Talking Chop

The Braves have plenty of players ailing; so many it's getting hard to keep track. Here is a quick rundown of the Atlanta injury situation:

Jason Heyward - The all important rookie slugger is suffering from a strained right groin that has kept him out of the starting lineup and prevented him from playing the field for the last five games. The good news is that he's expected to be back in the starting lineup tonight, though it may still be a game-time decision.

Yunel Escobar - Another Braves player with a strained groin, Yuney should be back by this Saturday, the day he is eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list. He was just starting to come around offensively when he got hurt, so let's hope he can pick up where he left off.

Jair Jurrjens - He is also eligible to come off the disabled list on Saturday, but while running in the outfield yesterday he "felt something pop in his lower left hamstring" and apparently fell to the ground in pain. This setback means he is unlikely to be activated from the DL anytime soon. He is to be examined by doctors when the team returns to Atlanta. With Kris Medlen filling in nicely in the rotation, there's no reason to rush Jurrjens. He should be allowed all the time he needs to recover.

Chipper Jones - And back to groin injuries... Chipper has been nursing a sore groin for several weeks, and had a slight reaggravation of the injury while legging out an infield hit last night. He was removed from the 7-0 game and likely remains day to day and another game-time decision.

That's a lot of groin pulls to happen on one team at around the same time. In early June 2008 the Braves replaced their strength and conditioning coach Frank Fultz with Phil Falco, whom they promoted from within their organization. The speculation at the time was that it was due to some of the mounting injuries on the team. Perhaps it's time for another change. Or perhaps three groin injuries in the span of a few weeks is just a coincidence.