Under The Knife 8/29/22
Hello, Bye
With the playoffs just over a month away, we kind of know who’s in it already, as we do every year. This year is different, of course, with more teams at the bottom, but also with a new twist at the top. The top two division winners get a bye and with a known schedule, teams are looking at how to deal with five days off.
The five days is fortuitous and possibly designed. With five-man rotations, teams can simply stay on schedule with their pitchers, even if they’re going to a shorter rotation. Those five days can be handled with basic sim games, giving starters their work and getting relievers involved as well. The hitters shouldn’t lose their timing either.
But it’s not that simple. Several teams have been looking at this problem since the start of the season, with the Dodgers analytic collective paying special attention to it. A source told me that they’ve created a full schedule where players get rested, but remain “loaded and visualized.” Essentially, it’s a couple days off and a couple days in sim games and drills, which is not exactly groundbreaking. More interestingly, the team is focusing on the travel, pre-staging some things in advance of a possible West-to-East trip. Circadian rhythms are something several teams have been focused on, so we’ll see if anyone can crack that.
There’s the other side of the issue, which is how to make sure a rotation is ready for the short wild card series and beyond. Even with a two-game sweep, the jump from WC1 to DS1 is too short, so pitching an ace - say, Jacob deGrom, who you don’t want deviating too much from his schedule - in WC1 means he couldn’t be back until DS2, perhaps DS3 because of the travel day in the NL. In the AL, there’s an odd split between DS1 and DS2, which complicates things as well.
I’ll be honest, while I’d like to see teams doing innovative things and monitoring as much data as possible, this is more of a feel thing. A manager and medical staff should know how to keep their players ready by this stage in the season. A gap like this isn’t something we’ve had before, so we’ll see who gets it the closest to right this year and if the bye is as big an advantage as it should be.
Getting to the playoffs is hard enough, but the new format and schedule complicates setting up for it. Even teams far ahead that can schedule rest, dial things back, and be as comfortable as possible could be taxed by the bye.
The math part is over, so let’s get to the injuries:
AROLDIS CHAPMAN (infected leg)
CLAY HOLMES, RP NYY (strained back)
As some people laugh at the idea of Aroldis Chapman being sidelined for a tattoo infection, I just got a tattoo so the idea of infection from a poorly cared for or created tattoo is very real. The care of a tattoo studio is huge and played a big part in why I selected Voluta Tattoo. For me, I turn to the experts when I can, so I’ll let Conan Lea - my tattoo artist - explain:
“An athlete sweats profusely in every workout. Sweat is largely absorbed by gear and pads. The sweat on the skin is harmless to the tattoo, but the gear is often a petri-dish of creatures feeding on the ick of old sweat and human detritus. The athlete handles the gear, the gloves, and perhaps the fresh tattoo. Further, many surfaces frequented by athletes hold onto ick, which raises the chance of tattoo infection. I'd guess gear and surfaces are to blame here.”
Well said. While some may question why Chapman is getting some ink during the season, that’s his choice as well and largely, not an issue. Chapman’s had a significant number of tattoos over the years so all of them likely didn’t come in the offseason. This one got infected; the rest didn’t. It’s unlucky. It’s “ick” as Conan said. The hope is that Chapman can deal with the infection with antibiotics and get back at the minimum.
At the same time, the Yankees should get Clay Holmes back. He threw Friday in live batting practice and is expected to be activated Monday. His session went well, showing good stuff, but while he was scheduled to throw again, the team instead elected to rest him and have him available more quickly. That decision had to be affected by Chapman’s situation, but I wouldn’t say this is rushed either. The Yankees are still 7.5 up in the division and have a bye in hand. Rushing Holmes back wouldn’t make sense if they didn’t feel he was ready, especially with Greg Weissert settling in with a much better second outing.