Injured Pirates

by Thunder on Sep 26, 2007 7:26 PM EDT Comment 4 comments

With Freddy out tonight and Maholm shut down, I started thinking about our injuries this year.

I wonder exactly how many guys have been playing or pitching hurt recently?? In addition to the ones we know about. Let's take a quick (??) look at some of them.

Duffy - he'd been hurting since the beginning of LAST season.
Duke - wonder how long that elbow had been hurting before he shut it down in June?? Not convinced he's healthy yet.
Torres - elbow problems at least twice.
Maholm - did his back really ever get better??
Bay - his 'good' knee is the one that is keeping him out. Has it (or both knees) been hurting all season?? Probably. Maybe his shoulder too??
Nady - 3 words - post concussion syndrome.
Snell - how much is his arm really hurting?? and how long has it been bothering him.
Doumit - stayed healthy for what...3 innings?
Wilson - ordering him to come back from paternity leave early...with a pulled hamstring??
Chacon - how long has HIS elbow been hurting??
Sanchez - obviously wasn't ready in April. The eye problem has been a reoccurring issue since April...now his shoulder is hurting, wonder how his knees are??
Grabow - needs elbow surgery.

That's basically half of the 25 man roster...and not including Bautista's spiking, which couldn't have been screwed up by the medical staff and manager. And I may be missing a few. Looks like only position players that have been available all year are Nate, RoPaul and LaRoche (yeah, I know he missed a few games).

So...how many of these players were browbeat by the manager (and possibly GM) into playing when not entirely healthy and at risk of additional significant injury?
I am guessing a lot more than one or two of them.

Has this been the mindset of the Pirates organization? If so, no wonder we have so many high draft pitchers get hurt. They've probably been told that they aren't seriously hurt, and to pitch through it. More and more I wonder how long Kip Wells may have had his problem (a clot, if I remember correctly), before it was correctly diagnosed. We know of several misdiagnoses in the minors.

We've gotten rid of the GM. From the looks of things, to save our investments (players), the manager and at least some of the medical support, need to follow Littlefield out the door. I am fairly sure that our new GM will hear this from at least a few players.

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Fairly typical.

Sadly, we've had recurring problems in that area for quite a few years now, dating back to the Bonifay era.

For me, the quintessential example was J.R. House. They had him play through shoulder pain for more than two years, to the point where he had to alter his throwing motion just to stay on the field. When they finally cut the joint open to have a look, they found a 70% tear to the rotator cuff, two serious tears to the labrum and (this is the killer) friction-related bone damage. Basically, he wore through all the soft tissue bits in the joint, and then wore a groove in the bone itself.

Afterward, they sent him a bill for $19,000 to cover the cost of surgery, which in my book is right up there with the third-world governments that execute people by firing squad and then charge their relatives for the bullets.

The new regime can't start making changes soon enough.

by Vlad on Sep 26, 2007 9:30 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Insurance

Can't recall where or when I've seen it, but I know I've come across whispers that the Pirates love cashing insurance checks on injured draft picks/players almost as much as they like seeing a full house come see a free Styx concert.

by OmarMoreno18 on Sep 26, 2007 9:37 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You saw it here (shameless plug time)

http://iratefans.com/Thoughts/james_krug/m_a_s_h_gambit/m_a_s_h_gambit.html

by steve_z on Sep 27, 2007 10:10 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

More Freddy

And now I see in PG's article, that Freddy has been icing his shoulder most of the season?? Lovely. I see JVB is pitching tomorrow...wonder how his shoulder feels? And we know Bullington's shoulder isn't 100% (didn't even mention these 2 and Burnett above). Frankly, at this point, I would just as soon see Armas pitch one of the Cardinals games. Throw Armas one, Duke one, and all relievers or Youman the 3rd one.

by Thunder on Sep 26, 2007 9:47 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs