MASH Report (3/14/16)

• It is an extra-long MASH Report today because I spent last week in Costa Rica. Much of the older injury news I will just give a small mention.

• Jhonny Peralta will be out 10-12 weeks with a torn thumb ligament.

It’s uncertain when Peralta will be able to return to normal baseball activities, but it likely won’t be for at least two months or more.

“I haven’t heard an exact date that I feel comfortable passing around, but that’s been kind of the earmark date, 10-12 weeks,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said Wednesday, prior to the Cardinals’ 7-2 loss to the Mets at Tradition Field. “There’s been some people who said even less, so we’ll wait and hear what the doctor says, when he thinks he can get back into activity and when he could likely be back to play.”

• The Phillies Aaron Altherr could miss the rest of the season with a torn wrist tendon.

Altherr will have surgery on Wednesday in Philadelphia to repair a torn tendon sheath in the wrist. The Phillies said Altherr, who projected to be one of their Opening Day outfielders, will miss four to six months.

“We’re hopeful he’ll be back before the end of the season,” general manager Matt Klentak said.

• Some news is finally coming out on Devon Travis who had November shoulder surgery. June 1st looks like a possible return date for him.

There is no timetable for Travis to begin hitting or resume full baseball activities, but every small step has to be considered a positive, and he’s doing his best to remain optimistic about an eventual return to the field. The good news here is that he is progressing, even if it’s a slow process.

Travis was originally expected to be out until late May or early June, but that’s a tentative timeframe at best. The reality is that no one really knows how long it will take for Travis to re-turn to form, but even when he’s back on the field, the native of Florida will have to prove his shoulder issues are a thing of the past.

• Cameron Maybin will miss four to six weeks with a fractured wrist.

• Matt Wieters is going to miss at least couple days with a sore elbow.

X-rays taken Saturday on Wieters’ elbow were negative. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2014. The Orioles still do not plan to take an MRI, although manager Buck Showalter said that could change if the condition doesn’t improve as hoped over the next two or three days.

“We’re going to try to let any problems he may have felt dissipate — whether it was any soreness and stiffness — and then see where we are in a couple days, see what the next step is,” Showalter said before Baltimore’s game against Minnesota on Sunday at the CenturyLink Sports Complex.

Sounds like no reason to write him off already, but he is going to need to show some improvement soon. If not, I am worried the injury could linger longer.

• Matt Cain may not be ready to join the rotation by Opening Day, but could be ready soon after it.

Though conventional wisdom would indicate that Matt Cain lacks enough time to build enough arm strength to enable him to join the Giants’ season-opening rotation, all parties concerned remain willing to evaluate and re-evaluate the right-hander’s progress daily. Thus, Cain and the Giants continue to hope he’ll be ready to occupy the fourth or fifth starter’s spot without delay.

• A sprained knee for Corey Seager may put him on the DL to start the season.

Dodgers rookie shortstop Corey Seager will rest his sprained left knee ligament one to two weeks before resuming baseball activity, said manager Dave Roberts, who didn’t rule out the possibility of the rookie shortstop opening the season on the disabled list.

• Lance McCullers is dealing with a sore shoulder and could miss the season’s start.

McCullers, 22, said he plans to take a couple of days of rest and recovery, but said there’s no timetable as far as getting on the mound. He said it was too early to determine if he would be ready for the start of the season, but considering he would have to get his pitch count built up, he could be facing a tight timeframe.

• Eduardo Rodriguez will also probably start the season on the DL because of a dislocated knee cap.

• Jered Weaver and his Jamie Moyer fastball are off to see a neck specialist to find out what is wrong with Weaver’s spine. From the same article, C.J. Wilson will most likely start the season the DL with shoulder tendinitis.

• Jarrod Parker re-broke a bone in his elbow putting him back at square one of the rehab process.

An MRI exam revealed that Parker refractured the medial epicondyle in his right elbow, the same injury that occurred last May 8 while Parker was rehabbing from his second career Tommy John surgery. Parker has not pitched in a Major League game since 2013, and his 2016 season is now likely over, while his future is once again in question.

• Danny Hultzen’s shoulder is hurting … again.

• Aaron Loup will start the season on the DL with elbow discomfort.

• Eno Sarris talked to Kyle Boddy at Driveline Baseball about detecting pitcher injuries. One take-away from the article was the supposed link between spin rate and injuries.

From that discovery flowed others. “Spin-rate changes are actually one of the best predictors of injury,” pointed out Boddy, a fact that was confirmed as a known within many parts of the baseball community by multiple sources. At Driveline, pitchers have their spin rates monitored constantly for the earliest signs of unhealthy fatigue.

Right now FanGraphs doesn’t have the Trackman spin rate data which is more accurate than the Pitchf/x spin rates. I am trying to find the data and report any major changes for individual pitchers.

• Mike Reinold recently wrote about some of the injury issues with using weighted baseballs for velocity training. Kyle Boddy responded to some of Mikes points.

• The Cardinals are looking at the medical front for some new advantages.

We embrace a specific testing procedure paired with a progressive treatment strategy to create a philosophy unique to the Cardinals organization. In place of ‘Bigger … Faster … Stronger,’ we strive to create ‘antifragile’ men who move efficiently with athleticism.”

• Here are the pitchers who have missed time because of any elbow issues and if they had Tommy John surgery.

• Finally, here is a list of pitcher velocities from spring training. I am a bit behind filling in the data, but check back in a day or two for some more names.

Players on the 2016 DL

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.

Players possibly on the DL in 2016