Jason Kipnis to miss 4-5 weeks with shoulder inflammation

In what is the second of at least four stories I could probably squeeze out of this one Jordan Bastian tweet, it has been confirmed that Cleveland Indians Jason Kipnis will miss an additional 4-5 weeks with shoulder inflammation.

The diagnosis by Dr. Keither Meister, which was previously called a sore shoulder by the Indians, luckily does not extend Kipnis’s timetable past the “couple weeks” he was estimated to miss. But it’s just all around awful.

Kipnis’s shoulder first started bothering him last month and he was given a cortisone shot on February 28 and expected to only miss a handful of games. After returning for two games as the team’s designated hitter, Kipnis was against sidelined after pain failed to subside following the outings.

The most likely move at this point appears to be to shift Jose Ramirez to second base to fill in for Kipnis and either promote Yandy Diaz to play third base or find another alternative. Richie Shaffer, who bounced around between several teams this offseason before landing with Cleveland, is emerging as a third-base candidate as well after a solid spring.