Under The Knife 8/1/24
Tuesday's Gone
Before we get to the deadline stuff and injuries, raise one up for Dave Cokin. He was a Las Vegas gambling media legend and icon. Those are two words that are thrown around too easily, but put up a career like Dave’s with his success, then combine it with humbleness and kindness and you get remembered that way. Dave was one of the early backers of Prospectus on the radio and going out there with Joe Sheehan for a book signing and in-studio with Dave was a highlight. We’d talk boxing, baseball, how great a sports city Vegas would be (he was way ahead on this) and I only wish I’d done it more. They very literally don’t make ‘em like Dave Cokin any more.
As he’d want it, on to the injuries:
JACK FLAHERTY, SP LAD (inflamed back)
News broke on Tuesday that the Yankees had backed out of an agreed deal that involved two high level prospects for Jack Flaherty. The Dodgers had no such concerns, or a higher risk tolerance for his known back issues, and pulled the trigger on what’s said to be a lesser return, which could be in part due to that risk. Did the Yankees miss out? Did the Dodgers assess the risk correctly? There’s no way of knowing for any of the three teams and certainly not here, but the information is notable.
In trying to run this down, one of the interesting things to me is that neither the Orioles nor the Cardinals, the teams that had inside info on Flaherty from having him, were involved at all. Both teams went for Tarik Skubal - the O’s far more than the Cards - but neither appears to have made more than cursory discussions about Flaherty. I’m getting this from sources at all three teams, so I have a high confidence in this.
The Dodgers knew and accepted that Flaherty had two ultrasound guided injections into his back in July. They did this largely because Dr. Robert Watkins was involved and signed off. Flaherty is an LA native, but it’s unclear if Watkins did the procedure or was merely a consultant on this. Both the Dodgers and Watkins declined to comment on this for medical privacy reasons. We’ll see how this unfolds over the next few weeks, but it is an interesting coda to what was a very active trade deadline.
GERRIT COLE, SP NYY (no injury)
“General body soreness” is the kind of description that gets old-timers and online-trolls heated quickly. However, there’s a couple things behind that very modern description. The first is that Cole had been dealing with a stomach illness, which is never fun. Combine that with what Cole said was simply a slow recovery from his last start and it’s very reasonable for the Yankees to just skip Cole now. There’s no indication that this is anything with the arm or more serious than just a skip to make sure nothing worse happened.
The Yankees seemed to know this was coming, having Will Warren at the ready, and Aaron Boone noted that the team had some off-days upcoming that would allow Cole some extra rest and let them re-set the rotation even without an addition that the team had hoped to make. Having Cole for starts down the line and into the playoffs has always been their focus and this decision is in line with his cautious and effective, though slow, rehab. Sources tell me that there’s no other concerns here besides the fatigue level, no changes to his routine, and no imaging on the plan.
TOMMY EDMAN, IF LAD (strained wrist)
It should go without saying that the Dodgers have a very high risk tolerance for injuries. Year after year, they’re near the bottom of injury rankings (dead last currently, with over 150 more games lost than the team in next to last, the Yankees) largely because they will bring in (and keep) players that have huge injury risks, but also usually huge upside. Shohei Ohtani is injury-prone, but still valuable. Clayton Kershaw is fragile, but also a no-doubt Hall of Famer that can still dominate in 2024. The list goes on, but for all that, I still don’t understand what they knew to give them confidence in Tommy Edman enough to trade for him.
Forget the return and that there was more to the deal - Michael Kopech - than just Edman and focus on whether Edman will be healthy enough to do anything valuable for the Dodgers. Functionally, Edman is a like replacement for the injured Chris Taylor, but he’s also a like replacement in terms of not hitting lately. Edman hit under a 600 OPS in Double-A while on his rehab with a double. That double wasn’t a big bounce-off-the-wall shot that might portend some power return either.
Losing power after wrist surgery is near universal. I talked with Pablo Sandoval a few years back after his second wrist surgery and he was well aware that he’d had a power drop for the first month after surgery. He couldn’t explain well what changed or if the wrist just felt better, but described it as “everything worked again.” The Dodgers have to be hoping that’s what happens for Edman, but he’s a year out, not a month.
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