Under The Knife 4/25/22
What's The Rush?
Let’s get right to it, explaining injuries and how things work behind the scenes, since that’s as important to …
JACOB DEGROM, SP NYM (fractured scapula)
Most people picture baseball teams as this very efficient, very large organization. Billionaire owners snapping their fingers and making things happen with hundreds of employees ready to do their bidding. It’s just not true. Most organizations are relatively small, though it has grown a lot in the twenty years I’ve been doing this. Some analytics staffs are bigger than the entire front offices of teams back then. Just look at the Cubs offices and how they’ve grown, not just modernized.
The same is true for medical. In emergencies, things can happen fast, but even for Jacob deGrom, a lot of things can wait until Monday. It’s not that they don’t have doctors, the medical staff, coaches, and everyone else around, it’s that like anything, it’s tough to get everyone - especially consulting surgeons, who may be on the opposite coast - anywhere at the same time. If you schedule Zooms at your job, you get it. The more people, the more important, the harder it is, unless one of those billionaires drops down and makes something happen.
For deGrom, it’s simply not necessary. While the CT was done on Friday and likely read by a radiologist shortly after, nothing is going to change by Monday. Either deGrom continues on with the current progression or it changes, and that can happen after the weekend. DeGrom also has an MRI scheduled. Why both? The CT is better to assess bone (the stress reaction) and the MRI is better for soft tissue (likely the rotator cuff tendon near the reaction site.)
Remember, doctors have a lot of patients, in and out of baseball and in and out of sports. This week isn’t a big one for baseball, but don’t try scheduling one of the top docs, who are likely consulting on the NFL Draft, coming up Thursday. We’ll know more on deGrom soon, but there’s no chance he’s coming back before June, so take a deep breath, Mets fans. The fact that the Mets aren’t in a rush isn’t bad news.
TAIJUAN WALKER, SP NYM (strained shoulder)
There’s some good news on the Mets front. First, they’re winning and second, they’ll get Taijuan Walker back soon. Walker will throw a sim game on Monday and I’m told this will be more about gauging his endurance than seeing if he’s ready to pitch. The team is confident of the latter. I’m a bit concerned that the team doesn’t have data on his workload and know where he is, rather than guessing.
Walker’s last bullpen session was 45 pitchers, so 50-60 would be the guess, with a cap near that in his first outing. That’s below the 75-80 that most need to get through 5, so Walker would likely be a functional tandem with whoever gets bumped from the rotation at least once through the turns.
Walker is reportedly going to return on Saturday, bumping Trevor Williams. Williams may get sent to Triple-A, so the ‘tandem partner’ is a tougher read. Sean Read-Foley is a candidate, assuming his leg issues in his last outing were simply cramps. The Mets could go with a long bullpen, especially while the two extra men are out there.
Remember, come May, rosters shrink by two and that’s almost universally going to be two pitchers. We could see some unusual usage patterns as teams smoke ‘em while they got ‘em. Tightening up the pens could shorten games in multiple ways.
JOHN MEANS, SP (sprained elbow)
It wasn’t surprising when John Means sent a message on social that he was headed for Tommy John surgery. That was always a possible outcome, but the “strained forearm” discussion becomes an issue. I can’t believe the Orioles flat lied about this, but MRIs don’t lie, ever. (They can be confusing or unclear, but never lie.) This isn’t an unheard of pattern, but it’s troubling in that a strained flexor tendon and a sprained UCL are close, but distinct. One can lead to the other, but absent a new stress (more pitching) there’s seldom a completely new sprain.
Means will miss a year or more once he has the surgery, putting him on track for mid-season ‘23 or thereabouts. There’s no reason he can’t get back to his level, which should make him the SP2 on the Orioles and could accelerate the timeline for Grayson Rodriguez, the clear SP1. Whether the Orioles can fill in behind them is the continuing story of the never-ending rebuild, but losing Means for that interim isn’t going to help, or convince free agents that this is a healthier, smarter place to be.
ELOY JIMENEZ, OF CWS (strained hamstring)
It wasn’t the lunge at first base that got Eloy Jimenez, it was the awkward step after he got to the base that appeared to cause a problem. Sure, that step probably doesn’t happen without the lunge, but the base - sized up or not - can be dangerous. At least he didn’t slide. Watching the video, Jimenez appears to hyperextend the knee, so I was surprised when the early word was that it was a hamstring strain and openly wondered if it was just a cover story.
No, the Sox continue to call it a hamstring strain and that Jimenez will miss six weeks. I talked to one MLB doctor who worried that the way it looked, the strain was very low on the hamstring or that he might have ruptured a hamstring tendon. That could have been “better” since some of those tendons are redundant and used as a harvest site for surgical reconstruction.
The bigger worry than more missed time for Jimenez is that this is the third Sox player to be injured running to first base. None of them have been anything more than routine plays. Three is more than a coincidence and for a team with a solid sports med and sports science focus, someone’s going to have to figure out what changed, and in a hurry.
LIAM HENDRIKS, RP CWS (strained back)
Liam Hendriks is better than his numbers, but those numbers could get worse if his “back tightness” is something that lingers. Right now, the White Sox don’t make sense on a lot of levels, which is like Hendriks’ results. He has 12 strikouts in seven innings, but an ERA over six. He’s four for five on saves, but he’s putting people on base, making each save feel more like Mitch Williams than anyone would want. Part of it is BABIP luck - he’s at 522, but his velocities and spin rates are right where they were the past couple seasons.
If this is simply transient back tightness, Hendriks can afford a couple days off. The team has multiple options and we have to assume Tony La Russa knows how to swap in Kendall Graveman and Aaron Bummer. There’s so much talent on this team, but so many injuries. This is where La Russa is supposed to shine, but I’ve yet to see what he’s adding to this team as it continues to underperform the talent level. This isn’t something you can grind your way out of and that seems to be the team mindset.
ANTHONY BENDER, RP MIA (inflamed hip)
The Marlins are under five hundred, but a game above the Braves right now. They have a positive run diff and are right at 500 against good teams so far. They’re doing that largely without the bullpen they expected to have in place.
I always hate ex post facto injuries, ones where something like Bender’s sore hip are used to explain away a bad performance. However, the word that Bender’s bad last outing was affected by a hip issue makes sense. I went back and watched it and he is short-striding, which makes me curious if the Marlins picked up on this bio mechanically, or if Bender had been dealing with this a while.
The Marlins have turned to Tanner Scott, with Dylan Floro still on the shelf. The theory that anyone can close is being tested a bit, but if Bender’s issue is minor (and there’s almost no details on this) and Floro returns, there’s depth there for Don Mattingly to deploy. Hip injuries can be very minor or very serious, so this is one I’m digging to try to get more information on.
Quick Cuts:
Ryan Pressly threw live BP over the weekend and reportedly looked good. He could be activated Tuesday and Dusty Baker said he will go right back into the closer role … There’s a chance Ronald Acuna is activated ahead of his early May expected date. He’s had zero issues on his rehab assignment … Luis Castillo had a mediocre 45-pitch rehab start in Low-A Dayton this weekend. He’ll shift to Triple-A Louisville for his next one and if that goes well, on to Cincy … Steven Kwan banged off the wall Saturday, then had a mild hamstring strain Sunday. He’s day to day now with the latter. Keeping a hot hand rested as a rookie is often tough … Keep an eye out on Luke Maile. He’s on a rehab in Triple-A Columbus and tearing it up. He still hasn’t caught, so the Guardians will likely want to see some of that before he’s called back … It’s not just Mike Trout. Didi Gregorius missed the weekend after being hit on the hand, much as Trout was. He’ll be back when his grip is back to normal … Salvador Perez too … Seriously. Padded glove. How many broken hands do we have in cricket? (I have no idea.) … Angel has to go, even if this pitch was pretty close.
