AMP Mailbag: What Can We Expect With Correa

COME ON GUYS! I know you can come up with plenty of questions, get them in....leave them in the comments section.

@Subber10 what kind of injury diagnosis should we be looking for with Carlos? And by looking I mean hoping

— David Brinkman (@david__brinkman) June 25, 2014

The hope is that we'll know more today based on what Astros GM Jeff Luhnow said yesterday.

I covered this in the podcast on Sunday and was then released yesterday, but I know not everyone listens to the podcast.

Best case scenario is that this is nothing but a grade II high ankle sprain. What that means is that the ligaments that connect the tibia and fibula are sprained.  As simply put as possible, they are stretched and have some damage but are not completely torn. The reason that this is considered significant is that as the ankle moves in certain directions, the tibia and fibula are forced to move apart and if those ligaments are not as stable as they used to be, the ankle is less stable.

Decreased stability=more movement that cannot be controlled

A grade III sprain is a ligamental failure, or a complete tear. That would be more significant as it would require surgery. Surgery is never a minor issue. However, a surgery to reconstruct an ankle ligament is not as severe as say an ACL or a UCL, relatively speaking.

Other possibilities include low ankle sprains and you are looking at similar outcomes. Grade II sprains take a while to recover from but don't require surgery. He would be ready for the Arizona Fall League and possibly be on the field in as little as 4-6 weeks to be optimistic.

The high ankle sprain could take longer since there is potential for damage to the interosseous membrane that also connects the tibia and fibula that takes longer to heal. The lower ankle sprain does not have that added potential risk. From my experience, usually people who are not able to weight bear tend to have higher ankle sprains if they don't have a fracture.

A fracture is obviously more complicated. In today's world of orthopedics, a fracture is fixed with a screw. Gone are the days of letting a cast fixate the bone but immobilizing the joint above and below. Doc's put a screw in it and you're walking on it with a few weeks and starting rehab.  Quicker recovery times and better overall recovery as weight bearing actually helps bone growth.  Downside is that depending on location, a screw can limit range of motion at the end in some cases.

Anyway you look at it, he's most likely looking at month on the shelf to be optimistic. The worst case is that he doesn't set foot on a field until the Arizona Fall League. My expectation is that unless it turns out to be several extensive fractures, he shouldn't have any long term effects. And if that were to be the case, it would involve more than just the rumored fibula fracture. It would actually involve bones in the foot.