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February 20, 2006

Under The Knife

It Happens Every Spring

by Will Carroll

Everybody's watching their weight these days, even me. Unlike last year, the early spring stories of players losing weight (Adrian Beltre down 15, Phil Nevin down 20, Armando Benitez down 20, Carlos Zambrano down 20) or putting it on (Andruw Jones up 20 and looking buff, Jack Wilson up 20 and looking more distant from an appendectomy, Ivan Rodriguez up 10 after last year's "shrinking," Cory Sullivan up 22) aren't immediately generating steroid rumors. Last year's inevitable mention of steroids hasn't happened this year, the best sign that the new policy is working, at least from a public relations standpoint. We don't know what weight gain or loss means in the long- or short-term, but we do know that players have long had dramatic swings on either side of the scale. It's another fact that's worth knowing, but hard to interpret without a lot more context.

• You can't have spring training anymore without pitcher problems or at least rumors of said problems. Those usually start with the Cubs, and this year is no different. Reliable sources--the same ones that tipped us early to Mark Prior's Achilles problem--now tell us that Prior is having shoulder problems. The Cubs deny this and point to Prior's work on the mound. Prior was doing towel drills on Saturday, but this is the same type of work he was doing last year when there was a problem. According to our best sources in Mesa, Prior looks "weak and sick." Until he throws, we just won't know, though I'd like to believe Larry Rothschild.

  News is better for Kerry Wood, on track to get back in the rotation by May. The Cubs have depth in the rotation and a favorable early schedule to give them time, even if Wood has a small setback. Wood will return to the rotation. If he's ever a bullpen guy, it won't be for the Cubs.

• Bartolo Colon has made good progress since not being able to use his Cy Young mystique in the post-season. Colon tore his latissimus dorsi tendon which sounds serious, but isn't. The tendon isn't necessarily reattached, due to the unusual nature of the muscle's insertion. In fact, the lat is often harvested for use in other places after accidents. The body adjusts and there's seldom loss of function. This isn't a normal person, however; this is a pitcher. There's not much in the way of previous cases, so this is something to watch.

• Pedro Martinez finally got his magic shoe, only to find there's not much magic in it. Martinez is still having pain in his push leg's big toe despite the custom, hand-made shoe. The likely next move in this footwear drama is Martinez pulling out of the World Baseball Classic, something the Mets had quietly hoped for.

• Can it be a good thing when two of your top pitchers, in this case the Braves' John Smoltz and Tim Hudson, say they're going to work out less? That's an interesting question and one I'd like to see more information on. (Atlanta beat writers, here are your follow-up questions.) Is this an offshoot of Roger McDowell's less strict off-day regimen? Is this really just a way for two pitchers that have had health problems interrupting great years to drop some workload? Smoltz's elbow is a known quantity, able to handle 229 innings last year without a steep dropoff that portends bad things. Hudson's obliques are the same, a problem year after year that he's learned to live with. His mechanics cause the problem and the skinny frame he sports simply can't handle the stress he generates with his nasty stuff. A change in their routines--for Hudson, the second in two years--will be interesting to watch.

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