The A's looked like they might finally be turning the corner on their injury problems...apparently not.
While many might not think that Ellis is that big of a loss, it's bigger than you think. Ellis was a huge part of the A's August run with a .387 OBP and .534 slugging percentage. But the bigger loss is on the defensive side of the ball where Ellis is a nearly flawless player. The A's are slowly losing defensive prowess through the middle of their infield and quickly. Crosby doesn't appear like he's going to be coming back until 2007.
D'Angelo Jimenez is a big drop off defensively. Maybe there's something that can be done that Ellis can play through the fracture, but I really doubt it. This reminds me of the day in 2005 when Kielty hit a walk-off home run against K-Rod and the A's found out that Crosby was out for the year. You can't call it a devastating loss offensively losing your ninth-place hitter, but you can't really underestimate Ellis and his defense.
Damn you, injury bug.
