Chris Coghlan

By now, everyone knows that Chris Coghlan tore up his left knee on Sunday when he pied Wes Helms with shaving cream after his game-ending hit. Coghlan was placed on the disabled list and will miss at least three weeks and could be out six to eight if there’s surgery. He was expected to see another doctor on Tuesday for a second opinion, but the initial prognosis is not good. The Marlins called up Logan Morrison from Triple A to take Coghlan’s roster spot, and will have him split time in left with Emilio Bonifacio.

Coghlan was last year’s NL Rookie of the Year and losing him is a major blow to the Marlins. Florida has won eight of ten to move back over .500 and within 7.5 games of the Braves.

Angels first baseman Kendry Morales was lost to a season-ending broken left leg back in May when he jumped onto home plate during a celebration following his game-ending grand slam. Coghlan is the latest to suffer a severe injury during a victory celebration. Marlins’ manager Edwin Rodriguez announced, “there will be no more such celebratory antics by Florida”. I support Rodriguez and I am surprised that after the Morales injury, teams did not mandate similar guidelines to their players.

Organizations have millions of reasons to protect their investments and have the right to regulate the types of celebrations that are acceptable by their players. Management has a daily concern about players getting injured and to lose key players like Morales and Coghlan for critical stretches of the season because of  a victory celebration is not acceptable. I support teams celebrating a special victory, but there needs to be a understanding between management and players about the types of celebration that are allowed to take place.

Coghlan and Morales were both having productive seasons. The injury to Morales has had a big impact on the Angels ability to consistently score runs and remain in the AL West race. We will see how the loss of Coghlan effects the Marlins, but one thing is for sure, his injury won’t make it any easier to catch the Braves.