The Padres just lost one of their steadier bench bats for at least a chunk of the stretch run. San Diego placed Miguel Andujar on the 10-day injured list after X-rays confirmed a fracture in his right wrist, ending a strange week where he played through the injury before the club finally shut him down.
Padres Place Miguel Andujar On IL With Wrist Fracture t.co/wXIE6e99en
Here's the part that stings: Andujar wasn't hurt diving for a ball or twisting an ankle running the bases. He took a Lucas Erceg fastball off the wrist in the eighth inning of San Diego's blowout win over Kansas City, stayed in the game, and it wasn't until things flared up afterward that X-rays revealed the break. Stammen has called it a "little fracture" and, notably, Andujar reportedly won't need a cast, just a splint, which is the one silver lining in an otherwise lousy break for a guy who signed a modest one-year, $4 million deal this offseason hoping to lock down a platoon role.
That role mattered more than the contract number suggests. Andujar came over as a bench bat with a track record of mashing lefties, and he delivered early, hitting well over .300 for stretches before cooling off. He'd been getting squeezed for at-bats even before the injury, managing just two plate appearances in the week leading up to the IL move as Stammen tried to sort out playing time between Andujar, Jake Cronenworth-type infield pieces, and Nick Castellanos at DH.
That logjam is exactly why this injury lands worse than a typical bench-piece fracture. The Padres don't have an obvious everyday answer at DH/first/outfield-overflow right now, and Andujar, when hot, was one of the better options they had for stealing at-bats against lefties down the stretch of a playoff race. Losing him doesn't blow up the roster, but it does strip away flexibility Stammen was counting on.
The good news is the timeline isn't brutal by fracture standards. San Diego is reportedly targeting an August return, which would still give Andujar a runway to be a factor in the season's final two months if the club is still fighting for position. Until then, expect more Castellanos at DH and more reshuffling as the Padres figure out who claims the at-bats Andujar leaves behind.