Glaus nominated for Comeback Award
At this time last year, Troy Glaus was the designated hitter for the Los Angeles Angels.
"DHing is better than not playing," Glaus said. "But not by much."
Glaus was forced into that role and limited to just 58 games in 2004 after having surgery to repair fraying in his labrum in May.
"It was unfortunately one of the few things I've ever had where you just can't play," Glaus said of the shoulder. "There was nothing I could do. I couldn't go. We tried everything, but the pain was so much that it wouldn't work. And it was only a matter of time before it got hurt even worse. Then who knows where we'd be sitting at this point?"
Where Glaus is sitting right now is in the middle of the Diamondbacks' order, playing every day at third base.
"He's gone at it pretty hard for us," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said.
Because of the production he's shown this year, Glaus is a candidate for Major League Baseball's Comeback Player of the Year Award Presented by Viagra.
Fans will choose the winner via an online ballot.
Visit MLB.com/ComebackAward and cast your vote for the player who has best bounced back from a disappointing 2004 season. Your vote will automatically enter you into a sweepstakes for a chance to win great prizes -- like game-used bases from the All-Star Game or the honor of throwing the ceremonial first pitch at a 2005 World Series game -- from MLB and Viagra.
It hasn't been smooth sailing for Glaus this year, though. While he's among the team leaders in games played, the 29-year-old has had to battle through injuries. Most notably has been a strained tendon behind his left knee that has hampered him virtually the entire season.
Only an extended period of rest will allow the tendon to heal, but Glaus doesn't want to sit, and the Diamondbacks couldn't afford his prolonged absence from the lineup.
"That'll happen in the offseason," he said.
So instead, Glaus has had cortisone injections in the back of his knee on three different occasions this year to stay in the lineup. The shots are painful, but for Glaus, not being in the lineup would be worse.
After the doctors told him there was nothing more they could do to help the tendon, Glaus went into Melvin's office and told the skipper not to ask him whether he wanted to play on a given day, but rather to just write his name in the lineup.
"I've never in my life gone in and asked out of the lineup," Glaus said. "Regardless of how bad it hurts or anything like that, I've never said I wanted out. I guess that's just how I was brought up and the mindset that I have. You play if you can at all get your butt out there. You do it."
And Glaus has certainly done it, leading the club in home runs, RBIs and walks. But don't expect him to walk around patting himself on the back. Instead he's more worried about how to improve his numbers with runners in scoring position.
"I'm paid to drive in runs," said Glaus, who signed a four-year, $44 million free-agent deal before the season. "I haven't been stellar. I've been OK, but not stellar and probably bordering more on the bottom end of OK. But the idea around here is to win ballgames, so I don't necessarily care where the numbers end up. But I know that if I put up the numbers that I have, then it gives our team a lot better chance of winning ballgames, and at the end of the day, that's all that really matters."
Said teammate Luis Gonzalez, "He's been able to consistently go out there and play after coming back from an injury. He knows now how important it is for him to be out there playing. He's rehabbed hard to get back and play at the level he was at before."
The Diamondbacks are thankful for that.
Source: http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/
"DHing is better than not playing," Glaus said. "But not by much."
Glaus was forced into that role and limited to just 58 games in 2004 after having surgery to repair fraying in his labrum in May.
"It was unfortunately one of the few things I've ever had where you just can't play," Glaus said of the shoulder. "There was nothing I could do. I couldn't go. We tried everything, but the pain was so much that it wouldn't work. And it was only a matter of time before it got hurt even worse. Then who knows where we'd be sitting at this point?"
Where Glaus is sitting right now is in the middle of the Diamondbacks' order, playing every day at third base.
"He's gone at it pretty hard for us," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said.
Because of the production he's shown this year, Glaus is a candidate for Major League Baseball's Comeback Player of the Year Award Presented by Viagra.
Fans will choose the winner via an online ballot.
Visit MLB.com/ComebackAward and cast your vote for the player who has best bounced back from a disappointing 2004 season. Your vote will automatically enter you into a sweepstakes for a chance to win great prizes -- like game-used bases from the All-Star Game or the honor of throwing the ceremonial first pitch at a 2005 World Series game -- from MLB and Viagra.
It hasn't been smooth sailing for Glaus this year, though. While he's among the team leaders in games played, the 29-year-old has had to battle through injuries. Most notably has been a strained tendon behind his left knee that has hampered him virtually the entire season.
Only an extended period of rest will allow the tendon to heal, but Glaus doesn't want to sit, and the Diamondbacks couldn't afford his prolonged absence from the lineup.
"That'll happen in the offseason," he said.
So instead, Glaus has had cortisone injections in the back of his knee on three different occasions this year to stay in the lineup. The shots are painful, but for Glaus, not being in the lineup would be worse.
After the doctors told him there was nothing more they could do to help the tendon, Glaus went into Melvin's office and told the skipper not to ask him whether he wanted to play on a given day, but rather to just write his name in the lineup.
"I've never in my life gone in and asked out of the lineup," Glaus said. "Regardless of how bad it hurts or anything like that, I've never said I wanted out. I guess that's just how I was brought up and the mindset that I have. You play if you can at all get your butt out there. You do it."
And Glaus has certainly done it, leading the club in home runs, RBIs and walks. But don't expect him to walk around patting himself on the back. Instead he's more worried about how to improve his numbers with runners in scoring position.
"I'm paid to drive in runs," said Glaus, who signed a four-year, $44 million free-agent deal before the season. "I haven't been stellar. I've been OK, but not stellar and probably bordering more on the bottom end of OK. But the idea around here is to win ballgames, so I don't necessarily care where the numbers end up. But I know that if I put up the numbers that I have, then it gives our team a lot better chance of winning ballgames, and at the end of the day, that's all that really matters."
Said teammate Luis Gonzalez, "He's been able to consistently go out there and play after coming back from an injury. He knows now how important it is for him to be out there playing. He's rehabbed hard to get back and play at the level he was at before."
The Diamondbacks are thankful for that.
Source: http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/
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