MASH Report (6/2/14)
• MUST READ: The American Sports Medicine Institute released a position statement on Tommy John injuries. Read the whole thing. Orders.
• Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher has two theories on the increase in Tommy John surgeries. The first:
He’s one of many who believes it’s bad for kids to play only baseball year-round, which often results in them putting too much stress on arms that have not yet matured.
The second one theory I have not heard before:
And just as importantly, Butcher says too many professional pitchers are throwing from the opposite side of the rubber (meaning, a right-hander throwing from the first-base side and a left-hander throwing from the third-base side).
Butcher has found that more than 30 of the pitchers who have undergone Tommy John surgery this year fit that description.
“Some guys do it because they feel like they’ll be in the strike zone more, they’ll have better command that way — there’s all sorts of different philosophies about it,” Butcher said. “But for me, if you’re on the opposite side of your throwing arm on the rubber, you are constantly pronating [Definition] your arm at a higher rate than if you are on the other side. There’s no leverage behind the baseball.
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Looks like another stat to track and it will nice little research project for me to do later on this year.
• Terry Francona gives us his take on pitchers throwing slower to prevent injuries.
So should pitchers just throw slower to prevent injury?
“You might not get hurt,” Francona said, “but you might not be in the big leagues.”
• Justin Orenduff talks about “The Million Dollar Arm” needing Tommy John surgery after only 136 IP.
There is no excuse for any pitcher needing Tommy John Surgery after 136 total innings pitched. Especially if you have months of training by experts in pitching in biomechanics. The demand you accrued on your throwing shoulder throughout your youth was minimal. You may have thrown the javelin as a young adolescent, and judging from the way you initially moved in your Million Dollar Arm contest, the way you naturally recruited your body to throw a baseball with force was far superior than how you are currently recruiting your body to do the same action.
• I will call this the best news possible on Carlos Beltran.
Carlos Beltran took batting practice from both sides of the plate on the field at Yankee Stadium on Friday, and the Yankees outfielder said that he was “relieved” to not feel any discomfort in his ailing right elbow.
Possibly no surgery, good news. And ….
Girardi said that Beltran, 37, would take batting practice again on Saturday and is expected to require at least a brief Minor League rehabilitation assignment before being available to help in the Majors. Girardi said that if Beltran comes back, he would probably be used more as a designated hitter in the early going.
… less chance of getting hurting while playing in the outfield. I am thinking of sending some feelers out in my leagues, which sadly compose of many RotoGraph writers, to find out if there is any interest in them trading him.
• Avisail Garcia hopes he will be playing again in 2014.
Garcia told MLB.com. “I’m looking forward to see if I have a chance to play this year. I don’t know yet. I have to keep working and see what happens.
“I’m positive. Hopefully I have a chance to play this year. So let’s see what happens. We never know.
From the same article, White Sox General Manager Rick Hahn states:
“He continues to work extremely hard, feels good, and is progressing nicely, which is great,” general manager Rick Hahn said of Garcia. “However, we remain committed to the recovery program [2015] and time frame as originally laid out and do not anticipate that changing.”
Again, I will keep state, always follow the managements return time frame, so I don’t expect to see Garcia in 2014.
• Johan Santana’s opt-out clause data (May 30th) has passed and he is not on the Orioles active roster. IMO, I think a deal has been worked out between the two parties, but it is not public yet. Santana should be ready to pitch in the majors mid-June.
• Jose Abreu will be activated from the DL today.
• Ryan Zimmerman plans on being activated tomorrow.
• For the owner hoping on Tom Gorzelanny to come save his fantasy team, I here to dash his hopes. Tom’s velocity is not up to past levels and he not be activated any time soon.
• It looks like the doctors were able to reattach Alex Guerrero’s ear. At least Olivo didn’t swallow it?
• Gabe Kapler writes about the injury advice he got while playing baseball.
Fastball Velocity Watch for Pitchers Returning From the DL
• Pedro Strop’s velocity is up for 2014, down from 2012.
• Joe Saunders velocity is up.
Number of Players on the DL
Players on the DL
(*) 15 Day Disabled List
(**) 60 Day Disabled List
(***) 7 Day Concussion List
(****) Free Agent
Red colored entries are updates since last report.
Major League Report
On DL
Minor League Report
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.
How do you view Ventura going forward? Can he really stay healthy is just a ticking time bomb?
Time bomb, I sort expect a large velo drop in his next start. I don’t think he will be gunning it as hard.
I dropped him in a 10 teamer, for what that’s worth… not worth the risk when you have plenty of solid options available.. but I’d keep him for now in deeper leagues, see how he does
I dropped him as well in my 12 team league. I think he is someone you have to keep an eye on just in case he does somehow bounce back, but I had no problem swapping him for Dallas Kuechel and moving on.
Beltran wasn’t doing all that good before he hit the DL. Will he come back more like last year’s Carlos Beltran or this year’s pre-DL Carlos Beltran?
I really have no idea, but he can probably be bought for pennies on the dollar.
Is there any chance Jesse Crain will return to the pen in June?
A chance, but I bet from what I have read, I bet he isn’t 100% until July.
Any concerns about Wil Myers and his wrist going forward? I know the Rays have been pretty mum so far in terms of actual info being released and we probably wont know more until Tuesday when he sees a hand specialist. That being said, he has been terrible through the first 2 months of the year and now will be coming back from a hand/wrist injury which can sometimes linger in hitters for awhile. Would Myers be someone you would consider trying to sell low on? I am trying to make room on my roster for Gregory Polanco and Myers seems the most obvious candidate to be cut.
I am guessing a re-draft league.
I would sell. It could linger and without full knowledge of it, it could take a while to fix.
I would get Polanco any way possible. If he gets called up, his value will sky rocket over Myers.
How do you get where on the rubber the pitcher throws from the pitchf/x data? Would you just look at righties with lefty-esque release points (and vice-versa) or is there a more accurate way to find where they stand in the rubber?
Probably a combo of video and Pitchf/x
I know literally nothing about hyperlinks, and am always amused at a Johan Santa appearance. However, is there any reason that this cannot be fixed? Is it done intentionally as a running joke? I don’t think I actually want it to be fixed, I’m just curious, that’s all.
Our auto link feature does Santa. I should just go back change it, but I like to keep the Santa legend alive.
Great article! Love the links … especially to the Million Dollar arm article.
You seem pretty positive about Beltran. Drop K Davis or Lind for him?
Better yet…let’s say Beltran comes back and Polanco is called up on 6/10. Who would you pick up?
Polanco. I think Davis (now with better plate discipline) and Ling may be a beit high. I could see Beltran’s owner worried about losing him for the whole year.
I’m in a H2H league so a big name coming off the DL in September could be huge for the playoffs. I have Gio coming of the DL next week and I’d like to replace him with one of the following. Which do you think makes the biggest impact late in the season:
Fielder
Harvey (pitching off the mound soon and wants to make 5-7 starts this year)
Nate Jones
Profar
I’d love to hear detailed thoughts (probably make a good MASH article!) if you have time.
Fielder is done for the year IIRC, even if he comes back he has had a generally poor year, three year decline and will be coming off a long lay off time. If Harvey makes starts he will be very rusty and probably not very good for a while. Do you have any other notable DL candidates? If not Fielder or Profar, I think.
Profar for sure is the best option. Wieters is another option.
As for pitchers, Sabathia and Morrow may be options who return in July.