Injuries and the notebook

Oliver Perez is close to making some rehab starts and Craig Wilson is swinging a bat says today's notebook in the PG.

Injuries have made us suck, says Dave Littlefield.

Zach Duke's last start of the year might be tonight, implies Lloyd.

Perez and the rookies will play winterball if they accept, declares Lloyd.

My take on all this: If Duke isn't hurting, he can't possibly build stamina by being stopped at the same point in the season as if he were in AAA. If he only throws 160 innings every year, he'll never be ready to throw more. We should be careful with him, but not stupid. That being said, I hope there's nothing more to this than us being overly careful. If he's hurt, well, I don't even know what I'd do. And isn't it ironic that after everything that's been done this year, the end result will be Oliver Perez playing winter ball, just like he wanted to do all along. Oliver Perez 1, Pirates 0.