MASH Report (1/24/13)

Welcome to the first installment of RotoGraphs’ M.A.S.H. Report. This season, I will be putting out 2 injury reports each week (Monday and Thursday afternoons) which will be a one stop shop on injured players. I will contain information like updates on recent injuries, disabled list movement and player return times. Each post will grow in size each week as I add more and more information. This post will be a portion of the size of it during the season. Also, nothing is set in stone and I open to improvements. If there is any information you want added, let me know.

Here is the current general outline of the data to be presented in each report:

1. Brief one- to two-sentence blurbs on recent injuries. Major injuries and their impacts will be covered in full length articles and linked here.
2. Return times and status of rehab for all players on the DL with link(s) to appropriate sourced article(s).
3. Tracking players’ stats once recovered from their injuries (fastball velocity, time to 1B speeds, HR/FB distance, Zone%).
4. At-risk players, mainly pitchers (low zone%, high # of walks, drop in velocity).
5. Players with nagging injuries, but not missing playing time or on the DL. This section focuses on players who may not be reaching their projections because of injuries. I found players who play through injuries under perform their projections, especially their power.

Recent Injury Data

 •  The news about Mike Napoli’s failed physical has finally come to light and it doesn’t look good. He has avascular necrosis in both hips. It is the same condition which sideline Bo Jackson. In an article at ESPN, Dr. Stephen Mikulak, a hip and knee specialist, states:

“He potentially could go on and heal from this and be perfectly fine.
There’s a 30 percent chance of being OK without doing anything. [If advanced], there’s a 70 percent chance there will be a progressive death of bone tissue that will cause the ball portion of the ball and socket joint to collapse. And a square peg in a round hole doesn’t work. He could develop arthritis and have a lot of pain. If the ball collapses, he could wind up needing hip replacement surgery [as Jackson did], or a resurfacing of the hip joints.
Usually, but not always, the hips are first affected, then other joints may follow,” according to information on the AVN website. “It can strike any bone or joint in the body. The bone tissue/joints actually die, just as heart muscle tissue dies from a heart attack.”

It will be interesting to see where he goes in drafts and for how much in auctions. I would be a buyer once my core team is set since I wouldn’t want to count on his production.

 •  Brian McCann is aiming to be back by opening day, but the Braves see the return pushed back at least a couple of weeks. It looks like he will likely miss some time at the beginning of the season.

 •  Francisco Liriano has a broken humerus and will not be able to pitch “early in the season”. Just stay away from rostering him in all but the deepest of leagues until some more information is available.

 •  Scott Elbert had surgery on his elbow and is expected to be out until the beginning of the season. He is pretty much a non-factor in fantasy baseball.

Player Return Timetables

Here are some of the pitchers who had Tommy John surgery last year:

Results From Returning Injured Players

Information will be added as it becomes available

Players Playing Through Injuries

No games going on, so no data. My next article will be on this topic looking at how hitters who played through injuries in 2011 and how they did in 2012. Also, I will look at some players who played through injuries in 2012 and should exceed their projections in 2013.

Again, let me know any other possible additions to the report.