MASH Report (1/28/13)

Today, I will focus on players who played through injuries in 2012 and how those players performed compared to their projections. I found players, who played through injuries, over performed their their projected power numbers the next season. From my last year’s FG+ article:

If a player persevered through an injury during the season, their overall stats probably suffered. Projections don’t know if a player played through injuries, though. The player’s projections might have been better if the player had simply gone on the disabled list to recover instead of trying to play through pain.

In conclusion, I found the following differences:

Stat: Difference from projection
AVG: -0.001
OBP: 0.000
SLG: +0.013
ISO: +0.014

Then I identified 18 hitters (Jason Heyward, Chris Young, David Wright, Adam Dunn, Andre Ethier, Adam Lind, Alex Rios, Matt Holliday, Ryan Zimmerman, Michael Brantley, Franklin Gutierrez, Adrian Gonzalez, Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki, Rajai Davis, J.P. Arencibia, Denard Span, Scott Rolen) who played through injuries in 2011. Here is how the group performed according to their Marcel projections.

Stat: Difference from projection
AVG: +0.005
OBP: +0.001
SLG: +0.016
ISO: +0.011

The results were almost identical with the main factor depressed in the projections was power.

Throughout the 2012 season, I kept track of any report of a batter playing through an injury. Here is the list of players who should exceed their 2013 power projections because they played through injuries:

Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Howard, Cameron Maybin, Trevor Plouffe, Justin Upton, Paul Konerko, Dustin Pedroia, Luke Scott, Matt Kemp, Joey Votto, Mike Moustakas, Pablo Sandoval, Carl Crawford, Giancarlo Stanton, Jacoby Ellsbury, Evan Longoria, and Troy Tulowitzki

Recent injury data

 •  Free agent Carl Pavano was shoveling snow, fell and ruptured his spleen. There is so much wrong there, I don’t know where to start, but I will end with just stay away until he is healthy and has a job.

 •  Alex Rodriguez is likely lost for the year because of hip surgery. He may be worth a DL and stash in the last round or for a dollar or two. It is not worth paying any more.

•  Ryan Kalish is out again with more shoulder issues. Report are he will at least miss spring training. When back, he may platoon with Jonny Gomes in left field. The real news from this injury is more playing time for Gomes.

 •  Corey Hart will need knee surgery and be out until at least four months which puts his return at the end of May. Big winner here is his replacement Mat Gamel.

 •  Danny Espinosa reported a few days ago he had a torn rotator cuff over the last month of the season. During the season, he had an MRI and the shoulder injury was a bruised bone and inflamed shoulder socket. Before the injury he hit .258/.324/.420 and after the injury .171/.247/.271.

Player Return Timetables

Just some more additions to the tables. I will try to finish up all the TJS pitchers Thursday.

Name	Injury	Injury/Surgery Date	Early Return Date	Later Return date	Status	Source(s)
Joakim Soria	TJS	4/2/12	Late May	Early June	Playing Catch	(1)
Scott Baker	TJS	4/17/12	Start of Spring Training	Opening day	Throwing off mound	(1)
Brian Wilson	TJS	4/19/12	Unknown	Unknown	Not ready to pitch	(1)
Cory Luebke	TJS	5/23/12	July	July	Unknown	(1)
Danny Duffy	TJS	6/13/12	Late May/Early June	All Star Game	Playing Catch	(1)
Kyle Drabek	TJS	6/19/12	Mid Season	Mid Season	Unknown	(1)
Brandon Beachy	TJS	6/21/12	Mid June	Mid June	Playing Catch	(1)
Felipe Paulino	TJS	7/3/12	Late July	Late July	Unknown	(1)
Daniel Hudson	TJS	7/9/12	July	July	Playing Catch	(1)
Neftali Feliz	TJS	8/1/12	July	August	Playing Catch	(1)
Brian McCann	Torn labrum	7/4/05	Opening Day	Mid April	Running and throwing	(1)
Andrew Cashner	Thumb laceration	1/25/13	May	May	Rest	(1)
Francisco Liriano	Broken humerus	12/1/12	Early April	Late May	Rest	(1)
Carl Pavano	Ruptured spleen	1/25/13	Late March	Mid April	Rest	(1)
Carl Crawford	TJS	8/23/12	Early April	Unknown	Throwing	(1)
Alex Rodriguez	Hip surgery	1/16/13	Early July	2014 season	Rest	(1)
Michael Pineda	Shoulder Surgery	5/1/12	May	Early July	Rest	(1)
Ryan Kalish	Shoulder Surgery	1/25/13	Early April	Unknown	Rest	(1)
Corey Hart	Right knee surgery	1/26/13	Late May	Late May	Rest	(1)

Players Returning From Injury

Information will be added as it becomes available.

Players Playing Through Injuries

None know yet.