UTK Short 2/16/23

Odds, Ends, and Balks

Thanks to everyone - especially the new subscribers - who followed along with the Team Health Reports. Everyone seems happy with the format and I think it worked well. Hopefully, we can do it again next year.

With the opening of spring training, we’re going to have some injuries and injury updates soon. I anticipate that first “proper UTK” to come either Friday or Monday, depending, and hopefully no flashes for a big injury. Most of the Tommy Johns used to come early in the season, but we understand workload and stress better these days. The rest was the problem, not the solution. I hope that means less TJs this spring, but we’ll see.

Another thing we’ll see is whether the new rules change things for pitchers. Pitch clocks, new balk rules, and less pick offs and step offs are putting things against pitchers and given the balance of power, I’m not horribly against thing. David Barshop (and many others) have looked at how the rules might play. Pitchers knew the clock was coming and will need to adjust. I think we’ll see more fatigue, especially early, and shorter outings. That will lead to more relievers and longer games, so I hope Theo Epstein has a plan for that.

I’m a little perturbed about the lack of warning on the balk rule. Guys have been working for months now and for some, it’s going to be a big change. More time to work on that would have been nice, but the rule is the rule. I’m curious to see if it means more stretch-only pitchers, which is the easy solution. I’m also VERY curious to see if lefty steps are going to be policed more. That’s always been an issue.

Both of these come down to, how are the umps going to enforce it? Is it a couple weeks of adjustments, some awkward moments, and we move on, the way it seemed to go in the minors, or does Angel Hernandez decide he’s just not going to do it? Or to be pure letter of the law and be an ump show? That’s one Theo should figure out as well.

Injuries? Yeah, we have a few, so let’s take a look, quickly, at what we have early:

FRANKIE MONTAS: The Yankees starter will have surgery on his pitching shoulder and what Neal ElAttrache finds in there will determine if there’s even a chance he returns this season. While the Yanks didn’t give details, the exploratory nature of the surgery indicates that the labrum is at least part of the issue. It’s difficult, even with improving MRIs, to get a good view of where and how much a labrum is damaged inside the shoulder. (That’s going to be easier to tell soon, and that article is coming soon as well.) Montas’ shoulder issue was well known - I didn’t even include him in the THR because mid-season was the best guess at his return - so the Yankees are only affected in a theoretical sense.

TAYLOR TRAMMELL: Trammell was fighting for an outfield/bench slot with the Mariners, but was hit on the wrist in a pre-camp workout, snapping the hamate bone. He’ll have surgery after the team got a look at it, missing the next six weeks and starting the season on the IL. This isn’t an uncommon surgery, but the age-25 player was already on the fringes for a Mariners team expecting to improve. Padded gloves would have helped and I guess that chant starts early this season.

STEPHEN STRASBURG: The Nats gave few details, other than “nerve related setback”, as Stephen Strasburg is not working out with the team. There was at least a suggestion that Strasburg may be shut down or even walk away entirely after multiple issues relating to his thoracic outlet syndrome. One of the ultimate “what if” pitchers, Strasburg has nonetheless collected a World Series ring and a number of honors, but he’s also signed through 2026 plus deferred money for whoever buys the Nats next.

CHRIS PADDACK: The Twins medical staff is good and made some key additions, so I’m left wondering why the May ‘22 Tommy John revision that Paddack had will cost him much of the season. Revisions (repeat Tommy Johns) have virtually the same rehab and much the same success rate, age-adjusted, especially with advances in the surgery and rehab. Paddack said he could face hitters by the year point, which makes me wonder what the big delay between that and a competitive return would be.

GARRETT CROCHET: While most of the coverage was elsewhere as the White Sox opened camp, there was some good news for Garrett Crochet. After April ‘22 Tommy John, he’s on track for a May return. It’s unclear if that’s early or late, and we won’t know until he gets assigned to a minor league rehab, but he’s throwing well, on track, and will return relatively early.

CASEY MIZE: Mize îs well behind the expected rehab time for his Tommy John surgery, because he had back surgery last year as well. This is simply lost time, but with him just beginning to throw, it indicates he’s still in the medical phase of the rehab. It could be mid-season or beyond before he works back to the Tigers rotation and any further delays could cost him the rest of the season. The news of the back issue isn’t a positive either.

RANDALL GRICHUK: Grichuk had bilateral sports hernia surgery in early February, telling the media “it was only going to get worse.” There’s a simple recovery, usually taking about six weeks, though there’s certainly questions about the timing here. Grichuk will miss the bulk of spring and will likely start in the minors to work himself into readiness.

Finally, I want to do a mini-review of Evan Drellich’s new book “Winning Fixes Everything.” I binge read it in two days, thinking I’d do a longer review, but I really have nothing to add here. Drellich has an exhaustively sourced, well constructed book, but there’s very little of it I didn’t know. Granted, I followed this closely, know a lot of the people, and knew how the Astros were doing it. There’s still some things that are glossed over - Drellich’s sources don’t snitch on themselves or stick the knives too deeply in anyone - but for someone who didn’t follow this closely, this is going to be the definitive book on it. If you’re already inclined to see Jim Crane as a villain, I think this book seals it. My hope is that owners will read it rather than fans. Pair it with Ben Reiter’s “Astroball” and you get almost funhouse mirror images of the same thing. I recommend it if you want to know more, but if you read here, my guess is you probably already know enough.

I’ve got more coming on upcoming books, including a possible guest post I’m working on to help you get some good spring reads. There’s baseball again, on the page and on the field, and that’s a darn good thing.