MASH Report (2/18/13)
Recent injury data
• Lance Berkman is at 80% after two off season knee surgeries. The team wants him at 100% before he joins the team. He could easiliy miss at least a couple of weeks at the beginning of the season.
• Ricky Romero’s knee and elbow are feeling better this season after a couple of off season surgeries. He definitely showed signs of a possible injury last season. His average fastball speed dropped from an average around 93 mph in early 2011 to just above 91 mph at the end of 2012.
Also, he has had more and more issues being able to keep the ball in the strike zone over his career.
Season: Zone% (pfx)
2009: 49.4%
2010: 48.7%
2011: 47.2%
2012: 46.2%
In 2012, he BB% jumped to 12.7%. It will be interesting to see how the surgeries affect his 2013 performance.
• Johan Santana is throwing off the mound and hopes to be ready by opening day. We’ll see if he is over his back, ankle, shoulder, pectoral and/or elbow issues of the past 5 years.
• Matt Garza was sidelined while throwing batting practice for a strained lat. He reported his elbow, which cost him 2 months last season, feels fine.
• Jaime Garcia’s shoulder is fine after deciding to rehabilitate it instead of having off season surgery. I am not a fan of just rehab. I could see him have shoulder issues in the near future.
• Pablo Sandoval is fat. I am not sure how much of an issue is the weight. Here are the peak offensive seasons using wOBA for some big boned players who were between 5’7″ and 6’1″.
Name: Age at peak offensive season
Greg Luzinski: 26
Bob Hamelin: 26
Cecil Fielder: 26
Prince Fielder: 27
Kirby Puckett: 28
Mo Vaughn: 28
Matt Stairs: 29
Luis Sojo: 29
Vinny Castilla: 30
John Kruk: 31
Kevin Mitchell: 32
Tony Gwynn: 34
The peak ages averaged out at 28.8. With Sandoval heading into his age 26 season, his weight doesn’t seem to be an issue when looking at short heavy players from the past. Don’t let his weight be an issue this season.
• Mike Trout is not fat.
• Delmon Young will likely miss time to start the season. The big playing time winners will be Domonic Brown and Darin Ruf. The pair will likely be the starting right and left fielders for the Phillies on opening day.
• Mike Pelfrey says he is on track to be ready by opening day. He would be pitching 11 months after having TJS. I don’t see any reason to roster except as a spot starter in a deep or AL-only league.
• Mike Napoli’s hip has not gotten worse in a whole 2 weeks. Time to hold a party.
• Mat Gamel tweaked his surgically repaired knee which kept him out for most of the 2012 season. He was to play 1B while Corey Hart is out because of knee surgery also. The Brewers are taking a wait and see with him and owners should also. A clearer picture of how this injury will shake out will become clearer in a day or two.
Update: Gamel is done for the year. Hunter Morris looks to be the new 1B while Hart is out (h/t to dockmarm)
• Andrew Cashner has moved up his time table for returning from May to opening day.
• Edwar Cabrera (shoulder impingement) and Josh Tomlin (TJS) were both officially placed on the 60-day D.L.
• Albert Pujols is feeling fine and taking it slow after off season knee surgery.
• John Danks threw is first team bullpen session after having surgery last year to repare damage to his rotator cuff and biceps.
• J.A. Happ (broken foot) and Casey Janssen (shoulder) both appear to be back on track for the regular season after each had off season surgery.
• Everett Teaford’s shoulder is not 100%. If wouldn’t matter if he was healed, he is just not a realistic fantasy option.
Player Return Timetables
| Name | Injury | Injury/Surgery Date | Early Return Date | Later Return date | Status | Source(s) |
| Scott Baker | TJS | 4/17/12 | Late March | May | Throwing off mound | (1) |
| Grant Balfour | Knee | 2/14/13 | Late March | Middle April | Rest | (1) |
| Brandon Beachy | TJS | 6/21/12 | Mid June | Mid June | Playing Catch | (1) |
| Lance Derkman | Knee | 10/1/12 | Late April | Mid March | Working out | (1) |
| Jeremy Bonderman | TJS | 04/24/12 | Late March | Late March | Healthy | (1) |
| Tim Byrdak | Shoulder Surgery | 07/01/12 | Early July | Early July | Bullpen Sessions | (1) |
| Edwar Cabrera | Shoulder | 08/01/12 | Mid March | Unknown | Unknown | (1) |
| Chris Carpenter | Nerve | 02/05/13 | September | Retire | Rest | (1) |
| Andrew Cashner | Thumb laceration | 1/25/13 | Late March | May | Rest | (1) |
| Carl Crawford | TJS | 8/23/12 | Late April | Early March | Throwing | (1) |
| Scott Diamond | Elbow Surgery | 10/1/12 | Early April | Early May | Unknown | (1) |
| Kyle Drabek | TJS | 6/19/12 | Mid Season | Mid Season | Unknown | (1) |
| Danny Duffy | TJS | 6/13/12 | Late May/Early June | All Star Game | Playing Catch | (1) |
| Neftali Feliz | TJS | 8/1/12 | July | August | Playing Catch | (1) |
| Frank Francisco | Elbow | 2/14/13 | April | Unknown | Rest | (1) |
| Corey Hart | Right knee surgery | 1/26/13 | Late April | Late May | Rest | (1) |
| Daniel Hudson | TJS | 7/9/12 | July | July | Playing Catch | (1) |
| Drew Hutchison | TJS | 08/08/12 | August | October | Rehabilitation | (1) |
| Derek Jeter | Fractured Left Ankle | 10/1/12 | Late March | Late March | Fielding | (1) |
| Ryan Kalish | Shoulder Surgery | 1/25/13 | Early April | Unknown | Rest | (1) |
| Matt Kemp | Shoulder | 8/1/12 | Late March | Late March | Light Training | (1) |
| Colby Lewis | Elbow Surgery | 7/1/12 | Late May | July | Throwing | (1) |
| Francisco Liriano | Broken humerus | 12/1/12 | Early April | Late May | Rest | (1) |
| Cory Luebke | TJS | 5/23/12 | July | July | Unknown | (1) |
| Ryan Madson | TJS | 04/11/12 | April | May | Rest | (1) |
| Nick Masset | Shoulder Surgery | 09/07/12 | Unknown | Unknown | Throwing | (1) |
| Brian McCann | Torn labrum | 7/4/12 | Mid April | May | Running and throwing | (1) |
| Logan Morrison | Knee | 9/1/12 | Late March | Late April | Light Training | (1) |
| Charlie Morton | TJS | 06/21/12 | June | Unknown | Throwing | (1) |
| Juan Oviedo | TJS | 09/06/12 | September | 2014 | Rest | (1) |
| Felipe Paulino | TJS | 7/3/12 | Early July | Early July | Unknown | (1) |
| Carl Pavano | Ruptured spleen | 1/25/13 | Late March | Mid April | Rest | (1) |
| Mike Pelfrey | TJS | 05/01/12 | Late March | Late March | Throwing | (1) |
| Michael Pineda | Shoulder Surgery | 5/1/12 | June | Early July | Rest | (1) |
| Alex Rodriguez | Hip surgery | 1/16/13 | Early July | 2014 season | Rest | (1) |
| CC Sabathia | Bone Spur | 10/1/12 | Late March | Late March | Throwing | (1) |
| Johan Santana | Back | Late April | Middle March | Throwing off mound | (1) | |
| George Sherrill | TJS | 5/1/11 | Late April | May | Bullpen Sessions | (1) |
| Joakim Soria | TJS | 4/2/12 | Late May | Early June | Playing Catch | (1) |
| Eric Surkamp | TJS | 07/24/12 | Late July | September | Unknown | |
| Tsuyoshi Wada | TJS | 05/11/12 | Late March | Early July | Unknown | (1)(2) |
| Josh Tomlin | TJS | 08/22/12 | August | 2014 | Rest | (1) |
| Joe Wieland | TJS | 07/27/12 | Early August | 2014 | Catch | (1) |
| Brian Wilson | TJS | 4/19/12 | Unknown | Unknown | Not ready to pitch | (1) |
| Randy Wolf | TJS | 10/30/12 | 2014 | 2014 | Rest | (1) |
| Delmon Young | Right ankle | 10/1/12 | Mid April | Early May | Rest | (1) |
Players Returning From Injury
Information will be added as it becomes available.
Players Playing Through Injuries
| Name | Injury | Source |
| Hanley Ramirez | Shoulder | (1) |
Here is the list of players who should exceed their power projections for 2013:
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. New additions: Matt LaPorta and Howie Kendrick
Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.
Gamel tore his ACL — out for the year atmlb.com/UzAvVC
Thanks, it is just magical. Every time I publish this report, another injury happens. Last week, I was able to sneak Blalfour in without getting caught.
I read an article a few days ago saying Espinosa is playing through a torn rotator cuff he hurt last September which might explain his bad September and post season. .148/.219/.227 from September 9th on. He said it isnt an issue but is there reason to worry?
I would not worry. For his injury, he had plenty of time to rest.
I skimmed it and saw Prince* Fielder, Kirby* Puckett, Vinny* Castilla, and Lance Berkman* spelled wrong… come on now.
Yea, those were pretty bad.
Wada is throwing off a half-mound. http://www.masnsports.com/school_of_roch/2013/02/wada-throws-off-half-mound.html
Am I the only one that has the Authors and Categories colums covering up part of the Time table chart? I can’t see the colum on the right of later return date and most of the sourse colum. Is there a way to get around it and/or can this be changed in the future?
Thanks, I appreciate these post a lot.
What browser are you using?
Also, does the image cause the same issue?
Internet Explorer, but I think when I am on my laptop at home using Firefox the same thing happens. I can check when I get home.
No the only problem is with the two columns labed authors and categories. They just go over your chart but the rest of the article is fully intact.
Working fine on Firefox now. Must have just been an internet explorer problem.
That’s happening to me too, IE8.
Im looking for some insight on carlos quentin and thought this would be the place took since he ended the year hurt and had off season surgery. any chance you can include something on him in your next update, if not sooner?
Not much change from when I looked at him last week. Looks like best shape of his life:
http://www.sportsoutwest.com/2013/02/15/padres-of-carlos-quentin-reports-in-great-shape/
thanks Jeff. its funny that when I goto rotoworld and rotowire I couldnt find a thing on him since last october and you just pulled that right out of your hat. great job.
I was buying the Lance Derkman thing for a second
Just wanted to throw out a quick thank you to Jeff for this series of articles. Having all of the injury news in one place is a massive help in getting ready for my fantasy draft.
This is, by far, my favorite article to catch up on while preparing for the season. Very useful information without a lot of fluff.
Great job, mate.