Under The Knife 9/15/23
Pressing Forward
In the last two years, I’ve seen two colleagues - dare I say friends? - get fired in baseball. I worked with James Click and Chaim Bloom (as well as Red Sox AGM Michael Groopman, who I understand is still there, but the new guy will want his own guy, of course) at Baseball Prospectus and while the likelihood that either could be the GM of an MLB team was almost unthinkable back then, both were among the smartest, nicest guys in the room and let me tell you, that was a smart room. That both of them have been fired is, well, part of the game. I won’t say “wrong”, but short-sighted fits.
I have no doubt that they’ll land on their feet. Click’s already in Toronto and whatever team gets Bloom will be better for it. But whether or not their business card says “GM” or whatever variant in modern baseball or anything else with a team logo on it, I’ll say what I say every year when I see them at the Winter Meetings: “I’m proud of you.” Both of them are among the many people who should be CEOs, governors, ambassadors, or anything they want to be, and chose baseball.
Chaim in particular. I can remember reading his golden resume, hiring him to work as BP’s first intern, and him sleeping on the floor of my hotel at the Winter Meetings. He came away with his first job and never looked back. I can remember doing an event with the Rays, where Andrew Friedman spoke to the group and Joe Sheehan and I took questions (and sang the 7th inning stretch, leading to one of the biggest “who?” in Tampa history). There in the back — and I have the picture — were Click and Bloom, watching.
So, yeah, a bitter day, but I’m as proud of them and the rest of my guys who have gone into baseball. For now, let’s get to the injuries:
JASSON DOMINGUEZ, OF NYY (sprained elbow)
Bryan Hoch tweeted out that Jasson Dominguez might have an InternalBrace when he has his elbow surgery. The implication is that Dr. Meister will do it, but there’s something else here. Despite the brace, the Yankees are saying it wouldn’t reduce his rehab time, especially as a position player. Given what I spoke about, led by a comment from Joe Sheehan, that Dominguez will need to play outfield before returning, this could wipe out most of ‘24 for him, if it’s on that timeline.
I’ve been writing about InternalBrace longer than anyone. This 2017 article shows that, and details what I saw at a baseball medical conference, where I’ve never seen doctors and therapists as excited about an innovation as that. The promise of vastly reduced rehab times was the thing, and real world cases showed that it worked. Somehow, baseball missed the memo and while they’re finally using them in more surgeries, the rehab times are roughly identical to standard surgeries. If that’s the case, what’s the point? Oh, much improved success rates and vastly lower revision rates, so at least there’s that.
I get that teams have to be conservative with players with as much potential as Dominguez or worth as much as Shohei Ohtani. What they don’t have to do is give up the entire advantage. That’s what they’re doing, despite not only extensive research, but nearly a decade of real-world cases, including high level athletes. We’re losing months where great players could be on the field, and that’s bad for ball.
MAX SCHERZER, SP TEX (strained shoulder)
Max Scherzer is done for 2023. Yes, the Rangers are leaving the door open in their statements for the playoffs, but they’ve also seen this injury before. The Rangers were one of the first to note a teres major injury, with Corey Kluber, a few years back. I doubt he was the first, but over time, we occasionally get specifics on injuries we didn’t previously.