IS THERE SUCH A PLACE AS BASEBALL'S DISABLED LIST?

Eric Chavez in a familiar position and it is not third base

By VIVIAN BARNING

If you go there, you will see Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Cliff Lee, Matt Kemp and Troy Tulowitzki. Dustin Pedroia is trying hard to avoid joining them. Eric Chavez and Mark Kotsay have been nearly permanent residents in recent years.

Where is this expensive piece of real estate? Nowhere. It does not exist as a physical entity. And yet, media descriptions of the disabled list (DL) certainly seem to indicate that there is such a place. It is often referred to as a “trip to the disabled list”. How far is that trip? Is it measured in miles? Is it closer for the East Coast teams or those west of the Rockies? Sounds like a summer vacation spot until you realize how hard most players work to stay away from there.

And this year major league baseball has added a room to the DL. It’s the seven-day DL for concussions. My fantasy league catcher Carlos Santana resides there at the moment while my other catcher Alex Avila seems to have narrowly avoided a recent trip there.

Among the other residents on the current DL are Chipper Jones, Brett Gardner, Carl Crawford, Jered Weaver, Evan Longoria, Cris Carpenter, Andrew Bailey, Brian Wilson, Jonathan Lucroy and many others. Several others play for my favorite team, the San Diego Padres.

The DL is a very expensive place indeed.