MLB…Arm Issues.

If you have been paying attention to 2015 Spring Training, you will see that Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers is having a little bit of elbow discomfort. The injury that Darvish has is being described by the team is an elbow sprain. It seems that this term on many occasions morphs in to a UCL injury (ulnar collateral ligament), and very rarely does it have any other outcome than Tommy John surgery. The outlook for the Texas Rangers was not good to begin with, and now with their ace most assuredly gone for the season, it has become dismal. Anyway, I was thinking about the amount of pitchers that are succumbing to UCL injuries, and asked myself if the frequency of this particular injury is now higher than it was 10 or 20 years ago? It certainly seems that way. In the past few seasons we have seen this injury to Matt Harvey, Joel Hanrahan, Stephen Strasburg, Jose Fernandez, and now Darvish along with several others. Why? Is it because today’s pitchers are bigger with different mechanics? Is it because they throw harder with what is termed as ‘maximum effort’ on every pitch? Is it because most pitchers have been at it for a long time, from the time that they were kids thru the time that their arms simply just let go? Perhaps it is a combination of all of these factors…

My point of all of this is not to get into the weeds of the bio-mechanics of cause and effect. It is more the simple question of what, if anything, can be done to diminish the frequency of this plague-like injury? I am not a doctor ( and no, I do not play on on TV either…), so I really don’t have an answer. Would limiting a pitchers work in the off-season or spring training be helpful? Darvish had done only minimal work in spring training this season, and now he is gone. I do not think that overwork is the issue here. Players have off-season conditioning programs which are generally effective, but in the case of these injured players, not so much.

In the case of the Texas Rangers, they will lose one pitcher, but he was their ace, and the one thing that they could have hung their hat on this season. We probably not see him again until mid-2016. That is going to be a long drought in Arlington Texas. What did the loss of Matt Harvey (Mets) and Jose Fernandez (Marlins) mean to their teams? In the long run, if MLB keeps losing it’s marquee players, they are going to want to do something to protect the product. The question again is ‘what’? I am hopeful that somehow it will get figured out. Players are having their careers dramatically altered, if not ended by UCL injuries. I would like to think that we have some of the best training methods and best sports doctors in the world. Surely they would have some input.

I wish the best for Yu Darvish, and going forward, any other player who suffers a UCL or any other injury. I understand all too well that it is part of the game. My hope is that there will be an answer to the question of injury reduction.

MLB…Fool Me Twice…

If it seems like I am picking on Alex Rodriguez, it is only because quite frankly he deserves it. His ‘apology letter’, in my humble opinion, is nothing but a bunch of nonsense that one of his handlers helped him write. I am not buying it, and I am not sure that anybody else is either.
In a nutshell, Rodriguez has basically issued a 5-paragraph ‘mea culpa’ which basically is saying, ‘oops, my bad. Let’s play baseball.’ It just isn’t sitting well with me. In this letter, Rodriguez is still arrogantly deceptive, never stating or admitting, exactly or in part, what he did. Isn’t that part of an apology? Rodriguez has now twice (first with the Texas Rangers, and now with the New York Yankees) played MLB and all the fans and other people who are non-cheaters for suckers, and now he wants to make all-nice and get back to the business of playing baseball?
Here is a large part of my issue. How is it that Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Rafael Palmiero, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, and a host of other players tainted by the PED scandals are basically baseball pariahs, while Golden Boy Rodriguez is expecting to be welcomed back to Yankee Stadium with open arms? He says in his letter that he ‘accepts that many of you (baseball fans) will not accept his apology or anything he says at this point…’ and he is right. Is it a lousy thing that he did what he did? Of course it is…it is cheating! Anthony Bosch, the man who owned Biogenesis, has been sentenced to 4 years in a Federal prison while Rodriguez gets to collect his undeserved, multi-million dollar contract, yet he hopes he can buy forgiveness with a letter. Sorry Alex, but it will take a lot more than that…
When somebody says that they are accepting responsibility for a wrong that they committed, it is not enough to just say that they are accepting responsibility. They need to try to right the wrong that they have done. Just how does Alex Rodriguez plan on doing that? The short answer is that he can’t, and his ‘accepting responsibility’ is nothing but empty words at best. As I mentioned earlier, he has done this twice (Texas, and now New York) and you would think that he could change and perhaps be a better person, but I am not sure that he is capable of that kind of change.
There is an old expression that goes, ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.’ Well, this is time number two, and if we just let this go and give him a pass, then it is truly ‘shame on us.’

MLB…A Few Under the Radar Moves

So far, the off-season has seen a lot of activity. Some of it has been shocking, while some of it has been very ‘business as usual’. I wanted to touch on a few moves and signings that may have gone unnoticed.
The Cincinnati Reds have resigned Devin Mesoraco to a $28 million, four-year contract. The stat line on Mesoraco is impressive, as he led all major league catchers in homers (25) and RBIs (80) while batting .273. What makes this so interesting is that at 26 years old, the Reds have given Mesoraco the keys to the Cadillac. The Reds had other catchers (Ryan Hanigan comes to mind), but were confident enough in Mesoraco to let them move on. That is a lot of responsibility for a young catcher, but I am of the belief that he will make it, and be a solid backstop for the Reds for years to come.
The Baltimore Orioles added some outfield depth with the acquisition of 26-year old Travis Snider from the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor league pitcher and a PTBNL. The Orioles need the depth due to the offseason losses of Nick Markakis and Nelson Cruz.
The Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers swapped pitchers, with RHP Anthony Ranaudo packing his bags for Arlington in exchange for LHP Robbie Ross. I was surprised to see the Red Sox ship off Ranaudo, as he was considered to be a regular starter in the near to very-near future. He made him MLB debut last season, and pitched reasonably well. Ross has been everything from good to bad. Perhaps a change of scenery was needed for Ross to regain his form.

MLB…Chess Pieces.

Do any of you play chess? It is a fairly cerebral game that is best left to people who are smarter than I am. I tried to learn it when I was a kid, but it just didn’t hold my interest. I was an outdoor kid who played ball all day. Board games are just not my thing. One thing that I think I know about chess is that some pieces are more expendable than others. A pawn is nowhere near as important as the king, and a rook isn’t going to give marching orders to the queen, right?
My point about this is that in baseball (or any other sport) is that there are some moves made by teams that have more resonance than others. In professional baseball, there are many, many pawns, and they exist at all levels of the game. It is truly a pyramid if you think about it. In the hierarchy of players, the ‘kings’ are guys like Clayton Kershaw and Mike Trout. You get the idea. We tend to write about the higher-tier moves, and do not devote a lot of space to trades involving two ‘Low A’ utility infelders. I am guilty of this as well, but I do not see myself changing anytime soon, although I do try to report on a few of these moves from time to time. With that said…
The Atlanta Braves have traded C Evan Gattis and a minor leaguer to the Houston Astros for a young pitching prospect named Michael Fultynewicz and two other minor leaguers. A few things jumped out at me when I heard this. First is that I thought that the Braves loved Evan Gattis. He is a great story, and the Braves must have really been enamored of these minor leaguers to trade away a potent bat like his. Secondly, as soon as I saw the word ‘pitching prospect’ I was reminded of a baseball expression that has come in to fashion, and that is TINSTAAPP. That means ‘There Is No Such Thing as a Pitching Prospect’. The Houston Astros now have five catchers on the roster to include Hank Conger, Jason Castro, Carlos Corporan, and Max Stassi. Castro was the starter but has lost his way offensively, and his batting average dropped precipitously from 2013 to 2014 (.276 down to .222).
From the ‘he was here for a cup of coffee’ file, the Oakland A’s have shipped newly acquired IF Yuniel Escobar to the Washington Nationals for All-Star relief pitcher Tyler Clippard. The A’s already have one All-Star closer in left-hander Sean Doolittle. Adding Clippard to the bullpen gives them a potent combination, and fills the hole left in the bullpen when Luke Gregerson set sail for Houston.
The Cardinals agreed to terms with P Lance Lynn and avoided salary arbitration. At 3 years / $22M, this is a great signing for the Redbirds, as Lynn is one of the winningest pitchers in baseball over the past three seasons. Since 2012, Lynn has won 48 games, which is good for third in the National League. At 27, Lynn is still young, and he will continue to pay dividends for St. Louis.
The Texas Rangers agrees to terms with P Neftali Feliz, and avoided arbitration with the right-handed pitcher. The deal is for 1 year / $4.125M. Feliz posted a 2-1 record with 13 saves and a 1.99ERA in 30 relief appearances in 2014.
The Chicago Cubs have agreed to a one-year contract with P Felix Doubront on a 1 year contract worth $1.925M and avoided arbitration. The 27-year-old left-hander was 4-5 with a 5.54 ERA in 14 starts and seven relief appearances last year for Boston and Chicago, which acquired him July.
The Arizona Diamondbacks signed Cuban pitcher Yoan Lopez to a contract that includes an $8.27M signing bonus. Lopez is still very young at 21 years-old, but he throws very hard. He can expect to start off in the minors while he grows and develops. Interesting to note that back in December of 2014, Arizona also signed another highly-regarded Cuban in Yasmany Tomas to a 6-year / $68.5M deal. As a sidebar, does it seem that more and more Cuban players are making their way to America over the past few years?
The Baltimore Orioles have avoided arbitration with relief pitcher Tommy Hunter, and signed him to a one year / $4.65M contract. Hunter had been the closer, but he had issues and was replaced by Zach Britton. Hunter was able to put it back together late in the season, and he played a role in Baltimore’s playoff run.
Lastly, from the files that contain a list of players who I hope can make a comeback, SP Johan Santana retired six batters in a row in an start for the Magallanes Navigators in the Venezuelan league. Santana threw 17-pitches in the appearance and reported no discomfort in his surgically-repaired throwing shoulder. If you remember, it was Santana who finally broke the New York Mets streak of not having a pitcher toss a no-hitter. That left the San Diego Padres as the only major league team without a no-no, a streak that started 45 years ago when they were born in 1969.