Under The Knife 2/28/24
Saluting the King
Peter King is a hero of mine and he’s announced his retirement. He turned in his last MMQB - I know, but that’s how we all think of it - and rode off into the sunset. He deserves every bit of credit and a bust in Canton sooner rather than later. This column wouldn’t exist without Peter. Back in the heart of the Mark Prior story, I was taking a battering in the press and from readers. Peter took an hour out of his day at the Combine - valuable time, to be sure - and gave me a pep talk. I might have quit then and certainly would have changed direction, but his mentorship and just caring enough to talk helped me immensely.
There’s tales like this all over the place. We talk about coaching trees in football and his would be amazing. He pushed so many people up, helped so many people over, and picked people up when they were down. We could do with a lot more Peter Kings, but there’s only one. I hope he enjoys his retirement, has more dog walks and less deadlines, and that I am a fraction of the man he is. Tip o’ the cap.
Big things coming on Friday, if everything comes together as expected. For now, let’s get into the injuries:
JULIO RODRIGUEZ, OF SEA (inflamed hand)
Julio Rodriguez is the kind of player that’s so good, so fun, that any minor injury ends up a big story. People buy tickets to see this kind of guy play, so something like an inflamed hand shouldn’t be too problematic, unless you’re the one who bought tickets for the games he’s going to miss. It’s spring so that shouldn’t be an issue and the Mariners can be cautious in his return.
The inflammation is the results of … too many swings. Yes, it’s possible and two sources told me two very large numbers on the number of swings he’d been taking. Large in like almost mythical numbers, even for a hitting savant also known as a cage rat. There is too much of a good thing, especially if it leads to overuse injuries or imbalance/asymmetries.
The medical staff will work on the hand and the hitting coaches will pull the reign on his hitting volume in the short term. In the longer term, this doesn’t appear to be something that would change Rodriguez’s value at all. Even early drafts shouldn’t be concerned about this and it could be one of those things to bring up at an auction in hopes of saving a dollar on the big bid it will take to get him.
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