Archive for Injuries
What to do with the fifth starter spot?
Posted by: | CommentsOnce Chien-Ming Wang left yesterday’s game in the sixth after pointing to his shoulder, this post was inevitable. The Yanks will have a few decisions to make in the next few days. They’ll need a spot starter this Thursday in Minnesota, but then won’t need him again until July 21st. So what will the Yanks do to plug this hole both short- and long-term?
The Yanks will go the rest and rehab route with Wang, and Girardi said he expects him to be back this season. The feeling around the clubhouse is that Wang could be back in a month or so. Even so, the Yanks will need at least four appearances from a fifth starter: this Thursday, then three times after the All-Star break before they have another off-day.
Phil Hughes is the obvious choices, as the Yanks bumped him from the rotation for Wang in the first place. But if being stretched out is a concern for the Yanks, it would appear Alfredo Aceves would be the man for Thursday. He and Tomko are the only Yanks bullpen arms who have gone multiple innings with any regularity, and there’s no chance Tomko gets the start.
After yesterday’s game, Joe Girardi said of Aceves and Hughes: “They’re not in a position where you could run them out for 90 or 100 pitches.” He said Aceves could likely go 50 to 60, and Hughes 45-50. Again, the Yankees would have a chance to stretch out either one for the July 21st start, but may be reluctant to do so for Thursday’s.
One interesting name is Sergio Mitre. He’s been rehabbing and working back from Tommy John surgery down in Scranton, and has pitched fairly well this year. He’s only been at about 80 pitches, so he’s not totally stretched out either. But he’s further along than Hughes and Aceves, so the Yanks could opt to add him to the 40-man roster (placing Xavier Nady on the 60-day DL) and give him the spot start.
Here’s the wild card in this: How long will the Yanks keep Wang on the DL? He might be ready to return in a month, but the Yanks will want to play this one cautiously. They have an opportunity to make sure everything is back to normal before returning him to the majors, a process they seemingly botched earlier in the year. If the plan is to take their time with Wang, Hughes should be the guy. He’s the sixth starter, and if someone goes out for a prolonged period, he’s the guy.
What the Yanks could do, and I’d prefer this, is to recall Mitre tomorrow as a bullpen arm. Start Hughes on Thursday, knowing he can’t go long; Aceves and Mitre will be around for backup. Then option Hughes the next day so he can get a start in the minors. It would probably have to be Trenton, since Scranton’s All-Star game is the same week as the MLB one. That would probably put him at 80-90 pitches for the start on the 21st against the Orioles.
As they did with Joba, many Yankees fans are falling in love with Hughes in the bullpen. It’s hard not to. He’s been lights out since making the transition. But if the team doesn’t have good starters, a good bullpen is kind of moot. Why would they put an inferior pitcher in the rotation? Oftentimes, when there’s a poor starter on the mound, the bullpen doesn’t have a lead to protect.
In the end, I believe the Yankees will opt to keep Hughes in the bullpen and start an inferior pitcher in Wang’s place. They’ll have their own justification for it, and I hope it works out. It very well could. From a strategic standpoint, though, it’s not the most sound decision. But if Mitre or Aceves comes through, they’ll look like geniuses.
Cashman: Possible worst-case scenario for Nady
Posted by: | CommentsIn Mike’s DotF tonight, he noted that Xavier Nady played just five innings at AAA. According to Brian Cashman, that wasn’t a planned short stint. The Yanks’ GM has said that Nady felt something in his right elbow following his second throw of the night and removed himself from the game. This may be a worst-case scenario for Nady. If this was not a precautionary move by Nady, it could mean the season-ending surgery Nady had hoped to avoid. We’ll follow up with this as soon as we know more.
Kennedy starts throwing program
Posted by: | CommentsVia Chad Jennings, righty Ian Kennedy started a throwing program yesterday as part of his rehab from having an aneurysm removed from underneath his armpit. He made 25 throws from 40 feet and will throw every other day, gradually increasing the distance. The good news is that Kennedy said his arm feels terrific, but the bad news for him is that this is just the first of many steps. Once he works his way up to 60 feet, he’ll begin a more extensive program. There’s still no timetable for a return to the mound, but the process has begun.
Nady set for Scranton rehab
Posted by: | CommentsThe Twitters are all abuzz with word of a Xavier Nady sighting. Per the Yankees PR Twitter account, Nady will begin a rehab assignment this Wednesday in Scranton. There is no indication yet as to how long Nady will be in Scranton. The rehab clock runs for 30 days, but I would expect him back in the Bronx by the first week of July. If he’s going out on rehab, the Yankees feel he can play the outfield. His return would bring some solid depth to the Yankees’ bench.
Update by Mike (5:40pm): Since we’re on the subject on rehab assignments, I just wanted to mention that Cody Ransom’s rehab and DL assignment both end this coming Wednesday. So unless Ransom manages to reinjure himself within the next two days, he’ll be replacing Angel Berroa on the roster later this week.
More rest planned for A-Rod
Posted by: | CommentsThe more I think about this weekend’s A-Rod injury flap, the more I wonder how the Yankees could get this one so wrong. Just two months removed from a major labrum procedure, Joe Girardi penciled A-Rod into the lineup for 38 straight games. He played the field for 36 of them and DH’d during the other two. As A-Rod slumped his way through June, it became clear that the Yanks needed to get him a rest. They did on Friday and Saturday, and he appeared stronger on Sunday.
Today, Bryan Hoch reports that the Yanks will rest A-Rod one day a week through the All Star Break. After the July vacation, the team and Dr. Marc Philippon, A-Rod’s surgeon, will assess this situation. Over the weekend, I questioned the way the Yankees handled A-Rod. This decision is definitely a step in the right direction.
Kennedy to begin rehab work this week
Posted by: | CommentsSix weeks after having surgery to remove an aneurysm under his right armpit, Ian Kennedy is set to rejoin Triple-A Scranton to begin his rehab work. Even though he doesn’t know exactly when he can resume throwing, Kennedy is encouraged by his progress and is excited to be with the team again. For now he’s just doing range of motion and strengthening exercises. All good news, but most important thing is that he’s healthy.
Can the A-Rod nonsense just end?
Posted by: | CommentsPlayer has invasive hip surgery on March 9th, is supposed to miss six to nine weeks. Player misses Spring Training and the first month of the season — does rehab work to get hip back into shape instead of baseball activities. Player does some baseball activities, but barely gets in a nine-inning practice game before returning 61 days after surgery. Player goes on to start every single game between May 8 and June 18, inclusive.
The obvious conclusion in this case is that Player needs a breather. In fact, Player probably could have used a breather before that. May 8 through June 18 is 42 days, a long time for a player who didn’t get a proper Spring Training and who basically went from the operating table to the infield with little transition time. During those 42 days, Player only got four full days off and two half days at DH. That’s probably not enough, given the circumstances.
The situation is pretty clear. Player should have gotten more rest, but did not. Player is going to take two days off, followed by an on-day, which is then followed by a team off-day. Sounds fine, right? It did to me, but apparently this was a big story in the newspapers and on TV. Player’s manager put him in the lineup against orders. Player’s manager wasn’t part of the decision to rest him. Player and manager had words. And that’s not to mention the questioning of Player himself.
Again, the situation is pretty cut and dry. A lot of noise permeated the sports pages, but in the end it all means little. Player was obviously fatigued, and for good reason. There was a bit of miscommunication, it appeared, on how to handle said fatigue. That happens. The situation was resolved. In fact, Player’s manager put the final stamp on it: “I’m hoping he’ll tell us which day he needs when he needs it. If not, I’ll just have to make him take a day.”
Should things have been handled differently? Probably. Player’s manager probably should have rested Player a bit more during the first month and a half of his recovery. Problem was, Player’s tiring came during a losing streak. Player’s manager wanted to field the best possible team to snap out of the streak. Player wanted to be in the lineup. It’s not an excuse; it’s just an explanation for what happened.
The whole situation, really, is easily explained. There should be no outrage, no questioning of motives. The team should have done something. They didn’t. They got to a point where they had to do something, so they took the proper measures. Now, if there’s a problem going forward maybe we can start to feel some outrage. For now, we can file this one under “mishandled” and hope the team learns from its mistake.
Finding a way to manage injuries
Posted by: | CommentsBaseball players are seemingly a stubborn lot. They like to play, and most of them outside of Carl Pavano will play through just about anything. Sore ankles, sore knees, sore arms, sore backs. If it ain’t broken, pencil ‘em in.
That’s great for a team’s character. After all, no one wants to see a bunch of multi-millionaires begging out of baseball games because they stubbed a toe or just flat-out don’t feel like playing. We’ll leave to the Stephon Marburys of the world. Meanwhile, as players recover from injuries — as they bring their bodies back from surgery and from rehab stints — they tend to push themselves hard. They want to be on the field; they want to be playing the games they love.
When Alex Rodriguez came off the DL in May, the Yankees had a plan. They would play A-Rod five or six days a week and rest him the other day. Maybe he would DH for some games; maybe he would get a full nine innings off, coming up only if the situation warranted pinch hitting with a player who owns 562 career home runs.
Somewhere along the line though the Yankees strayed from that plan. A-Rod hit a home run in his first at-bat, announcing his return in resounding fashion. He then blasted his wall through a stellar May before hitting a wall in June. Through it all, the Yankees never really rested Alex Rodriguez. Prior to last night, Alex Rodriguez started 38 straight Yankee games. He played third 36 times and DHed twice. The Yankees went 24-14.
In a way, the Yankees couldn’t bench A-Rod. Despite their recent slide, the team with A-Rod seemed as though they could maintain that 102-win pace over more than just 38 games. A-Rod and his surgically repaired labrum could not. Over his last 21 games, Alex has hit just .176/.337/.297 with two home runs and three doubles. In a key moment on Wednesday night, in fact, Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi didn’t feel comfortable sending Rodriguez in what I thought was an obvious steal situation.
Yesterday, citing fatigue, the Yankees finally mercifully rested a man they need to keep healthy for the better part of the next 8.5 seasons. While I take issue with Mark Feinsand’s charge that the Yanks “yanked” A-Rod from the lineup as though he was being punished, the quotes the Daily News scribe heard are telling.
“We just feel that he’s fatigued and that he could use a little blow,” Girardi said to Feinsand. “We talked about giving him one day off and we were thinking about doing it tomorrow, but after we slept on it, talked about it and discussed it, we’re going to give him two days off.”
“Overall, any time you’re tired, it may affect your game. But that’s definitely not an excuse,” A-Rod added. “The most important thing in this process of having surgery is that I have to maintain good communication and be very honest with Joe so we can have a plan in place. It’s a long season.”
I don’t know what goes on behind the closed doors of the Yankee clubhouse and training room, but to me, these days off were long overdue. In early March, A-Rod underwent a pretty major surgical procedure. Two months later, he was playing nine-inning games in the field everyday for nearly seven weeks. That makes me raise an eyebrow.
Earlier this week, Brian Cashman expressed his displeasure with his players’ unwillingness to come forward with injury concerns. Most notable has been Damaso Marte’s extended absence. He may even need to undergo an exploratory procedure just to find out what the main problem is. Yet, this is a path that runs both ways. The Yankees should make sure they’re doing all they can to keep their players who aren’t 100 percent functioning well. No more fatigue-related benchings.
Marte’s shoulder okay says Dr. Andrews
Posted by: | CommentsMark Feinsand tweets that Dr. James Andrews gave Damaso Marte’s left shoulder two thumbs up, and the pitcher will return to Tampa. He’ll continue his rehab there, but there’s still no timetable for his return. As poorly as he pitched earlier this year, a healthy and effective Marte would go a long way to improving any bullpen, not just the one in the Bronx.
Injury Update: Bruney, Nady
Posted by: | CommentsAs June marches on, two injured Yankees are nearing their respective returns to the active roster. Ernie Palladino has updates on Xavier Nady and Brian Bruney. The Yanks’ right-handed set-up man plans to throw a bullpen session on Thursday in Boston. It will be his first try at tossing some breaking pitches since his return to the DL. If all goes well, he could be back in a week to ten days. Bruney’s return will spell the end of either David Robertson’s, Phil Hughes‘ or Jose Veras’ time in the Bronx.
Nady, meanwhile, went 1 for 3 with a home run and a walk during an extended spring training game. He continued to throw, this time from 75 feet, and Joe Girardi said that Nady won’t return to the outfield until he can double that distance. It will be interesting to see how the Yanks handle Nady’s return. A few weeks ago, we looked forward to his replacing Swisher, but Nick has hit .419/.537/.839 over his last 42 plate appearances. Hideki Matsui is 0 for 18. Still, Nady’s return is probably two weeks away, and talk of lineup changes is premature.
