My hardest battle as an injury analyst is dealing with inexact information from the past. Right now, I have enough sources and advisors that it’s tough (but not impossible) to keep secrets. Things in the past seem to have a haze of history across them, but occasionally something will pop into the light that changes things. In some recent articles, I’ve discussed the difficulty pitchers have had returning from labrum injuries. One of my data points was that only one of thirty-six people have returned from labrum surgery. In fact, if I expand things a bit, there’s another. New information, uncovered by John Tomase for an upcoming article, confirms that Curt Schilling had labrum surgery in 1995. While this has been widely reported, it was not the diagnosis on his Standard Form. Without confirmation, I can’t use the data. Now, there’s a two-in-37 chance. It’s not much better, but it’s much more hopeful.
The Red Sox are hoping that rest and treatment will keep Curt Schilling on the mound. If the bone bruise that’s been bothering him fails to get any better, they will use the DL. His next start will be something of a test; if he can make it out of the start without increased pain, they’ll continue to let him pitch. However, he could end up on the DL just after the start, giving him a rest until after the ASB. While he could continue to pitch with the injury, the Red Sox are more concerned with having him at full strength for the second half of the season.
How prominent of a player is Rafael Palmeiro, now that he’s passed The Mick on the all-time home run list? The Rockies could reap serious benefits if Chin-hui Tsao pitches for his native Taiwan in the summer Olympics. And the Mets’ David Wright is absolutely tearing up double-A, and will most likely surface at the major-league level by the end of the year…assuming he’s not dealt for a few months of Carlos Beltran. All this and much more news from Baltimore, Colorado, and New York in your Monday edition of Prospectus Triple Play.
Kevin Towers doesn’t believe that there are any guarantees in the draft. Dusty Baker believes that pitchers just get hurt, and there’s little you can do to prevent it. Barry Bonds doesn’t believe the game should change for just one man. Ken Griffey Jr. just wants to hit No. 500 and move on. And Terry Ryan thinks the Shannon Stewart is the missing piece of the puzzle. All this and many more quips from around the league in your Monday edition of The Week In Quotes.
Sometimes, you have a great idea for a column, and the facts just don’t lend
themselves to the story.
So you write about the process.
See, in Houston tonight, we’re going to be treated to a terrific
intergenerational pitching matchup, as Mark Prior and
Roger Clemens meet for the Cubs and Astros. And I was
thinking that you might be able to trace the history of great pitching through
maybe a half-dozen games in baseball history. Prior is facing Clemens, and
Clemens must have had to face a similarly great pitcher in the early years of
his career, and so on.
As it turns out, you really can’t do it. It seems that pitchers of this
caliber don’t take each other on as often as you would hope, and once you miss
a link, you get off track pretty quickly.