Who's to say that Chipper Jones wouldn't have tweaked his right oblique muscle had he remained in Braves camp instead of playing for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic?
Technically, that's impossible to know. It isn't as though Jones has never tweaked a muscle in spring training. In fact, as a switch hitter, a twinge in his oblique is standard every so often during the season. Usually it's the left side; this time it's the right side. As a result of the latest tweak, Jones didn't produce at the plate for Team USA during his stint at the WBC. He left the team and returned to Braves camp not because the injury was severe but because the Team USA trainers, being especially conservative, were recommending rest.
Jones wanted the kind of aggressive treatment he's used to getting from the Braves' doctors and training staff.
Between the just-rest-it approach and the lack of game at-bats thanks to the drawn-out format of the WBC, Jones was feeling impatient and behind schedule. It doesn't take much imagination to project the oblique bothering him the entire season if he doesn't get on top of it now.
Even before the latest ailment, Jones was philosophizing about the consequences of aging.
"I just don't bounce back the way I used to," he said, noting that it used to be that if he fouled a ball off his body, he'd ice it and the next day the area was fine. Now it's swollen for a couple of days.
"This club can't afford for me to be off for an extended period of time," he said.
He's obviously encouraged that the Braves had a good record in Grapefruit League play, he knows as well as anyone that spring training stats and results are an aberration. Clearly, the lineup was able to hit in his absence, and in the absence of catcher Brian McCann, who remains with Team USA.
But once the regular season begins, Jones said, "I can't afford to play 120, 125 (games). I can't have that."
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