes down, the Pirates are now stuck with Brent Morel as their starting third baseman. If Ike Davis goes down, things might be a little better with Andrew Lambo at first base, but you’d want Alvarez’s power potential there, even if that potential hasn’t come through much this year.
Hopefully this won’t hurt the Pirates, and by that I mean, hopefully the Pirates won’t have an injury where they would have needed Alvarez to step up.