I have not had time to go through all the fastball speeds and won’t until I get back from Arizona. Just player and DL updates today and hopefully I can get a full report out later in the week.
Recent injury data
• Mark Teixeira could need season ending wrist surgery with the best case scenario seeing him ready after May. I would not plan on any production from him this season and draft/bid accordingly.
| LF | CF | RF | |
| Starter | Alex Gordon | Lorenzo Cain | Jeff Francoeur |
| Backups | Lorenzo Cain | Jarrod Dyson | Lorenzo Cain |
| David Lough | David Lough | David Lough |
Left Field – Alex Gordon will be the everyday left fielder. He started 151 in LF in 2011 and 161 in 2012. Nothing will change in 2013. For the days he gets rest, expect Cain to move over to LF and Dyson to man CF.
The Royals infield is generally set going into 2013 with each position’s starter, besides 2B, determined before camp even began. While the battle seem cut and dry, some playing time issues will show up.
| 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | C | |
| Starter | Eric Hosmer | Chris Getz | Mike Moustakas | Alcides Escobar | Salvador Perez |
| Backups | Billy Butler | Johnny Giavotella | Miguel Tejada | Elliot Johnson | George Kottaras |
| George Kottaras | Elliot Johnson | Elliot Johnson | Miguel Tejada | Manual Pina |
First Base – Eric Hosmer will get the starts when at an American League park instead of a 2012 All-Star, Billy Butler. While Hosmer’s glove is not great, Butler’s is worse. No one else is really in the 1B equation. If both Hosmer and Butler are hurt, catcher George Kottaras may move to 1B.
Here are a couple of good articles related to injuries. The first is by Doug Thorburn at Baseball Prospectus where he looks at mechanics, injuries and velocity loss. The second article examines how the White Sox have been able to keep a healthy pitching staff over the years.
Recent injury data
• Zack Greinke is experiencing some elbow issues and is headed to L.A. for some tests. No reason to draft or pay full value for him until his status has cleared up.
Bleacher Report’s Will Carroll has released a detailed Health Report for every major league team. Read away.
Recent injury data
• Mark Teixeira is out 8-10 weeks with a strained wrist with Dan Johnson taking over at 1B.
With our RotoGraph fantasy rankings being released, I will look at one player who is tough to project, Aroldis Chapman. He is being moved to the starting rotation after being the Reds closer last season. While many pitchers have previously made the move, his high number of strikeouts make find comparables almost impossible. His 2012 15.3 K/9 was the 4th highest K/9 value since 1950 (min 40 IP). I will take a stab at his full time reliever or starter fantasy value.
Projecting Chapman as a reliever is easy, he should be the 2nd rated reliever with Craig Kimbrel being #1. Here are the average draft positions the pair and Jonathan Papelbon at Yahoo!, ESPN and MockDraftCentral.
Name:Yahoo!, ESPN, MDC
Kimbel: 45, 40, 27
Chapman: 66, 77, 133
Papelbon: 78, 79, 78
I have been working my way through Dr. James Andrew’s book, Any Given Monday. Here are his top seven myths surrounding sports medicine.
#1: Tommy John surgery will improve pitching performance.
A few quotes on this subject
I cannot be clearer about this: There is nothing that sports medicine can do for a throwing arm that is better than how the good Lord created it. There is no surgery that enhances performance. It simply doesn’t exist. If the body entered this world whole and healthy, you can never repair something in the body to make it better than its original condition. It’s just not possible. Cutting something always makes it weaker. I cannot stress this enough: A healthy pitching arm will always be more stable and more capable than one that has been operated on.
On pitchers come back throwing better
Yes it is true that many pitchers do see an upswing in their pitching speeds after undergoing the surgery….Pitching improves because of the type of reconditioning and physical therapy that the athlete undergoes as he heals from the procedure.
I was going to put out a little more information from Dr. James Andrew’s book, Any Given Sunday, but instead I found a nice interview with him. He mentions four main points young pitchers should follow:
Here is his response when asked, “What advice would you give pitchers, in general?”
1. Use proper mechanics. The No. 1 problem in any specific sport is improper mechanics.
2. Don’t play year-round.
3. Avoid the radar gun at a young age. Don’t try to overthrow. A lot of kids are 13 years old and checking the radar gun. That’s going to get you in trouble. The radar gun makes you want to throw harder than you are capable of throwing.
4. Be very careful with showcases. I call them “show-off” cases because kids go there Saturday after throwing the football on Friday. They jump on a mound and overthrow because scouts are there. The next thing you know, the shoulder or elbow gets injured.
Recent Injury Data
• Phil Hughes may start the season on the DL because of a bulging disk in his back.
I am working my way through Dr. James Andrew’s book on sports injuries, Any Given Monday. While the book is focused mainly on youth sports injuries, some of the information applies to older athletes. I found the entire chapter on baseball injuries is free online for viewing. I would highly recommend reading the entire chapter for some good information on baseball injury prevention.
Recent injury data
Yesterday, Alexi Ogando struggled against the Kansas City Royals in his first appearance of the year. While it is not uncommon for a pitcher to struggle during spring training, it was how he struggled which worries me. He struggled with his delivery and maintaining his velocity. His next few outings should be monitored closely to see if he has a possible injury.