Under The Knife 6/13/22

Dance, Monkey, Dance!

Each of you entrusts me with your time, your money, and your support. In return, I work hard to give you the best information, done in what I hope is an engaging fashion. Few of you know what goes on behind the scenes - it’d mostly bore you to tears - but one of the things I wish I could show more of is how long some things take to come together. There are projects I’ve been working on for years, to say nothing of the time and trust it takes to build the sourcing necessary for these reports. I have one of those projects coming together now and hopefully in July or August, I’ll be able to show you some of it.

I once was asked why I was at Baseball Prospectus and my answer was that I was a dancing monkey. Keith Woolner and Clay Davenport needed time to do their work and people don’t pay for a site that publishes “occasionally.” The dancing monkey goes out every day and gives the people something until the real show is ready. Now I’m both, so for now, let’s dance:

WALKER BUEHLER, SP LAD (strained forearm)

The Dodgers got Clayton Kershaw back this weekend, but losing Walker Buehler is not a trade they wanted to make. Buehler left his start with elbow pain, something the team worryingly said he deals with regularly, but this time it was more and resulted in a quick MRI, that showed a flexor strain. While it could have been worse (and certainly had every sign of a more problematic issue.

Buehler is a hard throwing, high spinning pitcher who had Tommy John back in 2015 while at Vanderbilt. He’s like a Ferrari engine - you watched Baku, right? - in that when everything is good, there’s not many better. The downside here is that even in the best case, Buehler’s going to need a significant shutdown and a build up. Six weeks is the low end here.

Again, I’ll question if his buildup needs to be as extended, especially with a pitcher like Clayton Kershaw who needs some shorter outings. Pairing Buehler in a tandem with Kershaw or someone else could work well, or the team could just go “playoff mode” and get a starter out after four, five, or even less if the situation calls for it. Getting the most out of Buehler is key to chasing another hunk of metal.

Let’s also be clear here - strain and sprain are not the same thing. The existence of autocorrect and the fact that they sound so much alike makes me not get pedantic when someone doesn’t get it correct. Strain is muscle or tendon (as with Buehler’s flexor) while sprain is ligament. Both are tearing of fibers and neither is good.

Buehler’s out at least six weeks and almost assuredly longer with a build up, and that’s assuming he heals up during the shut down. Even a minor setback will make a regular season return tough. Michael Grove was called up to take at least a start, ahead of Andrew Heaney’s expected return and the ongoing recovery of Dustin May, who’s throwing, but not close to a rehab assignment. His return would soften the loss of Buehler, at least as much as it can be.