Donny Lucy carted off the field during 5/1 game

[NorthSideSox72]

Apparently, Donny Lucy dislocated his knee cap in last night's game, which is why he left early. From the local paper:

 

Charlotte catcher Donny Lucy suffered a dislocated right kneecap in the fourth inning. Lucy ended the inning with a deep fly to left field, but on the follow through of his swing his right left twisted oddly and Lucy went down immediately, grabbing his knee. Lucy stayed down at home plate for several minutes before being carted off the field.

 

Hopefully this is not too major. He was just starting to hit. In that game he had lined out hard to third, and flew out to deep left.

 

[shipps]

I would think there would be some serious ligament damage if his knee cap dislocated.

[southsider2k5]

I would think there would be some serious ligament damage if his knee cap dislocated.

 

That was my initial reaction as well. Granted I am not a doctor, but can something like that not be serious?

[NorthSideSox72]

I would think there would be some serious ligament damage if his knee cap dislocated.

You'd think. But, I've actually known people who have that as a repeating problem, and all that happens after is some swelling and bruising.

 

Hopefully no serious damage. I'm pretty sure he's Plan A for the backup catching job in 2009.

 

[shipps]

I know you have more of a chance to really mess up your knee if its dislocated than if its your shoulder or arm.

[NorthSideSox72]

I know you have more of a chance to really mess up your knee if its dislocated than if its your shoulder or arm.

Yeah, probably. Yikes.

 

Anyone on the board with connections with the Knights? If so, any sort of status on Donny would be appreciated.

 

[jackie hayes]

Isn't that what Andrew Bynum had this year?

[shipps]

Shaun Livingston?

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Shaun Livingston?

 

 

Well Livingston also tore 3 ligaments so i'd hesitate to compare the two

[maggsmaggs]

dammit, now we definitely have Toby Hall the rest of the year.

[CanOfCorn]

Isn't this what happened to Bill Mueller when he was with the Cubs? He came back after a year or so. And he was older than Lucy is, so I would think after some rehab, he could come back. But I'm (trying to be) an optimist.

[JPN366]

Sounds like he will be out the rest of the season. He'll need to wear a brace on his knee the rest of his career. And, being a catcher, his rehab could take longer. Donny's a great guy and a hard worker. He always busted his butt when he was in B'ham. He's tough as hell. I saw him take a ball off the cup while catching. He stayed in the game, and played a day game the next day. He'll tough out any pain to play baseball. But, he'll need to miss and extended period of time. Probably need surgery.

[shipps]

Sounds like he will be out the rest of the season. He'll need to wear a brace on his knee the rest of his career. And, being a catcher, his rehab could take longer. Donny's a great guy and a hard worker. He always busted his butt when he was in B'ham. He's tough as hell. I saw him take a ball off the cup while catching. He stayed in the game, and played a day game the next day. He'll tough out any pain to play baseball. But, he'll need to miss and extended period of time. Probably need surgery.

Wow that is really bad news.I hope he can come back to 100%.Worst fears confirmed .

Edited May 2, 2008 by shipps

[NorthSideSox72]

I'll be keeping an eye on the Charlotte papers to see if they make some sort of announcement in the upcoming days.

 

[JPN366]

I'll be keeping an eye on the Charlotte papers to see if they make some sort of announcement in the upcoming days.

 

My guess would be Ryan Smith is activated from the DL and Lucy is placed on the DL.

[BlackBetsy]

My guess is that Donny Lucy's career as a catcher is over. Once a patella gets dislocated, it is more likely to recur. Given the wear and tear on catcher's knees, I have a hard time seeing Lucy playing for any amount of time as a catcher. Since 90% of his value relates to him being a catcher, and he doesn't have the bat to stick elsewhere...I gotta believe that despite maybe a feel good story about him coming back, his baseball career is effectively at an end.

[BearSox]

depends on the seriousness of the injury. For all we know it popped right back in, but judging by that one post, it sounds a whole lot worse.

 

Not good news at all. A young man's career is in jeopardy, and we have basically no catching prospects what-so-ever now.

[lostfan]

Well Livingston also tore 3 ligaments so i'd hesitate to compare the two

That, and his entire knee literally came out and buckled sideways. I remember someone gave me the link to that and I was eating. I almost vomited.

[ptatc]

Dislocating the patella (kneecap) is not as serious as it sounds. I didn't see the injury but generally all of the major ligaments are intact and the patella slides off the lateral (outside) of the knee. It can spontaneously pop right back in as someone mentioned earlier. I don't know if this is the case or not. It is worse if it stayed out.

 

The major concern here is the rupturing of the medial structures that hold the patella in place including the muscles. Surgery tends not to help this problem as attempting to reattach these structures is like tying pieces of spaghetti together. The most common form of treatment is to brace it and hopefully the structures will heal tightly on thier own.

 

He will most likely be out for the year. The immobilization period is a minimum of 6-8 weeks but probably longer. He will probably always wear a brace to hold the patella in line. The problem is that the patella needs to move up and down when you bend your knee, especially true for a catcher) so the braces aren't always very effect.

 

His career as a catcher is in jeopardy but I wouldn't rule it out, especially if he has the work ethic that someone stated earlier.

[JPN366]

Well, he did go to Stanford, so he has smarts. I'm sure he has a degree to fall back on, if baseball or coaching falls through. It would be a huge shame if his career is over though, he always brought his lunchpail to work with him.

[Bubba Philips]

Well, he did go to Stanford, so he has smarts. I'm sure he has a degree to fall back on, if baseball or coaching falls through. It would be a huge shame if his career is over though, he always brought his lunchpail to work with him.

Any further news on his injury

 

[SoxFan1]

A note on Lucy's injury...he's f***ed. But then again, there are team doctors and this is modern medicine. But, with this injury, if it happens once, the likelihood of it happening again increases every time. I would know, it's happened to me 6 times since 2005. If it was a serious dislocation, as it seems to be with him being carted off, he'll be out for a month minimum (meaning he'll have trouble walking), and wont be back to 100% for quite a while.

 

A dislocation of the kneecap will provide no damage to major ligaments, but with each time, it creates tons and tons of micro-tears on the patella ligament connecting it to the thigh and shin as well as some cartilage/meniscus damage, and with that, I find it hard to believe he'll be catching much more. It's a pretty gruesome injury from the outside, but underneath the kneecap sitting on the side of your leg, it isn't too terrible. It's a dull pain when it pops out, but when it snaps back in, often times when the leg is straightened, it is painful as s***.

 

It's nothing compared to Livingston's injury. He literally BROKE his knee. All ligaments torn and kneecap dislocated. I don't recall if there was bones involved though. Lucy's injury is nothing like Livingston's. This is the same as what happened to Jason Campbell of the Redskins. If Lucy does play again, it'll be difficult for him to be a catcher, and he'll definitely need to wear a brace all the time to keep the patella in line as much as possible.

 

Also BearSox, if it did pop back in right away (which I doubt since he got carted off), it could reduce the time to about 2-3 weeks. This is what happened to me the last time I dislocated it. I was playing basketball, got a rebound, then landed on my teammates foot and twisted awkwardly. Luckily, with my step, it popped back in, thus only making me "immobile" for about a week and a half to 2 weeks. This happened nearly a month ago, and I'm ok for physical activity now but I'm still not 100%.

[ptatc]

A note on Lucy's injury...he's f***ed. But then again, there are team doctors and this is modern medicine. But, with this injury, if it happens once, the likelihood of it happening again increases every time. I would know, it's happened to me 6 times since 2005. If it was a serious dislocation, as it seems to be with him being carted off, he'll be out for a month minimum (meaning he'll have trouble walking), and wont be back to 100% for quite a while.

 

A dislocation of the kneecap will provide no damage to major ligaments, but with each time, it creates tons and tons of micro-tears on the patella ligament connecting it to the thigh and shin as well as some cartilage/meniscus damage, and with that, I find it hard to believe he'll be catching much more. It's a pretty gruesome injury from the outside, but underneath the kneecap sitting on the side of your leg, it isn't too terrible. It's a dull pain when it pops out, but when it snaps back in, often times when the leg is straightened, it is painful as s***.

 

It's nothing compared to Livingston's injury. He literally BROKE his knee. All ligaments torn and kneecap dislocated. I don't recall if there was bones involved though. Lucy's injury is nothing like Livingston's. This is the same as what happened to Jason Campbell of the Redskins. If Lucy does play again, it'll be difficult for him to be a catcher, and he'll definitely need to wear a brace all the time to keep the patella in line as much as possible.

 

Also BearSox, if it did pop back in right away (which I doubt since he got carted off), it could reduce the time to about 2-3 weeks. This is what happened to me the last time I dislocated it. I was playing basketball, got a rebound, then landed on my teammates foot and twisted awkwardly. Luckily, with my step, it popped back in, thus only making me "immobile" for about a week and a half to 2 weeks. This happened nearly a month ago, and I'm ok for physical activity now but I'm still not 100%.

 

The patellar ligament (tendon) can get stretched but it's rare that the meniscal cartilage is damaged. Those tissues are between the femur and the tibia as cushions. The hyaline cartilage which covers the joint surfaces of bone can get damaged on the back of the patella. This is referred to as chondromalaicia or softening of the hyaline cartilage. His future as catcher will depend on the damage to each.

 

Whenever this happens to someone they will cart him off in preparation for healing regardless if it pooped back to position or not so I wouldn't read too much into that.

Edited May 7, 2008 by ptatc

[witesoxfan]

Whenever this happens to someone they will cart him off in preparation for healing regardless if it pooped back to position or not so I wouldn't read too much into that.

 

not gonna read too much into that comment...

[ptatc]

not gonna read too much into that comment...

 

it's an industry term