Archive for Injuries

• Steven Souza will supposedly miss four-to-six weeks with a broken wrist.

“Certainly wasn’t [the best news on Saturday],” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We got a phone call [after Souza’s hand was X-rayed] that it is a fractured hand. Four to six weeks. Obviously not an ideal thing for us or him, because his at-bats are crucial right now. But he’s going to go back to Tampa, probably get re-evaluated there in two or three weeks and we’ll go from there.”

With wrist injuries, the average return to MLB time is over two months. I had this same argument when Giancarlo Stanton hurt his wrist (median 56 days)

Stanton estimates low IMO @soumyajeetghosh Avg. historic return time for a broken wrist is 77 days. If fractures included, down to 65 days

— Jeff Zimmerman (@jeffwzimmerman) July 16, 2015

Now news comes out that Stanton will take longer to return than originally estimated.

The recovery for the broken hamate bone in Giancarlo Stanton’s left hand is taking longer than initially expected, the Marlins’ All-Star right fielder admitted prior to Saturday night’s contest against the Padres.

“Definitely slower,” Stanton said of his progress from June 28 surgery.
….
He added that while he has been hitting off a tee recently, he still feels pain and is swinging “as strong as it allows.”

“Getting decent — the ball’s coming off OK,” Stanton said. “It’s just the pain level of it.”

If I can come up with a reasonable return estimate, I am not sure why teams can’t.

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• Not much injury-related news to write about since most information coming out over the past week or so has been associated with trades.

• Mookie Betts is on the 7-day concussion DL after falling over a wall to make a catch. There will be fairly constant updates on him since the Red Sox aren’t in the playoff picture and the Boston media needs to cover something.

• Manuel Banuelos is on the DL from pain caused by a bone spur.

The Braves gained some concern as Banuelos’ velocity steadily dropped as he made the first five appearances of his Major League career this month. His fastball averaged 90.3 mph during his July 2 Major League debut. But that number dropped with each subsequent appearance and stood at 87.8 mph during last Friday’s start against the Cardinals.

It seems like the Braves and Banuelos are waiting for his elbow to calm down before giving a full evaluation.

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• Just about no one went on the DL this past weekend, so a short MASH report today.

• During his Hall of Fame speech, John Smoltz said the following about young pitchers and Tommy John surgeries.

“Before I hand it over to next inductee, I’d be remiss if I did not talk about Tommy John. I’ve been given an opportunity as one of the only players, the only one right now, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame with Tommy John Surgery. It’s an epidemic. It’s something that is affecting our game. It’s something that I thought would cost me my career, but thanks to Dr. James Andrews and all those before him, performing the surgery with such precision has caused it to be almost a false-read, like a band-aid you put on your arm.

I want to encourage the families and parents that are out there that this is not normal to have a surgery at 14 and 15 years old. That you have time, that baseball is not a year-round sport. That you have an opportunity to be athletic and play other sports. Don’t let the institutions that are out there running before you guaranteeing scholarship dollars and signing bonuses that this is the way….

I want to encourage you, if nothing else, know that your children’s passion and de-sire to play baseball is something that they can do without a competitive pitch. Every throw a kid makes today is a competitive pitch. They don’t go outside, they don’t have fun, they don’t throw enough — but they’re competing and maxing out too hard, too early, and that’s why we’re having these problems. Please, take care of those great future arms.”

I agree 100%

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• Here is a starting point for a dataset I have wanted to put together for a while, the return times for various injuries. I started with just a few requests today, but if you want more, please feel free request more in the comments.

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• Over the weekend,s reports have really been slowly coming in on the status of several players so make sure to check out the spreadsheet at the end.

• Chad Bettis is on the DL with an inflamed elbow. It seems like more information will be available soon on the injury.

• Chase Anderson was placed on the DL because he has been pitching horribly with an inflamed tricep. This DL trip totally looks to be a phantom DL trip.

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• No real injury news has been released over the All-Star break so far. I did though add a few status updates to the spreadsheet. Today, I am going to focus on the some updated PAIN and HURT reports.

HURT (Hitter’s Under-performance from Recent Trauma) Rankings (introduction/explanation) :

Any player with a HURT value over 100 (red) has the traits of a batter playing through an injury.

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• Well, I am back from my vacation and ready to dive into some injury news. I may be brief on some players as some news on them is almost two weeks old. Make sure to check the spreadsheet for the latest information. Today, I will be heavy on belated news and on Thursday, I will run some my PAIN and HURT reports since not as many players expect to get hurt over the All-Star break.

• Steven Matz will be out for over a month with a torn lat muscle. He will not throw at all for three weeks and then will need to build up his strength.

Matz will miss his scheduled start Sunday against the D-backs and refrain from throwing for three weeks.

It may take him another 3 weeks to get back up to speed. Don’t be surprised if it is late August or early September when he finally rejoins the Mets.

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• Heads up, I am off for a long vacation in the Rockies with limited to no internet access, so no MASH Reports next week.

Today is “Activate Your Injured Pitcher from the DL” Day.

• The big name coming off the DL will be Jose Fernandez. Players coming back from Tommy John surgeries usually struggles with command when they return. At the Hardball Times, I reported the following:

The first season back from Tommy John is by far the worst for the pitcher, with all major stats headed in the wrong direction. By the second year, most stats have stabilized, except strikeouts. It’s not surprising to see strikeouts decline, since velocity is also declining.

Besides a drop in production, Fernandez will likely have his innings limited.

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• Dustin Pedroia was just placed on the DL with a strained hamstring. Currently, there is no news on a possible return date.

• Freddie Freeman was eventually forced to the DL because of his bruised wrist. He could be out for as long as two months.

While the Braves and Freeman were comforted that Monday’s MRI exam showed no structural damage, there is uncertainty regarding how long he will be sidelined with the bone bruise. The veteran first baseman would be eligible for activation July 3. But as of Tuesday, it would be optimistic to assume he could return on that date.

“We’ve had a couple of those [bone bruises] and it takes a while,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.

The Braves filled Freeman’s roster spot by recalling Joey Terdoslavich, who was sidelined for nearly two months after he suffered a bone bruise when he landed awkwardly on his left wrist during a March 21 Grapefruit League game.

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• Freddie Freeman will have an MRI today to see what exactly is wrong with his wrist which has cost him to miss four straight games.

“[My wrist] is not worse, it’s just not getting better,” Freeman said. “I really don’t have an answer until I can maybe get an X-ray or an MRI. I just want to know what is wrong.”

Freeman is expected to undergo an MRI on Monday, before the Braves travel to Washington, D.C., for a three-game series against the Nationals that begins on Tuesday.

• Jered Weaver is on the DL in with an inflamed hip.

Weaver allowed four earned runs over 5 2/3 innings in a loss to the A’s on Saturday, but he said the hip injury did not have any effect on his performance. He has given up 19 runs in his last four starts, all losses.

Well, at least we will know he will continue to suck once he comes back since the injury wasn’t causing the loss in production.

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