MASH Report (6/30/14)

• Albert Pujols is hurt … again.

He disclosed after Sunday’s game that he has played with a swollen lymph node in his left groin since Wednesday.

The Angels did not send Pujols to a doctor. Pujols said the team athletic trainers considered the condition more of an infection than an injury, even with what he said was a gland swollen to the size of a golf ball.

Talk about TMI. With baseball, stating it is groin injury is just fine. No more gory details are needed. But since the Angels gave out the unwanted information, he may have to deal with the swelling for a couple of weeks after looking up the symptoms.

Painful lymph nodes are generally a sign that your body is fighting an infection. The soreness usually goes away in a couple days, without treatment. The lymph node may not return to its normal size for several weeks.

His owners may look for a replacement for the next couple of weeks. In most cases, owners are just going to have to ride through the pain also.

• Both Hanley Ramirez and David Wright just need to take some time off to get near 100% healthy. Both have been dealing with shoulder issues, but Hanley has also dealing with a calf and finger issue. With the All-Star break coming up, they could be given a couple weeks to get healed before the final couple of months as their teams battle for a post season spot.

• Brandon Belt my be activated as soon as tomorrow.

Bochy didn’t rule out Belt playing for the Giants on Tuesday against the Cardinals, but he said he’s not expecting that quickly of a return.

• All indication point to Bryce Harper being activated today. And he was.

• Tyler Skaggs could be activated tomorrow.

• CC Sabathia made his first minor league rehab start.

Sabathia gave up two runs on three hits and a walk while striking out two batters over 2 1/3 innings for Class A Advanced Tampa. He threw 37 pitches, 24 of them for strikes, with his fastball sitting consistently at 87-89 mph and touching 90 mph.

The velocity puts him right where he was earlier in the season.

• Taijuan Walker will be starting for the Mariners today. Some reports have him coming off the DL today. He has not been on the DL since June 10th …  he has just been assigned to the AAA team. I liked the move, at least from a fantasy angle, of keeping him in AAA until 100% healthy. Reports have him at 96 mph which is inline with his previous velocity numbers.

Walker 96 twice in a row. Best velocity thus far

— Jason A. Churchill (@ProspectInsider) June 25, 2014

He is probably a must start in all but the shallowest of leagues where owners may be able to afford to evaluate him for one start.

• Justin Turner is on the DL with a strained hamstring. No big deal, but I liked this quote from Mattingley

Manager Don Mattingly said the hope is that Turner’s absence won’t be an extended one.
“We’re just hopeful it’s not one of those two-month hammies,” he said. “He came in actually decent today. It’s not one of those where he can’t walk at all.”

I really don’t know the average and mean time for returns so its time for a quick query. I divided up position players and pitchers who had strained hamstrings, but ended up finding out I didn’t need to. The average days for return for position players was 30 days with a median value of 21 days. For pitchers, it was an average of 30 days and median of 22 days.

Here is each group divided up by 15 day intervals.

Hitters

Days Missed	% of Total	Count
15 or less	26%	22
16 to 30	38%	33
31 to 45	21%	18
46 or more	15%	13

Pitchers

Days Missed	% of Total	Count
15 or less	14%	5
16 to 30	54%	19
31 to 45	11%	4
46 or more	20%	7

Basically, a  strained hamstring usually means it takes about three weeks to heal once the player is placed on the DL.

• For the insane person starting Jhoulys Chacin know he is unable to loosen up his arm before starts. The effects can be seen by a drop in his velocity.

He will probably be unplayable this season, even on the road.

• Shane Victorino is dealing with back discomfort. The Red Sox expect him being back this season which really means there is a chance he may miss the rest of the season. I would keep my distance from him.

• Stuart Wallace at Beyond The Boxscore looked in-depth at Evan Gattis and his rhomboid muscle.

• Tony Cingrani on the AAA disabled list with an unreported strained shoulder.

“It was kind of news to us when he got down there and had the shoulder issue,” manager Bryan Price said.
Cingrani hasn’t always been forthcoming with injuries, as shown last season, when he didn’t disclose a back injury for a couple of weeks before going on the DL in August.

Moved to the bullpen shortly before his demotion, Cingrani was 2-8 with a 4.55 ERA in 13 games — including 11 starts — for the Reds before being sent to Louisville to get back his command. He had yet to pitch for the Bats.

“If there’s an issue with his shoulder, we’d certainly like to rectify it and get him back to throwing the ball the way he can, because he could really help us,” Price said.

As stated, it was not the first time he hid and injury.

• Justin Masterson has been dealing with a knee injury since the season’s start.

Masterson, the Indians’ No. 1 starter, will miss his scheduled start Sunday at Safeco Field because of soreness in his right knee. He said he’s been dealing with it since his second start of the season. That would be 16 starts ago.
“It started after my second start of the season,” said Masterson, the Indians’ ace, who hasn’t pitched like an ace this year.

You don’t say. Velocity is down ~2.5 mph. Zone% is down from 51.4% to 47.0%. Nice to finally know why he was near the top of the last PAIN Report.

Fastball Velocity Watch for Pitchers Returning From the DL

• Gerrit Cole’s average fastball velocity looked fine.

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