Excerpt from Joe Capozzi's article:

 

 

 

The more immediate concern is Ramirez, who said he might get an MRI in the next day or two. He was pulled from Sunday's game in the second inning and said the back pain got so bad that he had to stand during most of the team's flight from Los Angeles to Phoenix.

 

"I feel it doing anything. I can't even put my shoes on. To get up from bed I have to take 10, 15 seconds. I have to do everything slow,' Ramirez said. "That's the worst pain I've ever had in my life, in my career.'

 

He said the back stiffness has bothered him "about a month" and now is affecting his upper left leg.

 

"I'm getting tingles in my leg. That's not a good sign,' he said. "That's what we're worried about right now, to get this thing out of my leg.'

 

Ramirez, a three-time All Star, has never been on the disabled list. He knows that's a possibility.

 

"I don't want to be (on the DL). We want to wait. If it doesn't get better, maybe we'll get an MRI,' he said.

 

 

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/marlins/marlins-hanley-ramirezs-back-issues-worsen-josh-johnsons-1508342.html

 

 

The bold text is what strikes me as interesting. Hanley claims to have had back stiffness for about a month, which may be what has caused him to alter his swing. Granted, Hanley has been struggling for two months now so I'm not sure it's fair to blame this back stiffness for the cause of his poor start.

 

 

I think it's very likely that Hanley will go on the DL. If this is the case, then we can probably expect to see Bonifacio split time in SS with Ozzie. Hanley at least has been drawing a lot of walks recently but I can't expect that much production to come from SS in the time he is out, even with his struggles hitting.

 

Thoughts?

Usually its something health related to suck that bad. Didn't surprise me but my thought was why didn't he just go on the dl until he was healthy? This stuff always bothers me.

If Its the back thats giving him trouble with hitting, then why didnt he bring his back issue up 2 months ago, becuase he was slumping then.

 

"I'm getting tingles in my leg. That's not a good sign'' I agree, thats not a good sign at all..

Back trouble that hurts your leg, yeah that's bad

I still can't believe this is happening. I was expecting so much from Hanley this season.

All that talk he said about getting his average up. How was he gonna do that if he has been in pain this long?

It'd really suck if he ended up being out for the season.

^that's what I'm thinking is about to happen. untreated "tingling" and an MRI...

No, I don't believe he's been injured all season. For a player that's been so injured, he's certainly talked plenty of sh*t to the media about how he's going to turn it around...how he was going to hit .290 with 7 HR's by May 30th.

 

I think this just happened after the swing he took on Sunday.

And yeah, this injury does sound pretty bad.

I find it hard to believe he would play with pain and not tell anyone about it. He probably is hurting but I wouldn't be surprised if it was from something that happened recently.

Why is it hard to believe he wouldn't tell anyone about it? Everyone is constantly questioning his toughness......

He might've had nagging injuries, but I'd imagine that it would be really difficult to play with back pains that lead to tingling in your legs; this just recently happened. And, quite frankly, I think he's exaggerating the whole situation; I also really hope that he is exaggerating.

Why is it hard to believe he wouldn't tell anyone about it? Everyone is constantly questioning his toughness......

 

 

Yeah I wouldn't doubt he'd keep it to himself. Hanley seems like someone who be too proud to admit he has nagging injuries.

 

Maybe he just needs to dye his hair red again.

Why is it hard to believe he wouldn't tell anyone about it? Everyone is constantly questioning his toughness......

 

 

Yeah I wouldn't doubt he'd keep it to himself. Hanley seems like someone who be too proud to admit he has nagging injuries.

 

Maybe he just needs to dye his hair red again.

 

Yea I thought of this the other day.

 

But really, I do believe the injury and just about anything he says right now because its been sooooooo long. He's not gonna be sucking this long, through 52 games on purpose. I don't care what you think about him as far as being arrogant or whatever, he's not gonna slack this much for this long on purpose. There's no way he doesn't want to be the face of this franchise and be hitting in the .340's again.

Why is it hard to believe he wouldn't tell anyone about it? Everyone is constantly questioning his toughness......

 

 

Yeah I wouldn't doubt he'd keep it to himself. Hanley seems like someone who be too proud to admit he has nagging injuries.

 

Maybe he just needs to dye his hair red again.

 

Yea I thought of this the other day.

 

But really, I do believe the injury and just about anything he says right now because its been sooooooo long. He's not gonna be sucking this long, through 52 games on purpose. I don't care what you think about him as far as being arrogant or whatever, he's not gonna slack this much for this long on purpose. There's no way he doesn't want to be the face of this franchise and be hitting in the .340's again.

 

Maybe he's just struggling because he's struggling and sh*t happens? It doesn't necessarily mean that he's been injured the entire time; it could just mean that he's human, and he's struggling.

The back hurt for a while. He thought he could play through it, and he aggravated it in a big way on that last swing. I think that's what he means.

Sounds like Hanley has a herniated disc in the lumbar section. An MRI will reveal that without question.

 

If I'm right, he will need surgery. Fortunately, discs in the lumbar section are easy to reach, so the operation is fairly non-invasive, and he should recover quickly.

Oh, and sometimes you don't know you're walking around with a herniated disc until much, much later. The symptoms can be instantaneous (an accident or fall) or they can progress slowly for months until one day you make a sudden move and BOOM.

 

That's what happened to me – I had discomfort for months but didn't think it was anything serious (thought it was my mattress, went and bought a new bed), until one day I woke up and thought I was going to die. So I wouldn't knock Hanley for thinking it was something less serious all these months. Regardless, I wish him the best and speediest recovery.

Oh, and sometimes you don't know you're walking around with a herniated disc until much, much later. The symptoms can be instantaneous (an accident or fall) or they can progress slowly for months until one day you make a sudden move and BOOM.

 

That's what happened to me – I had discomfort for months but didn't think it was anything serious (thought it was my mattress, went and bought a new bed), until one day I woke up and thought I was going to die. So I wouldn't knock Hanley for thinking it was something less serious all these months. Regardless, I wish him the best and speediest recovery.

 

 

 

This isn't the same thing David Wright has, right?

How long would you estimate he'd be out for, if this is indeed what's wrong with him?

OK, I'll be the one to say it...

 

I'm worried.

Edwin says Hanley feeling better. Tomorro game possible but more likely Friday, if then. #Marlins

He could still be the face of the franchise.

Sounds like Hanley has a herniated disc in the lumbar section. An MRI will reveal that without question.

 

If I'm right, he will need surgery. Fortunately, discs in the lumbar section are easy to reach, so the operation is fairly non-invasive, and he should recover quickly.

 

 

 

I had a herniated disc a few years ago with the same symptoms...instant relief when I stood up, but couldn't have any bending at the waist...I, too, had tingling down my left leg. However, since I was younger, they opted to give me a cortizone shot in the vertebrae rather than surgery. I was feeling better about 2 days after the shot. I believe this is the same back injury Josh Willingham had his final season with the Marlins.

It's hard to take Hanley serious when he rolls around 2nd base and causes a scene with an injury that held him out a day, and doesn't play on days he is "hurt" aka "struggling".

 

Sounds to me like he is trying to pull every excuse out of the bag and since when does a back injury effect a leg, if that is true then it must be REALLY SERIOUS, enough to where he should go on the DL.

 

I'm kind of hoping he is injured though because I don't know if Hanley is the type of guy that is going to be able to figure out his issues in a short amount of time or want to fix them either, so if it's an injury at least we can point to that.

 

This article sounds like a joke more than anything, it was hard for me to read some of the comments without lol'ing. I mean if you're going to be an asshat Hanley fine, but at least go on the DL and get healthy so you can be an asshat while you hit and perform better, which is what you are getting paid for.