That's What Cheesehead: 37.18 - Does Garcia Injury Mean Torres Joins Club?

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Despite a great start to the season, great by Madison standards right now anyway, that sees the Wolves sitting at 26-20 in the standings, right in the divisional hunt and race for the post-season, things aren't all fine and dandy in Wisconsin. A rash of injuries over the past few weeks have forced two Madison Wolves outfielders to the Disabled List for a long period of time, a DL that currently sees 5 Wolves on it total with 4 of the 5 spending time on the 60 Day DL. The most recent injury to John Garcia (7/6/9/7/6 Ratings) has really caused problems.

Garcia was having a solid true rookie season so far for the Wolves. Despite hitting only .214 on the season, Garcia was posting an OPS of .785 and was well over .800 for most of the early part of the season. He was also adding some much needed pop to the Wolves' lineup as he had 10 homeruns and was on pace for 35 this season. But in the Wolves' recent 8-1 win at San Fernando, Garcia suffered a torn back muscle that will likely cause him to miss the rest of the regular season and possibly even the post-season, assuming the Wolves even make it that far.

The injury has now raised the question as to whether the Wolves should be forced to call super prospect Andrew Torres (9/9/6/5/8 Ratings) into action this season. Torres, Madison's first round pick last season, has flown through the farm system and has done so with relative ease. After a season in rookie ball last year, he's already jumped to Double-A after a brief stint in Single-A to start the season. The ETA for Torres has always been 2038 according to the Madison front office, but have things changed now that Garcia is down for the year.

"We are currently looking at every viable option" said Wolves GM Chris Wilson. "At this point, we can't say yes or no to whether Torres will join the big league club. Ideally we'd still like to wait. But given our current position and record, we need to make sure we field the best team we can. Torres may be the best option at this moment."

Torres still has some development left in his power according to some minor league scouts. He's also very underdeveloped against left handed pitching, which means he's likely a platoon only option at this point. The other option at this point for Madison is Lance Robinson (6/6/7/8/8 Ratings) who has spent the last two seasons with the Wolves before being in AAA all this year. He's had a 2.3 WAR over the last two years and has been having a solid year in South Bend this year with the Proudest Monkeys.

[recte44]

Seeing as you’re in the hunt, there’s no time like the present.