Marco Scutaro has "mallet finger", could miss six to eight weeks

Marco Scutaro was hit by a pitch on Tuesday night, and now his hand is gnarled. I woke up on Monday committed to using the word "gnarled" in a post because it's a great word. I didn't think I'd use it regarding Scutaro, though. Now I don't think "gnarled" is such a great word. Poor, gnarled Marco Scutaro.

According to the latest update, Scutaro has "mallet finger," which sounds absolutely awful. It's a less-than-fancy term for tendon damage, and if Scutaro needs a splint, he could be out 6-to-8 weeks.

And now the Giants are hosed. They were already hosed with Pablo Sandoval going on the DL, and they've been hosed with Angel Pagan going on the 3-day DL retroactive to forever. You're going to see some funny lineups over the next couple weeks, but they won't be ha-ha funny.

We should know if Scutaro is going on the DL with gnarled mallet fingers soon. It's not like the Giants are going to keep him out of the lineup for 10 days before putting him on the DL. Hahahaha. Certainly not. Why, that would be ridiculous. There will be a roster move eventually, with another infielder possibly coming up. The options on the 40-man:

• Ehire Adrianza
• Angel Villalona

I don't know how to tell you this, but Adrianza isn't really hitting in Double-A. More bad news: apparently Villalona isn't a third baseman these days. I know, I know, nothing is going the Giants' way right now.

Here's the point where you wonder if the Giants really need another infielder. If they start, say, Arias/Crawford/Noonan with Tony Abreu on the bench, do they really need a fifth guy who can play up the middle? Probably not. But considering the Giants have made it a priority all season to have five infielders, I'm guessing they'll bring up one more.

Uninformed guess: Adrianza comes up because the Giants don't want to drop anyone from the 40-man. There are some pitchers who could probably sneak through waivers like Ramon Ramirez and/or Sandy Rosario, so the Giants probably aren't married to the idea of bringing Adrianza up. But it would be easy.

Kensuke Tanaka is hitting well for Fresno, but I'm not sure if he's hitting remove-a-player-from-the-40-man well. The same goes for Baby Puig (Panik) in Richmond. What you see is probably what you're going to get.

So the Giants are probably hosed either way.

Except it's worth noting that Tony Abreu has the ability to be merely bad. That's better than most of the alternatives. He's a relatively established commodity -- doubles power, good contact, risible plate discipline -- and while I wouldn't take him over Nick Noonan for the next five years, I'd give Abreu the edge right now.

Will Abreu hit .332, like Scutaro? Only time will tell.

Wait, just got a text from time, and ... no, no, Abreu will not hit .332. We should be lucky if he hits .252. But Arias at third, Abreu at second, and Noonan/other on the bench is probably the best permutation for now. Boy, I sure wasn't expecting to type that sentence before the season.

Get healthy, everyone. Start pitching better, everyone else. And hit, Tony Abreu. Or Nick Noonan. Or Kensuke Tanaka. One of you.