Miami Marlins News: Dee Gordon Dislocates Thumb, Out of All-Star Game

Before the season, many of us at the Marlin Maniac staff felt the Miami Marlins had a slim to zero margin to become a playoff team. In other words, the team needed a lot of stuff to break their way, and not a lot of breaks could go against them.

More from Marlins News

Unfortunately, injuries have teamed up with inconsistencies to ruin any chance this team has had at making a playoff run. They currently sit 14-games under .500 on July 12th and are preparing to become sellers in advance of the July 31st trade deadline.

That move to become sellers became even more definite on Saturday, as a team already without their superstar slugger and opening day starter, lost their all-star second baseman to a thumb injury.

Sliding into first base on an infield hit on Saturday against the Cincinnati Reds, all-star Dee Gordon dislocated his thumb, and will now not be able to participate in the all-star events this weekend, ironically, in Cincinnati.

But Gordon comes out after making head-first slide and throws his helmet when he enters the dugout. #Marlins
— clarkspencer (@clarkspencer) July 11, 2015

Gordon has a dislocated left thumb #Marlins
— clarkspencer (@clarkspencer) July 11, 2015

Dee Gordon, along with Giancarlo Stanton, were named all-star starters just last week. It was the first time in Marlins history that they had two starters in the all-star game. That was very short-lived, as at the time of the announcement of Giancarlo’s starting spot, it was already well-known he had a broken hamate in his hand and would not be able to participate.

Dee Gordon owns a .338/.359/.413 slash line with a 113 wRC+ and a 2.9 fWAR in 378 plate appearances. Gordon also has 33 stolen bases in 45 attempts and has been exceptional both in base running as well as on defense.

Among National League second baseman, Dee has the second best fWAR, as he trails Joe Panik‘s 3.4 fWAR mark.

Gordon earned his all-star game starting status by getting off to an extremely fast start. In April, Dee owned a .409/.418/.484 slash line. He followed that up with a .351/.393/.412 slash line in May.

However, Gordon’s bat has really slipped in June and July, posting a .286/.295/.370 slash line with a 81 wRC+. Gordon has only walked TWO times in that span and has been just 13/21 on stolen bases in that span. Of even more concern, Gordon has struck out in nearly 20% of his plate appearances since June 1st.

This has allowed Panik to surpass him in fWAR as he owns a 139 wRC+ to Gordon’s 113 mark, for the defending world champs.

Even with his struggles of late, the Miami Marlins cannot afford Gordon to be out for too long. The second baseman still is better than most of the internal options the Marlins have to play second base.

The good news for the team is that Dee Gordon didn’t break anything and they feel there is no ligament damage, so he is only likely to miss two weeks, according to Ken Rosenthal.

Source: No ligament damage for Dee Gordon, no break. The hope is that his dislocated left thumb will sideline him for only about two weeks.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 11, 2015

Dee Gordon’s injury will sting for the Miami Marlins, as his spark at the top of the lineup will certainly be missed. The fans will now have to suffer as well, as the Marlins could be without representation at the all-star game on Tuesday with both Giancarlo and Dee out with injuries.

Follow Marlin Maniac on Twitter @MarlinManiac for all your Miami Marlins news, opinion and analysis!

Next: Conley Makes 1st Big League Start

More from Marlin Maniac

Home/Marlins News