Injuries | The Baseball Zealot

Injuries abound early in 2009

Every year it’s the same but more. Earlier and earlier, injuries are taking their toll on the players. Reading the baseball news is like a who’s who in the injury report. Santana, Wood, Bonderman, the list goes on…

Now we hear Boof Bonser is out for 2009.

Milton Bradley barely made it out of the dugout in the first game before coming out because of tightness in his quad. (To add insult to injury, Mark DeRosa is off to a good start, with a homerun under his belt).

Granted, some of these are not serious and for the most part precautionary moves to prevent something that would impact their teams down the road. That said, playing these kind of games this early in the (pre-) season doesn’t bode well for any (ok, most) teams who have to deal with this.

Query: How much does steroids (or maybe, the withdrawal of steroids) have to do with increase of injuries in the MLB right now?

Sheets out for the year?

What a conundrum!

“We’re working our way through all of the details and we don’t know the answer yet,” (Brewers’ Assistant GM Gord) Ash said. “Major League Baseball has regulations related to workers’ comp and there are procedures and protocols that have to be respected. We’re working our way through those so I can’t give you much insight other than that.”

I don’t why but this song popped into my head when I read about this. Just replace “Maria” with “Ben Sheets”.

Crede gone from the Sox?

The downside of having Boras as an agent? Or just a side effect?

His locker has been cleared out… nameplate been taken down. Joe who?

"He’s not going be here for a little while," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I don’t expect him to be back soon, at least playing. He’s not going to miss [time] playing and all of a sudden come here and play. That’s not fair for him, that’s not fair for the ballclub."

Dang, I bet Mariotti would have had something poignant to write about it.

It’s one of situations where even though it IS his free agent season, you still don’t want things to end this way.

more fireworks during Olympic baseball

US Olympic baseball players are dropping like flies. Three days after Jayson Nix, a Rockies prospect was hit in the head by a bunted ball that was thrown high and inside, Team USA suffered another injury.

USA’s Matt LaPorta was taken to the hospital after been hit in the head by the Chinese pitcher. This came after LaPorta bowled over Chinese catcher Wang Wei forcing Wang out of the game with an injured shoulder.

Chen Kun, the reliever that hit LaPorta, and Chinese pitching coach Steve Ontiveros were both ejected.

"We do not throw to hit people," (Chinese field manager Jim) Lefebvre said. "We do not teach that in China or in the U.S."

Maybe it’s not "taught". Jim, but it happens.

US did manage to win 9-1 over China. They are 3-2 in the Olympics and are still in medal contention.

Cubs: again with the "not winning on the road" thing

I had hoped the All-Star break would have done the Cubs some good. More than a couple Cub fans had commented to me on how “tired” the Cubs had looked before the break. In particular, Carlos Marmol who almost didn’t look like he didn’t want to be out there pitching.

Fast forward to after the break. It looks like the Cubs still need to learn how to win on the road. As of this writing, they’ve lost two at Minute Maid Park. As good as the Cubs’ overall record is (57-40), their 20-28 away record is abysmal. Without taking the time to compare, I’m sure their +.329 home/away differential is the highest in the league.

Like I’ve been telling anyone who would listen, even if they do make playoffs with such a record, let’s face it; Roughly half (more now after the All-Star Game loss) will be on the road. The Cubs will need to learn to become road warriors.

Other Notes from Wrigley:

Friday’s 2-1 wasted effort of Ted Lilly’s fine seven inning performance makes the Cubs dead even (15-15) in one-run games. Among NL Central teams, only Houston has a losing record in that category (yes, baseball fans, that includes Pittsburgh).

Also, it looks like we got Chad Gaudin just in time. Not only is Jon Lieber headed to the disabled list with a sore right foot but now there’s talk of putting Kerry Wood to the DL, too. Wood’s got’s a blister on his right index finger. So sayeth Skipper Lou:

“We’ll miss a week [that way], it might not be a week. We’ve got a fresh pitching staff, why for three or four days take that chance? If we had a real tired pitching staff or we had some injuries, it’s a different story. Right now, the decision’s been made to ride it out a little bit longer. And if we have to [DL him] we will.”

Wood hasn’t pitched since mid-July so the move would be retroactive.

Finally, an article from yesterday’ Chicago Trib on a firm who has made a “firm offer” for Wrigley Field.

Rich Hill update: It don’t look good from here

After successive starts at AAA Iowa where he obviously lacked control and confidence, the Cubs’ Rich Hill was sent all the way to Mesa in the Rookie League to work on the fundamentals and maybe get his head together.

Please tell me if I’m saying the obvious here but I have to wonder if Hill is just done. In his first start at Mesa yesterday, he didn’t even get past the first inning. Pitching 1/3 of an inning, he gave up five runs, three earned including 3 walks.

The Cubs organization is considering giving Hill a break altogether to see that might work. I don’t see what other option they have.

hehe… The Cubs Brickyard have heard some other “news” about his future plans.

Chris Snyder

One word… Ouch.

Incentive is a wonderful thing for Carlos Zambrano

Carlos Zambrano says he wants to be healthy so he can pitch in this year’s All-Star game. The reason is simple: He wants the National League to win so his Cubs will gain home field advantage.

“I’m ready,” he said Thursday. “I want to pitch in the all-star game. I want to be there. I want to help the National League, so we can be in the World Series and get homefield advantage. With a little help from me, (Arizona’s Brandon) Webb and (Cincinnati’s Edinson) Volquez, and the rest of the hitters and pitchers, we can finally win one.”

I like his optimism… and his motivation.

Z is likely to come off the 15-day DL on July 4th, just in time for the midseason classic. He’ll begin throwing from a bullpen mound Sunday.

Cubs swept by the Rays: It’s a good thing I don’t drink

“I need a three-day vacation from Tampa-St. Petersburg.”

– Lou Piniella after getting swept by the Tampa Bay Rays

Man, I thought Lou was making the right decision by not bringing in Neal Cotts tonight. I guess I was wrong…

I don’t know what else could have gone wrong with the Cubs in series against the Rays. Ok, I’m not pushing the panic button just yet but this isn’t the kind of series we needed going into the Sox weekend.

The Cubs became the last team in the majors to lose three in a row when the bullpen just couldn’t get the job done once again. This time, we had a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of 7th. Then the Rays exploded for 7 runs ensuring a Rays sweep. Marmol and Eyre bore the brunt of the Rays’ attack giving up all seven runs.

That’s bad enough. Now we play the waiting game with Zambrano undergoing tests on Friday. He’s already scheduled to rest on Tuesday. A likely candidate to take Z’s spot in the rotation is Sean Marshall.

Were that not enough, both Jim Edmonds (plantar fascitis) and Reed Johnson (back spasms) sat out Thursday’s game as well.

Shall we add some more? Kevin Hart, pitching his first game for the Iowa Cubs, was hit in the head with a line drive and suffered a Grade 1 concussion. Welcome to Iowa, Kevin.

But I’m not I’m panicking yet. We’re still 17 over .500 and we get to play the Sox at home this weekend. Time to make up for those three games with a sweep!

MLB Injuries a pain

Every year, I bemoan the number of injuries in baseball, thinking they must be more than the year before. Once again, I find myself thinking the same thing. Atlanta alone has 12 players on the DL.

Not to minimize the pain and stress that injuries cause the actual players. They do. But Right now, my APBA team is suffering with DL-itis.

At this moment with a little creativity, I could make a full starting infield of starting players who are on my APBA team and are also on the MLB disabled list.

C: Jason Varitek is out with strep throat. Fortunately, he’s day-to-day.
1B: Albert Pujols. Yeah, Albert. And people laughed at me when I drafted Mike Jacobs two years ago. “You got Pujols. Whaddya need him for?”
SS: Troy Tulowitski. Tulo was my prized first round rookie pick this year. He’ll miss almost 2 months already with busted quadriceps. But no worry, he’s capably backed up by…
SS: Julio Lugo, who is out with the flu. Like Varitek, he’s day-to-day.
3B: Ryan Zimmerman. I got Zim from DonS in a trade for Huston Street. I was pretty happy with the deal till June 3 when he hurt his shoulder. A recent MRI says he’s 4-6 weeks away from returning if he comes back at all. He may just be out for the season.

and finally,

SP: Tom Glavine: Mr Thunderchicken, who’s been on my team since the early 90’s and never been hurt till this year. Glavine has been hurt twice for the Braves and this last elbow injury may put him down till August.

Here’s hoping I have plenty of draft picks next year.