Under The Knife 9/5/24
On The Road, Again
Argh! I hit the road this morning and hit “publish” right before I did. Except I didn’t wait to see if it actually sent. Error. So, it’s late but everything is still accurate to the best of my knowledge. Apologies for the lateness:
BRYCE HARPER, 1B PHI (inflamed wrist/elbow)
Todd Zolecki had the scoop that Bryce Harper has been “grinding through” issues with both his wrists and his elbow. Yes, that’s the recently surgically repaired elbow and no, there’s not really a good explanation as to why that would be sore. Harper plays a lot and he plays hard, but given his stats - only slightly down from his norm and expectation. There’s certainly no indication that there’s one event, and his slide count is down with fewer steals and two base runs this season. The speed is the same or close, so the data gives no clues.
The age and style could be an issue. At age-31 and in his thirteenth season, Harper is at an age where players lose some physical skills and adjust. Hitters often go more for power, which means less running, but Harper’s never been short on power. Assuming some health and keeping a standard pace, he’d have to play seven or eight more seasons. That’s reasonable and almost exactly where his contract lands, but we’ve also seen Mike Trout seemingly fall apart at only a year older. Anything is possible.
Worse, Harper took a ball off the left elbow and left the game on Wednesday. He stayed in initially, but left and there’s word he went for imaging.
With the Phillies up, look for the team to find some ways to rest players, including Harper. While this isn’t a team that likes days off and often plays up to Harper’s energy levels, they’re also a team that’s come up just short a couple times. They’re experienced and if we’re done with the “rest/rust” arguments, maybe the Phillies will make some smart changes to how they prepare for another playoff run.
KYLE TUCKER, OF HOU (bruised shin)
Kyle Tucker has spent the better part of three months dealing with a mysterious injury. My belief based on the available information is that he had a nerve issue causing weakness in the foot and lower leg. This matches will all the known symptoms and deficits. However, GM Dana Brown told the media he believes Tucker has been “dealing with some sort of shin fracture.”
Can an x-ray, MRI, or CT “miss” a fracture? Yes. It happens and Travis Sawchik did an in-depth explanation of why last year. It’s been a year that we’ve seen a lot of strange bone issues, with Tucker and Fernando Tatis having leg issues, with Devin Williams and others with back and neck stress reactions. I’ve yet to see a good explanation on this, but I also know that if we’re catching more unusual and early fractures, missing one after a known trauma that has lingering symptomology over multiple tests seems even more far fetched.
Bottom line, Tucker’s missed time didn’t cost the Astros much in the scheme of things. The team managed to get on top of the AL West again despite injuries to key players and a very slow start. If Tucker is all the way back, from whatever it was and he adds a hot bat to the mix ahead of the playoffs, the new-look, old-school Astros could be where they have been for the last decade - deep in October.
More on the Yankees rotation (and patience), returning stars, mysterious maladies, and a baker’s dozen more injuries that you need to understand. Subscribe!