MASH Report (5/19/16) With New PAIN Rankings

Carlos Gomez is on the DL to work out some mechanical issues with bruised ribs.

Astros manager A.J. Hinch said prior to the series opener at U.S. Cellular Field that Gomez was kneed in the ribs diving back into second base during a play in Sunday’s loss in Boston and informed the team on the flight to Chicago that he didn’t feel well.

“We talked to our doctors and had him evaluated, and it’s in the best interest to everybody to get him healthy and not play short,” Hinch said. “He wasn’t going to play in this series based on the injury, so we felt no need to keep him here as a bench player that wasn’t available.”

I bet he either had this injury for a while or it is totally made up.

Geovany Soto will be out a few months after tearing the meniscus in his knee.

Soto’s right knee bothered him a bit during Tuesday’s Freeway Series game at Dodger Stadium, but he showed up to the ballpark planning to play Wednesday. His knee then locked up while he rode the elliptical early in the afternoon, then again as he walked to the trainer’s room, prompting an MRI that showed surgery was necessary.

I am estimating he will miss a couple of months, it might even be a bit longer since he is a catcher and his knees get suck a workout.

•  The Angels also placed Daniel Nava and Cory Rasmus, both with strained groins, on the DL.

The Angels’ disabled list grew to nine players on Tuesday, with left fielderDaniel Nava and long reliever Cory Rasmus each nursing groin strains that will keep them out a couple of weeks.

It seems to be ridiculous with the number of Angels on the DL. It’s like the players are just bringing up lingering injuries all at once. What is going on in the rehab room? Fried chicken and beer? Breaking Bad marathon? The Angels may seem to have the most players on the DL right now, but after running the numbers, three teams have more currently on the DL.

Total Players on DL (5/19/16)
Team On toDL Off the DL On the DL Now
Los Angeles Dodgers 21 7 14
Oakland Athletics 12 1 11
Atlanta Braves 13 2 11
Los Angeles Angels 12 2 10
Colorado Rockies 13 4 9
Milwaukee Brewers 11 3 8
Cincinnati Reds 13 5 8
Philadelphia Phillies 8 0 8
New York Yankees 8 1 7
Texas Rangers 9 2 7
St. Louis Cardinals 8 1 7
San Diego Padres 10 3 7
Miami Marlins 8 1 7
Kansas City Royals 9 2 7
Chicago Cubs 9 3 6
Tampa Bay Rays 6 0 6
Toronto Blue Jays 8 3 5
Cleveland Indians 9 4 5
Seattle Mariners 6 1 5
Boston Red Sox 6 2 4
Detroit Tigers 9 5 4
Arizona Diamondbacks 3 0 3
Chicago White Sox 6 3 3
Baltimore Orioles 5 2 3
Minnesota Twins 7 4 3
San Francisco Giants 3 1 2
Houston Astros 6 4 2
Pittsburgh Pirates 5 3 2
New York Mets 4 3 1
Washington Nationals 4 3 1

Seth Maness is on the DL with a partially torn UCL.

“They knew nothing about it,” Maness acknowledged. “They thought I was healthy. I was keeping it, not hidden, but I was trying to go. That’s always how my mentality has been. I don’t like being hurt. I like being on the field. I want to contribute. But I wasn’t getting the job done, and it was hurting the team. I thought I could work through it, but it just wasn’t happening.”

That exam showed a slight tear in Maness’ ulnar collateral ligament that general manager John Mozeliak said should heal with rest and rehab. However, there is still no clear timeframe for that recovery.

“Surgery is not something that has even been mentioned,” Mozeliak said. “Now we’ll basically allow the next couple weeks to happen, let the anti-inflammatory [medication] do [its] job, and then ultimately revisit that and then determine what the next step looks like.”

It is a little sadistic, but I love seeing news like this to have test cases where a pitcher pitches through an injury. Maness had the signs of a possible injury from the two main indicators, Zone% (down 3%) and velocity (down 2.2 mph). As seen below, his PAIN value of 182 (values over 100 are the sign of a possible injury) was the 6th highest (min 200 pitches).

Garrett Richards is trying to work his way through his partially torn UCL. I can sort of see the rationale. If he has Tommy John surgery now, he would be back sometime around August 2017 if the recovery goes smooth. He can try to see if rehabilitation works until the season ends like Masahiro Tanaka did. If the rehab plan doesn’t work, he gets the operation then and still misses 2017. Then he has 18 months to get ready for the start of the 2018 season.

Josh Phegley finally went on the DL after missing several games with a sore knee.

• Brandon Morrow experienced another setback in his attempt to comeback with the Padres. He isn’t officially on the DL, but his chances of throwing in the majors are now at slim-to-none.

• The Cubs signed Joe Nathan who is coming back from Tommy John surgery.

The Cubs added some potential second-half depth for the bullpen on Tuesday, signing pitcher Joe Nathan to a Major League contract. Nathan won’t be joining the team immediately as he was placed on the 60-day disabled list. The right-hander is continuing his rehab from Tommy John surgery, which he underwent in April 2015.

Nathan, 41, will report to the Cubs’ complex in Mesa, Ariz., to continue his rehab. He wasn’t expected to be game-ready until July. He will make the Major League minimum, and the salary will be prorated. There also are performance clauses in his contract.

He is not officially on the 60-day DL according to the transactions log at MLB.com (the log does show him being signed). The team doesn’t have to put him on the DL depending on how they structure his contract. I don’t expect him to have much of a positive impact for the Cubs, but maybe.

Fastball velocity reading for pitchers returning from the DL

• Mike Bolsinger’s average fastball velocity is fine.

PAIN (Pitcher Abuse INdex) Rankings (introduction/explanation)

Any player with a PAIN value over 100 (red) has the traits of a pitcher likely to be hurt

Comparing 2015 to 2016 (min 1 pitches in each season)

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.





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.

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Mondo
7 years ago

Is Tyson Ross still alive? If so, any idea when he might be seen again?

Mondo
7 years ago
Reply to  Jeff Zimmerman

thx!