“The LTJ Editorial”
Author: Luis Tirado Jr.
Date: 9-17-13
Twitter: @LTJ81
Website: http://www.TheNYExpress.com
“Harvey, face the knife, not the rehab!”
Mets fans across the country were anxiously awaiting what Dr. James Andrews would tell SP Matt Harvey this past Monday. No news broke out at the time as the team issued a statement saying they would have full details the following day. It was finally revealed that Harvey and company decided to give a month or two into extensive rehab over having surgery. The thought process here is to give the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow time to heal naturally while rehabilitating it daily. If by around mid November another MRI shows no sign of healing, all signs point to the inevitable – Harvey will need to undergo Tommy John Surgery which would effectively keep him out of baseball for about a year. Some say Harvey refuses to accept the circumstances and wants to avoid this surgery as much as possible. Others say there is a 50/50 chance that he could indeed come back from this naturally and like he posted on his Twitter account, will be seeing fans back on the mound come April 1st, 2014. In my honest opinion, I think he made the wrong choice here. He should have faced surgery and accept the fact that he's hurt and needs this taken care of as soon as possible.
The plan now is to have him be involved in a six to eight week throwing program to test his elbow and see if he can avoid surgery. While I admire Harvey's commitment to beat this the natural way, I honestly believe he is going with his heart and not his mind. Injuries of this nature really are 50/50 if you think about it. Lets say he does indeed beat this the natural way and all is fine for now. Fast forward a few years later and he has another similar injury, this time, it's worst and on the same throwing arm. What if it's so serious that it could potentially be career-ending? All because he went against medical advice in 2013 and didn't get Tommy John Surgery. What if in three or four years from now it comes back to haunt him? Years of wear and tear of not getting it surgically fixed now could potentially mean he loses all the attributes that made him a dominant pitcher later.
Regardless, he will have to face the knife at some point since a tear in your elbow is very hard to heal through rehab. If anything, this is just adding more time to recovery if and when he does need the surgery. It truly is a shame since there is a ton of pressure on the Mets to deliver big in 2014 and without their premiere ace on the mound, they are already at a disadvantage. I'm pretty sure the Mets will use their finances to acquire a top pitcher to help compliment our starting rotation. Even if Harvey does come back on April 1st like he said, there is no guarantee he will last the entire season healthy. That's why I truly hope it's realized sooner than later that he does need to go under the knife, get the surgery done, and start working on coming back 100% healthy for 2015. It's better to play it safe now than be sorry for years to come.
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Showing posts with label Tommy John Surgery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tommy John Surgery. Show all posts
9/10/13
The LTJ Editorial: “Are the Mets coddling our pitchers?”
“The LTJ Editorial”
Author: Luis Tirado Jr.
Date: 9-10-13
Twitter: @LTJ81
Website: http://www.TheNYExpress.com
These past few months for the NY Mets pitchers have been chock full of injuries left and right. Stemming from last season with SP Johan Santana, the Mets have a grand total of eight pitchers on the disabled list. Injuries ranging from stress fractures, surgeries to fix pain from pitching, herniated disks, and the dreaded Tommy John Surgery that takes almost a year to heal. Needless to say, is there something wrong with how Management treats their pitchers? Or could it be that the Mets are simply overprotecting them from imaginary harm? Let me explain.
Between having proposed “innings caps” in the minors, to pulling pitchers out due to high pitch counts early in games, a lot of times doing those kind of moves makes baseball sense to a degree. You have your starting pitcher hitting 80 pitches too early in a game and you worry about him getting tightened up, sore, or playing through fatigue. Most of the time these injuries come with the game, you pitch so many days of the week and only have a day or so of rest in between starts and practices. It's bound to happen because of the workload that you have with every start. I remember last year the outburst of joy mixed with fear of letting Santana pitch that perfect game because everyone worried would he last the entire year. He didn't, but I refuse to believe that him pitching 134 pitches in one game truly led to his shoulder issue that ultimately needed surgery. It was even reported that Manager Terry Collins wanted to pull him out due to fear of him getting hurt. Santana of course refused and is etched in MLB history for that perfect game, but what if Collins did indeed pull him out? Could that have prevented his shoulder injury? I doubt it, it's one of those things you can't really predict. That's my whole point. No medical staff, manager, or coach can prevent an injury based on “what ifs” because of how you're playing. One thing that I feel should never happen is limiting your pitcher because of worrying about the future.
I read a great article about a week ago in the New York Daily News about how legendary Mets SP Tom Seaver said that while he felt bad for what happened to SP Matt Harvey, nothing could have prevented his injury. Not innings limits, pitch counts, or pulling him out early because of the wear and tear of his arm. That not only just the Mets but baseball in general truly “babies” young pitchers instead of letting them go out and do what they've been doing since they were little; play baseball. That in his era, pitchers didn't get coddled or told to take it easy with their pitches, they relied on mechanics, practice, and playing at their highest. I completely agree with Seaver here because honestly, he's absolutely correct. Back in his day, pitchers pitched way more than they do now, not pitch less for concerns about longevity. They also didn't suffer any major injuries and that's with double the workload back then to what it is now.
It just doesn't make sense to have the mentality as a pitching coach or even Manager that coddling pitchers will ultimately prevent injuries. Nothing can truly predict what causes an injury and when I look at the injury report and see eight pitchers on there for the Mets, I think there is something bigger going on. It feels like management treats their pitchers like fans do with their fantasy teams.... like robots! Too many times technology gets in the way and everything is being counted and tallied against you. Trying to teach young talent how to throw slower speed pitches so you last longer doesn't make much sense to me. Especially being pulled from a game against your will because you are throwing too hard and need to be “protected” for the future. As a pitcher, you know your game and your body more than any coach thinks he knows about you. Unless you are writhing in pain and can't go the distance, then by all means, let the medical staff/coach make that decision and take you out. But if you are in a rhythm and doing your thing, it's not right to be limited because your name and age determine your playing status.
The whole reason MLB went to five and possibly six man rotations depending on your team structure, was to limit the workload on starting pitchers. However, back in the day, especially when Seaver played, it use to be four man rotations and not many severe injuries to boot. No shoulder surgeries, or hernias, blown arms, nothing. Just straight up baseball where 300 inning workloads were the norm. Let pitchers go to their potential and stop coddling them for fear of their careers. Everyone is a competitor, let that natural aggression out and let it get sorted out as the years go by. You can't prevent injury but it seems lately, coaches are preventing players from doing what they love. Let the players play because at the end of the day, injuries are part of the game. It's just going to happen in this day and age. Trying to prevent them by limiting and shutting down players shouldn't be the only option to preserve careers. Conditioning, practicing, and executing does that.
Author: Luis Tirado Jr.
Date: 9-10-13
Twitter: @LTJ81
Website: http://www.TheNYExpress.com
“Are the Mets coddling our pitchers?”
These past few months for the NY Mets pitchers have been chock full of injuries left and right. Stemming from last season with SP Johan Santana, the Mets have a grand total of eight pitchers on the disabled list. Injuries ranging from stress fractures, surgeries to fix pain from pitching, herniated disks, and the dreaded Tommy John Surgery that takes almost a year to heal. Needless to say, is there something wrong with how Management treats their pitchers? Or could it be that the Mets are simply overprotecting them from imaginary harm? Let me explain.
Between having proposed “innings caps” in the minors, to pulling pitchers out due to high pitch counts early in games, a lot of times doing those kind of moves makes baseball sense to a degree. You have your starting pitcher hitting 80 pitches too early in a game and you worry about him getting tightened up, sore, or playing through fatigue. Most of the time these injuries come with the game, you pitch so many days of the week and only have a day or so of rest in between starts and practices. It's bound to happen because of the workload that you have with every start. I remember last year the outburst of joy mixed with fear of letting Santana pitch that perfect game because everyone worried would he last the entire year. He didn't, but I refuse to believe that him pitching 134 pitches in one game truly led to his shoulder issue that ultimately needed surgery. It was even reported that Manager Terry Collins wanted to pull him out due to fear of him getting hurt. Santana of course refused and is etched in MLB history for that perfect game, but what if Collins did indeed pull him out? Could that have prevented his shoulder injury? I doubt it, it's one of those things you can't really predict. That's my whole point. No medical staff, manager, or coach can prevent an injury based on “what ifs” because of how you're playing. One thing that I feel should never happen is limiting your pitcher because of worrying about the future.
I read a great article about a week ago in the New York Daily News about how legendary Mets SP Tom Seaver said that while he felt bad for what happened to SP Matt Harvey, nothing could have prevented his injury. Not innings limits, pitch counts, or pulling him out early because of the wear and tear of his arm. That not only just the Mets but baseball in general truly “babies” young pitchers instead of letting them go out and do what they've been doing since they were little; play baseball. That in his era, pitchers didn't get coddled or told to take it easy with their pitches, they relied on mechanics, practice, and playing at their highest. I completely agree with Seaver here because honestly, he's absolutely correct. Back in his day, pitchers pitched way more than they do now, not pitch less for concerns about longevity. They also didn't suffer any major injuries and that's with double the workload back then to what it is now.
It just doesn't make sense to have the mentality as a pitching coach or even Manager that coddling pitchers will ultimately prevent injuries. Nothing can truly predict what causes an injury and when I look at the injury report and see eight pitchers on there for the Mets, I think there is something bigger going on. It feels like management treats their pitchers like fans do with their fantasy teams.... like robots! Too many times technology gets in the way and everything is being counted and tallied against you. Trying to teach young talent how to throw slower speed pitches so you last longer doesn't make much sense to me. Especially being pulled from a game against your will because you are throwing too hard and need to be “protected” for the future. As a pitcher, you know your game and your body more than any coach thinks he knows about you. Unless you are writhing in pain and can't go the distance, then by all means, let the medical staff/coach make that decision and take you out. But if you are in a rhythm and doing your thing, it's not right to be limited because your name and age determine your playing status.
The whole reason MLB went to five and possibly six man rotations depending on your team structure, was to limit the workload on starting pitchers. However, back in the day, especially when Seaver played, it use to be four man rotations and not many severe injuries to boot. No shoulder surgeries, or hernias, blown arms, nothing. Just straight up baseball where 300 inning workloads were the norm. Let pitchers go to their potential and stop coddling them for fear of their careers. Everyone is a competitor, let that natural aggression out and let it get sorted out as the years go by. You can't prevent injury but it seems lately, coaches are preventing players from doing what they love. Let the players play because at the end of the day, injuries are part of the game. It's just going to happen in this day and age. Trying to prevent them by limiting and shutting down players shouldn't be the only option to preserve careers. Conditioning, practicing, and executing does that.
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