Cleveland Indians: Trying not to worry about Jason Kipnis’ status

Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis may not be ready for the start of the regular season, but it is too early to worry too much.

While some Cleveland Indians fans may be worried about the players taking part in the World Baseball Classic, there is a player in Arizona who is dealing with some injury problems.

Jason Kipnis has been fighting a strained rotator cuff, and that may end up causing him to miss the beginning of the regular season, according to Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com.

The injury is not thought to be severe, at least according to Terry Francona in the article:

"He could certainly DH today,” said Francona. “He could actually go play second, but because there are times when he’s still feeling this thing (shoulder), the medical people and Kipnis have met and the determination was that we’re going to keep him down for a couple of weeks.”"

So on the surface, this news isn’t too bad. Kipnis may not start the season right away, but it is not like he is being shut down for an extended period of time. However, it is hard not to worry just a bit.

After dealing with Michael Brantley‘s ailments throughout the past year, fans may be skeptical about Kipnis’ status. This is not to say Francona was lying, but Indians fans know that one minor injury can grow into something much worse that requires a player to miss more than just a week of games.

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The good news is that Kipnis is dealing with soreness as opposed to any major tear or break. Yet once again, as with Brantley, soreness could lead to something else.

We may not learn much about his status over the next two weeks, as all he should do is rest and make sure he is back to full strength before trying to play every day. But don’t take the lack of updates as a negative sign, because even Kipnis won’t know how he feels until he gets back into playing actual games.

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Although it is difficult, fans must hold off on worrying about Kipnis for now. Even if he doesn’t play in the season opener, it doesn’t mean he is dealing with any major injury. We just have to trust the team’s medical staff, who appear to have made the right decision. Because if the Indians are going to make it back to the World Series, they will need Kipnis healthy in October. A few missed games in April won’t do too much harm.