Under The Knife 8/2/23

A Long, Hot August

In Arizona, Miami, and Tampa, baseball at least had the foresight to build a roof. Walk outside at any of the complex leagues and they don’t get the same. There’s no air conditioning on the back field and in the Phoenix area, that means baseball is being played in 110 degree heat.

One area I’ve been watching for heat illness is Phoenix, but outside Chase Field. People in Phoenix might be used to the heat - as Peter Sagal said, “maybe don’t name your town after a bird famous for bursting into flame” - but this is unusual in both scope and intensity. Every day of July was above 110, the lows were in the 90s. Just walking from the parking lot to the park on pavement that could be used as a griddle isn’t safe. So far, no reported issues.

The complex leagues do get the benefit of good facilities. February and March pay for the rest of the year and the last generation of complexes gives major league amenities. However, none have roofs or air conditioning, for games or workout. Talking with medical staff and teams down there, they’re taking the heat seriously, cancelling some games, shifting times, and being very alert to heat illness symptoms.

One can only hope that’s happening at the travel tournaments around the country. A friend whose son played at one this past weekend - 90s and humid - said no special efforts were made by the organizers. He asked about an ice bath, something that should be at every game or practice when the “feels like” is over 90, and no one could give him an answer. That usually means they’re unprepared. He said the parents for his team have a plan to just dump the ice from their rolling coolers onto a player if he had issues, and that’s as good as any. There’s a name for this - the TACO method - and it works, though an ice bath with water remains the gold standard.

Baseball could be a leader here, and should, but the disconnected nature of the game, even after the “One Baseball” initiative, makes it hard. Not impossible, but hard, as John F. Kennedy once dared us to do. The NFL has done little to nothing on heat illness, despite the fact that we average three dead high schoolers a year to the heat, and that’s only going to get worse as the heat goes up. We’ve seen the NFL react quickly to heart issues after the dramatic Damar Hamlin situation, and good for them. That means they could do it if they wanted to for heat illness.

With a hat tip to the late, great Paul Reubens, let’s get to the injuries:

BRENDAN DONOVAN, IF STL (strained forearm)
NOLAN GORMAN, IF STL (inflamed back)
TOMMY EDMAN, IF STL (strained wrist)

The Cardinals were sellers for the first time in memory and one of the reasons they’re in this position is injury. While they certainly have had underperformance as a part of the problem, injuries confused the situation, especially in the outfield for the second year. More than anything, Mozeliak and Gersh need to have a very good idea, right now, about who’s going to be part of the team next year. This was always going to be a team in transition, but there wasn’t supposed to be a significant down period or rebuild. That’s there, so they need to not have twenty varying outfielders or six possible closers. The Cards need certainty as much as they need one more key hitter.

With Brendan Donovan, the sell off and admission that the year is done allows him to take his strained flexor tendon off to get fixed, giving the plus defender time to get ready for spring training and to be as near 100 percent as possible for Opening Day 2024.

Except that’s not what they’re doing. Instead, John Mozeliak said at his Tuesday press conference that Donovan would be having a “modified Internal Brace repair.” That’s a UCL repair, not a flexor tendon, though it could be both. (Deep breath.) Both are so close that it’s not surprising and the Cardinals were the first to use it in MLB (Seth Maness and Dr. George Paletta) and on a timeline basis, it’s actually a positive. (I’ll be writing more on Brock Purdy, the 49ers QB who had the procedure, soon at a new venue. Yes, announcement soon.)

Nolan Gorman remains out, even after an off-day, as his lower back issue becomes more problematic on a roster in flux. There’s still no detail on either the specific problem or the proximate cause, but even a minor back injury in a young (age-23) player is problematic. If this lingers, it’s even more worrisome as the Cardinals shuffle their lineup and roster after the deals. If Gorman is just having pain or spasms and misses a couple days, it’s not the worst thing, as long as it doesn’t start recurring.

On the other side, Tommy Edman was back in the lineup on Tuesday after missing time with his wrist. He’s first up to replace Paul DeJong at short, though there’s lots of thought that Masyn Winn will be coming up from Memphis shortly after all the deals. Regardless, Edman’s wrist issue seem past and he can fill in across the diamond and be useful to a team that’s running out the season string at this point.

BO BICHETTE, SS TOR (inflamed knee)