MASH Report (11/5/15)

• Curtis Granderson just had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb.

Granderson underwent surgery this week at the Hospital for Special Surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb, less than a week after swatting three home runs in World Series play.

Granderson, 34, injured his thumb sliding into a base in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He wore a wrap on it for Game 4, vowing that it would not affect him for the World Series.

• Brett Gardner played through a wrist injury from as early as April 13th.

Cockrell said that he believed the trouble could have started with an April 13 hit-by-pitch in a game at Baltimore, followed by similar injuries to the same area.

“That was something that he battled all year long, and then he was hit again repetitively two or three different times on or very near the initial hit by pitch,” Cockrell said. “I know that that bothered him off and on the entire year.”

The injury didn’t seem to bother him as his stats were similar to his 2014 numbers:

Year, HR, SB, AVG
2014: 17, 21, .256
2015: 16, 20, .259

• David Wright’s production and playing seem totally up in the air because of his bad back.

Wright, only 32, was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, an injury that compresses the nerves in the lower back. Surgery could be career-ending and thus far the Mets captain and seven-time All-Star third baseman has been able to avoid that. In its stead, he has developed a rou-tine of stretching and exercise that has allowed him to play every day.

There have been good days and bad ones, living with the pain since he returned Aug. 24 in Philadelphia and hit a home run. Wright said that during the stretch run and postseason, the pain wasn’t severe enough for him to ask out of the lineup.

Owning Wright will require a backup option. I just can’t see myself relying on his production.

• Shane Greene is finally throwing after mid-season surgery.

Greene had surgery to fix what Tigers head athletic trainer Kevin Rand called a pseudoaneurysm in the circumflex artery in his throwing shoulder. As Greene explained on Twitter, the issue was causing blood clots in his index and middle fingers. With blood flow curtailed, Greene suffered from numbness in his fingers. Greene left a promising start at St. Louis after five scoreless innings with numbness in his right ring finger, but that was diagnosed as ulnar neuritis.

Greene didn’t miss a start in that stretch, but his pitching began to deteriorate. He was optioned to Triple-A Toledo in June, made five starts in a Mud Hens uniform, rejoined the Tigers in mid-July for about a month, then made two more starts for the Hens before a recurrence landed him on the Major League disabled list. An ensuing examination revealed the aneurysm symptoms.

• Enrique Hernandez had minor surgery on his shoulder and expects to be 100% by spring training.

Dodgers utilityman Enrique Hernandez underwent an “arthroscopic debridement” of his right shoulder on Wednesday and is expected to be fully recovered by Spring Training, according to the club.

•  Jesse Hahn, Kendall Graveman and Chris Bassitt are expected to start spring training with a clean bill of health.

That Hahn, 26, will enter Spring Training healthy and with an opportunity to build upon that “is a huge relief,” he said. This coming from a pitcher who missed the 2011 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery while in the Rays’ organization.

• Right-handers Kendall Graveman and Chris Bassitt, who also endured injuries during their first season in Oakland, are also expected to enter camp with a clean bill of health.

• A quartet of White Sox players, Tyler Flowers, Micah Johnson, Adam Eaton, and Rob Brantly, all had off season surgery, but should be ready to begin working out around December 1st.

• Injuries (and the decision to not get them fixed) have forced Cliff Lee out of the game.

The Red players have had updates since the last report. Click on the “Date” for a link to go to the latest article on the player.