Ryan Webb MRI doesn't reveal structural damage to knee

SARASOTA, Fla. - Reliever Ryan Webb had an MRI on his left knee today that didn't reveal any structural damage. He's got some swelling and is day-to-day.

Webb was told that he had an allergic reaction to the ice, which caused swelling in the knee. Lesson learned.

The discomfort surfaced yesterday while Webb was throwing on flat ground.

"I was just playing catch and it kind of came up feeling a little funny for a second," he said. "I was shaking it out and finished playing catch, finished doing the PFP drills and all that, and I came in and said I felt like I tweaked it a little bit. They took a look at it and put some ice on it and iced it the rest of the day, and the swelling kind of came up a little bit. What we think that was is I had a reaction to the ice, so it swelled a little more than it should have, but we got the MRI back and it looked OK, so we're going to treat it and I guess it's day-to-day. We'll see how it goes.

"It's a relief. I was a little worried there because it swelled up pretty bad, but I was thinking I didn't really do anything bad out there. I didn't fall, I didn't bang it into anything. I just twisted it a little bit playing catch, so it couldn't have been anything too serious. It's a big relief."

Webb's never had knee issues in the past.

"It's just swollen, so it's kind of hard to walk on it," he said. "When I did it, it didn't hurt or anything. It just kind of felt like a muscle cramp, maybe. That's the best way I can describe it. It's just a little sore and swollen.

"It was just a little discomfort thing and I took it easy for the rest of the day. I didn't think it was anything serious. I thought maybe I just had something with my muscle that I could loosen up by walking around and stuff like that. I didn't overdo anything out there after it happened. It was just so minor I thought I could loosen it up myself. There's only like 20 minutes of fielding grounders and then I came back in.

"Everything structurally looks good. I had a lot of excess swelling because apparently I'm allergic to the ice. Apparently, icing didn't help me."

Webb has allowed one run and two hits in two spring innings. He reported to camp in excellent shape, having gone on a strict diet after the season. He couldn't have prepared for a freakish injury to his knee.

"It's just one of those freak things," he said. "I'm sure there's nothing I could have really done to avoid it. I don't know if it was a soft patch of grass I stepped in and just kind of caught my cleats the wrong way or something like that, but that's all it was. Hopefully, it will be good in a few days and keep on track."