Rollins to the DL, Valdez called up

After suffering a mysterious injury just moments prior to the Phillies home opener, we finally know what's wrong with Jimmy Rollins. According to Ruben Amaro, Rollins has a mild to moderate right calf strain, one that is likely to keep him out 2-4 weeks, and the team has placed him on the disabled list. To replace him on the 25 man roster, the Phillies have called up infielder Wilson Valdez from Triple A.

While the news sounded like it could have been worse given how long it took them to announce it, Rollins will still be missed in the lineup until he can return sometime in May. In his absence, expect Juan Castro to get most of the starts at shortstop with Valdez sliding into Castro's old utility infielder role. We should also expect a lineup shuffle as Shane Victorino figures to jump to the top of the order and Castro slots into the 7th or 8th spot in the lineup.

It's never a good thing when a star player goes down with injury, but if the Phillies are going to have to play without Rollins for a few weeks, the beginning of the season is the easiest time to deal with it. Sure, the lineup will be a little weaker for a short period of time but Rollins will still come back and play the remaining 125 games or so and help the Phils bounce back from whatever lull they experienced without him for 20 games. The most important thing right now is that Rollins gets healthy so he can come back quickly and help keep the Phillies lineup the most potent in baseball.