March 3, 2025

42 thoughts on “Yankees.com: Gil to have MRI for shoulder discomfort, dealing Yanks early rotation question”

  2. Shoulders are often more worrisome than elbows. Even surgically repaired elbows.

    Meanwhile, Bellinger, Wells, and Alex Jackson(!) have homered today, though all off of AAA pitching.

    1. Shoulders are often more worrisome than elbows. Even surgically repaired elbows.

      The way I look at the hierachy is typically…

      A. Tight forearm – you’re fucked, TJS
      B. Tight elbow – you’re fucked, TJS
      C. Tight shoulder – you might be only TEMPORARILY fucked, or you could need shoulder surgery, which is just as bad as TJS
      D. Tight hamstring – you’re only temporarily fucked
      E. Tight back – you’re only temporarily fucked
      F. Tight lat – you’re only temporarily fucked

      You don’t really get tightness in your knees or feet, so that’s pretty much the hierachy. So yes, the shoulder isn’t great, but I’d still prefer it to the elbow or the forearm.

    2. TJS means missing a season or two, but you can eventually return to your full strength. Shoulder surgery means an equally long recovery but you’re probably not the same pitcher after. There’s a range of outcomes in both surgeries – every once in a while there’s an exception who comes back from shoulder surgery, like Chris Carpenter or Hiroki Kuroda – but in the aggregate the outcomes are worse for pitchers who undergo shoulder surgery.

      https://community.fangraphs.com/pitchers-recovering-from-serious-arm-injuries-2/

    1. Subjectively, anyone can like anything, so – sure!
      To judge the value of that fact, though, we’d need to know both who might have been on the roster if Stroman weren’t, and who would have taken the spot in the rotation that will be possibly be taken by Stroman.
      If Stroman could had gone for a top 3B, for instance (unlikely, of course), then we probably shouldn’t be glad he’s still a Yankee. If a trade of Stroman had led to a rotation spot being filled by a prospect who excelled, then we probably shouldn’t be glad he’s still a Yankee.
      Of course, we can’t know those things, so the best I can say is that Stroman’s still being here makes Cashman’s and Boone’s decision-making easier right now. And that they probably won’t get bad performance (or stellar performance) out of the 5th spot in the rotation,

  5. https://www.mlb.com/news/automated-ball-strike-calls-mlb-spring-games

    In particular, “In MiLB games featuring full ABS, walks were more prevalent”.

    “in Minor League testing last year, calls challenged by players were overturned 51% of the time.

    “In no strike zone that we’ve tried, in no format that we’ve tried,” said Sword, “has that rate moved much above or below 50%, which is pretty interesting in that these are the subset of pitches that are most ‘controversial’ among players.””

    1. I’ve posted about this before, but…

      I attended a AAA game with the challenge system. It was deadly. Seemingly every AB had a challenge.

    2. Interesting. I mean, challenges in tennis become pretty entertaining. Also… so there was no limit to the number of challenges, then? The article suggests that the highest average number of challenges per game for any system used was less than 6.
      –
      Still, there are two ways of eliminating challenges.

    3. Having a challenge system feels pretty troll. It’s like ‘we know the umps can’t do the calls but first let’s prove the players can’t do the calls before just fully automating it in 2-5 years’.

      They are probably going to need to round the strike zone though.

    2. if he wants to play for cheap and mash lefties i dont have a problem with it.

  13. After numerous seasons plagued with injuries galore, they were pretty much healthy last season.
    If they’re back to half the team being injured at any time… say good night, Gracie.

  14. At this point DJ would benefit from a consultation with the renowned orthopedist Dr Gerald Versfeld.

    Who is perhaps best known as Oscar Pistorius’s surgeon.

    1. I’m not convinced he’d be any better than a random no-position slugger in the minors, and he’s also loathsome

    2. Martinez had a decent year just last season, and he faded late, which is hopefully when Stanton will be returning. If Rice could stick as the backup catcher, they could go with a bench of:

      Grisham
      Rice
      DJ
      Peraza

      And then make a call on DJ when Stanton returns (or see DJ’s injury take him out of the roster, “solving” that problem)

  16. Hoch suggests that the injury to Stanton could lead to a realigned outfield with Trent Grisham joining the lineup in center field, with Cody Bellinger sliding from center to right field and Aaron Judge moving to DH. Such an arrangement would improve the club’s defense overall by adding a plus glove in center.

    Stanton will begin the season on the injured list due to soreness in both elbows, another potentially ‘key player’ for the club went down with a potential injury: veteran infielder DJ LeMahieu.

    1. I just don’t get how they’re trying to sell “Nah, nah, it is all good, the guy we desperately avoided playing all last year after he was terrible two years ago is going to start now” as a good thing.

    2. They want to make sure their new DH plays passable defence in CF. It’s the new moneyball, baby!

  17. Pete Caldera This morning at Yankees camp, DJ LeMahieu (left calf) said condition is “not anything major but it’s probably going to be a little bit” before he’s able to return.

    He should just shut his mouth and spare us this nonsense.

  19. It’s enough to make you wonder: ST is designed to let players work into shape, in part to prevent injuries. Could it possibly, concievably, be preventing more injuries than happen in ST?
    I’m sure it is, but – damn.

    1. Basically, the moment you go from offseason training to real baseball training, that’s when you’re at your most vulnerable. It’s pretty much always a bit of a crapshoot how your body will respond to the ramp up period.

      Well, except for LeMahieu, it’s never a surprise when his body falls apart as soon as he starts ramping up.

    1. Anora really was excellent. I’m SHOCKED they actually nominated the guy who played Igor. You almost never see the Academy nominate a guy whose performance was so subtle.

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