Tsuyoshi Nishioka fractured his leg on this play in the first week of the season. It took more than two months for him to return. |
Of their projected starting lineup at the start of the season, only Danny Valencia and Michael Cuddyer avoided the DL, and Cuddyer almost certainly would have gone on the DL if not for the roster expansion that accompanies September. Of the projected starting rotation, only Carl Pavano stayed healthy all season.
It wasn't just last year, and it wasn't just injuries. Rehabs seemed to stretch out forever. J.J. Hardy implied late in the season that the Baltimore Orioles medical crew solved a wrist problem that bedeviled him all of 2010. The ins and outs of the Joe Mauer saga remain veiled from outsiders, but it appears to have begun with a decision early in the 2010 offseason to try to avoid surgery on his troubled knee, followed by surgery late in December and a rushed rehab.
Denard Span suffered a concussion on this play on June 3. He was cleared to play in early August, went 2-for-35, admitted he still had concussion symptoms and returned to the DL. |
What a general manager says for public consumption and what he says and does in-house are often two different things, of course, but the contrast between Smith's end-of-the-year take and Terry Ryan's is rather stark.
Here's Ryan:
"We had a tough year in medical. We had a tough year in a lot of areas. Not only up here, but right through the system. We need to do some tweaking at the very least there. When it comes to communication, there are areas there that need to be addressed, and I plan on doing that. I know Bill was in the process of doing that up until last week. He was worried about it, and I'm worried about it."
And:
"I think when everybody started to get concerned was the rehab time and how long after a sprained ankle it took to get back on the field. I'm aware of that and I have to talk to our medical people to get a better account of exactly why and some of the decisions that were made."
Ryan says Smith was acting on the problems. Maybe so. If so, he wasn't open about it, or even admitting there was an issue.
No comments:
Post a Comment