Gordon Beckham’s “nerve irritation” is really a broken hamate bone

For the second time in his career, the fates have responded to a brief stretch of promise in Gordon Beckham’s career by wounding one of his hands. In 2010, a Frank Hermann fastball to the right hand rendered him mostly unusable for the rest of the season. This time, the “nerve irritation” Beckham was diagnosed with after an awkward swing during the end of his only at-bat Tuesday night in Washington has been revealed to be a broken hamate bone in his left hand–after the first X-ray revealed no break.

Beckham is projected to be out for six weeks, and if there’s one point of relief for him, it’s the relative degree of certainty about that six-week timeline.

"From Mark Gonzales’ piece:“It’s frustrating, but it is what it is. We’ll get the surgery done and I’ll be back. It’s not one of those things like a big question mark on how long it’s going to take.”"

Wednesday night’s lineup of Jeff Keppinger at second base and Conor Gillaspie at third can be expected to become the norm, but six weeks means a disabled list stint and a disabled list stint means a roster move.

Carlos Sanchez is the most (the only?) exciting potential replacement in the minor leagues, but has played less than 50 games above A-ball and is viewed as a long-term replacement. Unless the Sox were looking to make that dive, they should look for a way to buttress that Gillaspie-Keppinger platoon splits nightmare they’re fixing to throw out there.

With the up-the-middle capabilities of Steve Tolleson and Tyler Greene being redundant to Angel Sanchez (concerns about his bat aside), Brent Morel seems like he could offer the most help as a platoon partner to the left-handed Gillaspie.

The actual roster move will be made prior to Friday’s game in Cleveland, according to reports.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan