Chipper wants to shed injury-prone label

The Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, who'll be 35 in April, was on the disabled list three separate times in 2006, twice late in the year for a left oblique strains and once the first week of the year for a sprained knee and ankle. A player that was once the model of health and consistency - Jones played in 150-plus games for nine straight seasons, 1996-2003 - is now dangerously teetering on the brink of having his entire career tainted by the injury-prone label that's fully dogging him. Jones played in only 109 games in 2005, largely due to issues with those genetically bad feet. Often painful bunions led to problems with the plantar plate and a ligament in his left foot, forcing him into a protective boot for more than a month.

Regardless of what preventative measures he takes, as long as he continues to play the game, Jones said his feet are going to remind him that they're not perfectly normal. "Yeah, they give me problems and it's going to keep me out a day here and a day there, but hopefully that's all it is," he said. "I think I can play through it."

He hit his second spring home run Saturday, and he's up to .333 in March, but Jones hasn't even made it through camp without fueling concerns about his health. And it hasn't even been about his feet. Everyone cringed March 12 when Jones pulled up after his first at-bat in Jupiter, Fla. He limped off with what was feared to be issues with those pesky feet. Instead, it was a mild ankle sprain that didn't even keep him out of the lineup a day. Four days later, Jones tweaked his right side during batting practice. He didn't return until Thursday, but a couple of those days were manager Bobby Cox being overly cautious. "His side is no longer hurting," Cox reiterated Saturday, before uttering something pretty telling about Jones' current state. "Knock on wood."

In 2006, Chipper hit .324 with 26 home runs, 86 RBI, 87 runs and 6 SB in only 110 games. Jones has the potential to post big numbers in 2007, if he can stay healthy.
Source: Macon Telegraph

Chipper Struggles With Foot Pain

Chipper Jones, The Atlanta Braves third baseman, remains one of baseball's most feared hitters, but his career is hindered by a set of bad feet. There's nothing he can do about it, other than those frequent injections he's taken over the years to deaden the pain. So, he'll play it out while fretting about the next step, wondering how bad it's going to hurt.

"Every time I start running, it's on my mind," Jones conceded Friday. "Every time I push off, every time I accelerate, it's there."

Jones was an ironman through his first nine years in the majors, playing an average of 155 games and winning the NL MVP award in 1999. But the past three seasons were marred by a litany of ailments, along with the overriding concern that something he's had since birth will shorten or certainly cramp the rest of his career.

"My feet were killing me at the end of last year," Jones conceded.

Coming up on his 35th birthday, he decided to take a different tack during the offseason. He basically took three months off, hoping to get over all the aches and pains that allowed him to play just 110 games in 2006.

Jones went out in April with a sprained right knee. Then he strained his oblique muscle, a nagging pain in his side that made it difficult to swing, put him on the disabled list and was a problem through most of the second half.

Despite the injuries, Jones managed to hit .324 with 26 homers and 86 RBIs in just 110 games. Over a full year, those power numbers project to 38 homers and 127 RBIs -- comparable to his MVP season. He also had a .409 on-base percentage and a .596 slugging average.

"From the time I got off the DL, I came out swinging," Jones said. "I was a tough out all year."

Surgery is not an option. It's just too risky.

"There's not a foot doctor in America who will touch me right now," Jones said. "There's all these horror stories about breaking the feet and resetting them. No one is going to take a professional athlete and take a chance on ending his career. To be honest with you, I'd much rather just play my way through it. I'll look at it down the road when I'm done playing."

For now, he's got to learn to play with some degree of pain and try not to worry about what might have been.
Source: AP

Advice: Chipper still has the ability to post solid numbers, but don't draft him too high because of the lingering foot problems that most likely will cause him to miss time.