Under The Knife 6/4/21
Free Friday: Heads up, Heads down
The mainstream press found the injury “epidemic” — both the New York Times and USA Today had articles, which means Stan Conte needs to tip his PR staff. There’s not a lot of answers in these articles, but I like that we’re at least asking the question of why. MLB should be taking a lot more interest in this and on the fringes, they are. The downside is that nothing is going to be a quick fix, so anything we could do for now, should have been done three years ago and it’s not as if we didn’t see this coming. Blaming 2020 is easy, but this wasn’t just a 2020 or 2021 problem. What was the excuse in 2019 when injuries were up? I’d rather have a lot less to write about and as we roll out PitchAI to more places, I’m hoping we will. By the way, got this in Cleveland of Garret Crochet …
Pretty sweet, huh? I won’t share the numbers on this, but you can see how the program both tracks his body and gets this timing. Lots more on this soon, but for now, let’s get to the injuries and yes, this is a normal UTK rather than the typical Free Friday recap/update:
Tyler Zombro P TBR (concussion)
Tyler Zombro is in stable condition and after that hit, after the way that play looked - and no, I am not going to link to it - the fact that he is stable is enough. This appeared to be the worst case scenario. When Zombro released the ball, it came back so fast he barely reacted, hitting him squarely in the head and dropping quickly, both his body and the ball, indicating his skull had absorbed a lot of force. I’m listing this as concussion for now, since we don’t know the extent of his injuries.
Zombro was down and from the rush of activity from the medical staff, including the Athletic Trainers from both teams and EMS, it was clear that Zombro was in distress, but had the best possible care. While there’s not a lot of details from the Rays or their affiliate Durham Bulls, the “stable” condition is certainly a good sign.
These kind of injuries are rare and to this point, most have survived. In a year where batters are getting hit more often, we’re reminded that everyone’s at risk. I don’t know whether Zombro was wearing any sort of head protection or whether it hit him in a point where normal protection wouldn’t have helped, but this issue - both batter and pitcher - is an area we should be discussing more and more, not only when something like this happens.
I say ‘prayers’ for Zombro in a situation like this as shorthand. I’m hoping he has the best possible care and that he has every opportunity to come back and pitch, if he wishes, while we do everything in our power to make sure this never happens again.
Stephen Strasburg SP WAS (strained trapezius)
I often wonder which athlete I’ve written most about in UTK. Since this column has had a couple homes, it’s hard to do a search, but Stephen Strasburg is likely in the top ten. He’s been very good since coming into the league and he’s also been hurt a lot since coming into the league, which is actually a pretty rare combo, especially when you consider some level of durability as well. The injury prone don’t tend to last and Strasburg is in his 12th season. (I feel old.)
Strasburg came out of his last start showing down velocity and command, but the early word - including from solid sources - was that his arm was fine. Instead, the reports were that it was a nerve issue in his neck. The Nats have said that it’s a trapezius issue, but both could look and act like the same thing, so splitting hairs doesn’t get us much here. If we treat it like a trap strain, well, Strasburg has had that before and came back well. The downside was that he injured his lat shortly after that in a kinetic chain issue, so the worry has to be that we’re headed down that path again. If Strasburg is out for an extended period, the Nats can’t even entertain the thought of trading Max Scherzer unless they’re willing to circle the drain.
The Nats have dealt with this, so the hope is that this is relatively minimal and that once cleared up, Strasburg’s velocity pops back. We’ll know from the first pitch and likely before, but someone looks back at Strasburg’s career in 20 years, I wonder if they’ll see him as an early model for the velo-first pitcher that dominates this era, or how they’ll explain the gaps in his stuff and his performance.
Madison Bumgarner SP ARZ (strained shoulder)
Well, this isn’t a surprise. Despite having one of the best, one of the most respected medical staffs in baseball, the guy that hid his identity in order to violate his contract and rodeo is hiding an injury.
After an MRI showed significant inflammation, the D-Backs put Bumgarner on the IL. Torey Luvullo will only say that he’ll miss one turn through the rotation, but there’s indications that Bumgarner is on some sort of anti-inflammatory. The key here is what the underlying issue is and whether the D-Backs medical staff can get ahead of it over the course of the next few days, then manage it for the next few months.
Bumgarner’s seen his velocity tick down, as it did last season with his back injury, so if the pattern holds, he just seems to break down in the middle of the season, but can come back with some rest. Maintenance is one of the things the D-Backs do really well, so if Bumgarner looks good in his first start back, whenever that is, it’s a very good sign.
Jack Flaherty SP STL (strained oblique)
One of the hard things about player health is that someone can do all the right things and still end up hurt. Accidents happen. People do dumb things. And sometimes, inexplicably, the kind of strains that the yoga and movement skills that Jack Flaherty practices fail. That’s what happened and Flaherty’s oblique strain is going to keep him out past the Allstar break, putting the Cardinals rotation in a very bad spot.
Flaherty has been open about his off-season workouts, with much of his work seen on video in various spots. Despite all of this, the oblique strain is significant. Even a strong, supple muscle can be overstressed, but Flaherty wasn’t overworked or out of his normal mechanics, so it’s a bit concerning beyond just the missed time.
The Cards will not only have to fill the Flaherty slot at the top of the rotation, something they simply can’t do on a quality basis, but for pitchers like Carlos Martinez and Adam Wainwright, they cease being placeholders who could go 120 innings while waiting for a replacement to come up or be brought in. Now those slots are looking like 180 innings, which likely overexposes them and puts them at more risk of their own injuries.
One possible solution? Make Andrew Miller a starter. Not an opener, but a two or three inning starter every fourth day, backed with one of the other starters who would go four or five, then the pen.
Mitch Garver C/DH MIN (post-surgical recovery, groin)
Ouch.
I wish I could just leave it there for Mitch Garver, but for many of you, you’ll just want to skip over this section. Garver took a ball to the … groin and was left with a bruise that necessitated a surgical intervention due to increased pressure. Garver will be fine in a short period of time, despite the emergent nature of the issue. The surgery worked, he’s fine and assumably, everything is working, so the less said there, the better.
Garver will be able to come back at or near the minimum, but I wouldn’t blame him if he took some extra time or dodged a bit of catching duty for DH a while. In the longer term, this injury shouldn’t be anything more than a painful memory for Garver and should have no effect on him, offensively or defensively.
Kyle Lewis OF SEA (torn meniscus)
Kyle Lewis has been dealing with knee issues since spring training so the news that he has a meniscus tear didn’t feel like breaking news, except in the sense that Mariners fans are a little heart broken about it. Lewis’ knee is likely to be repaired, with the meniscus the key issue. That repair would take him out for the remainder of the season, lengthening out this long DiPoto rebuild that’s ongoing.
Meniscus repairs are better in the long run, if successful, but the four to six month recovery time is tougher to take than the two to four weeks for a removal. Assuming the repair takes, Lewis should be back to normal well in advance of 2022 and should slot right back in. His 2021 campaign didn’t answer a lot of questions about whether he was just a hot start disguising a player without a real plus tool. I think he’s good, young, and cheap, which is a solid combo for a team like the Mariners.
Quick Cuts:
Corey Seager is traveling with the Dodgers, but he’s still at least a couple weeks away. Expect him to do more fielding, then start swinging more next week … Joey Votto hasn’t had any issues on his rehab assignment and could be back with the Reds very soon … Corey Kluber is starting a throwing program, which is a bit ahead of the expected schedule. This actually isn’t a positive, as they’re trying to get to the decision point on surgery earlier in case he needs it. There’s a line in the sand, likely July, to be ready for next season if he needs rotator cuff debridement … If the Mets are downplaying Jonathan Villar’s hamstring injury, that would be very on-brand. We’ll have to see where this one plays out, but sources give me conflicting reports on the severity, which also feels on-brand … Elieser Hernandez came off the 60-day IL after a biceps strain, only to be pulled from the game after suffering a significant quad strain on the bases. It’s doubtful that he makes his next start and could be right back on the IL … The Rays will lose Cody Reed for the season after TOS surgery. He’s expected to be ready for spring training … Michael Pineda’s recurrent forearm issue is definitely worrisome as the Twins try to figure out what will clear this up … A scout tells me Zack Britton’s second rehab outing wasn’t as bad as it looks, but that his command needs work before he can think about a Bronx return … I wish Mike Yastrzemski would never get hurt. He’s good, plus I hate trying to spell his name. He’s on the IL with a thumb sprain, but surgery has been ruled out. Expect him to be down a bit more than the minimum … Aristides Aquino is getting closer to a rehab assignment after April wrist surgery. We almost always see a power drop after that, but it’s short term. If the Reds are sellers at the deadline, having Aquino to fill in that gap is huge for them and it looks like the timing should work … Trees, man … I’ll let others assign blame to why Kent Emmanuel is injured and facing a second Tommy John surgery. Overuse is certainly notable, as is bias … It’s MLB Draft time and while I can’t share numbers on top pitchers from PitchAI, let’s just say both the AI and I agree on how good Jack Leiter is.
Bonus - in Cleveland, a couple sources told me that the name thing is very much in flux. Some of the top names have issues; any variant of “Rock” (Rockers, Rocks) is an issue with the Rockies, while Spiders seems to have issues with Marvel/Sony. Behind that, there’s simply a lot of names they’ve dealt with. Two that came up are “Benders”, for Chief Bender, their former Native American player, and “Progressives.” Yes, the last is like the naming rights of the field, but it would be easily shortened like the Metropolitans. I guess it’s better than “Flos” but I don’t think those are likely. Fact is, the Cleveland ball club doesn’t know yet and feels like they have to get this right. Given how deliberately the Washington Football Club is moving, it seems right. (And I’ll be honest, I think Washington should just keep it as is now.)
Glad everyone seemed to enjoy the piece from David Barshop on Wednesday. I apologize for not having it clear that he had written it when it was sent as an email. That’s been corrected on the site and he deserves full credit for his work, including the things he helps with behind the scenes. The schedule for next week remains in flux as my dog continues to struggle. I appreciate your thoughts and patience.