BP Team Health Reports
February 18, 2005
Team Health Reports
Houston Astros
by Will Carroll
Hitters
● C Brad Ausmus
● 1B Jeff Bagwell: Sure, his shoulder is shot. He can't throw and he's
changing his familiar batting stance to try and find the
power that has been fading. At first, he's unlikely to tax
his shoulder more than he has in the past. He's more likely
to retire than he is to spend a long stint on the DL.
● 2B Jose Vizcaino
● SS Adam Everett: Everett's wrist injury cost him the last third of the
season. It's not the type of injury that recurs, but it
can take a while for power to return. It won't affect
anything else he does well--running, fielding--so he's
still valuable without the power.
● 3B Morgan Ensberg
● LF Jason Lane: Lane has some chronic groin problems. Add in a growing
reputation for being a player that is both never quite 100
percent and who won't play at less than 100 percent and it
explains why he always seems to find himself on the bench.
● CF Craig Biggio: Changing positions is usually a negative for
short-term injury prospects, so what do we do with Biggio?
A move to left didn't bother him, and he's made a number
of other moves during his career. He's aged well and
defied the "dirtbag curse" of the hustling, diving player
who tends to spend time coming back from nagging injuries.
Biggio this season shouldn't be much different than Biggio
last season. I'm just not sure if that's a compliment.
● RF Lance Berkman: I love the easy ones. Berkman is coming back
from an ACL torn in a November flag football game.
Scheduled to return in May, he's telling everyone that
he's ahead of schedule. The repair is an operation that
normally puts players out for a year, so my guess is that
the tear wasn't complete. It also might be that new
techniques are changing the normal recovery time. Once
back, it shouldn't affect his game, but his center-field
days are probably over.
● 2B Chris Burke
● CF Willy Taveras: Described as "Ichiro fast," Taveras could push Biggio to
second base or an outfield corner if he makes the club.
How Taveras plays in the spring, and how fast Berkman is
able to come back will determine how this plays out, but
it won't really affect the injury outlook for any of the
players involved.
Pitchers
● SP Roger Clemens: Freak.
● SP Roy Oswalt: Oswalt looks really good when healthy...and pretty darn good
when he's not. He'll fight through injuries, sacrificing his
body to help his team. At some point, that's going to catch
up with him. Pitchers of this type burn brightly, but
seldom for very long.
●SP Andy Pettitte: I don't like this red. Pettitte has a history of
reasonably good returns, and he has a very good comp in
Jason Schmidt. Assuming the flexor tendon problem is all
that was wrong--and there have long been other rumors about
the condition of his arm--I feel pretty confident that
Pettitte won't become the worst signing of a pitcher in
Texas state history.
● SP Brandon Backe: Research--admittedly from a small set of data--
shows that players converted to pitching from other
positions at the professional level have a very high risk
of injury. Backe has a number of issues beyond this, like
poor mechanics and a rapidly changing workload.
● SP Pete Munro
● CL Brad Lidge: His mechanics kept him from remaining a starter,
but he's certainly found his place in the pen. It's a
low-level yellow, just noting the workload he put in over
the last couple months of 2004 simply can't be sustained.
Phil Garner should consider this more than fantasy owners.
Age is a funny thing. Despite a persistent focus on certain ages as markers in
evaluating players, Nate Silver has shown on a number of occasions that it's
not so simple as looking at a number. There are many factors other than a
birthdate that go into projecting a player's performance. The same applies for
projecting injuries. There are certain broad generalizations we can make about
certain ages, but when we bring this down, we find that averages seldom
describe individuals well. They certainly miss the extremes.
The Astros are a team full of extremes. Roger Clemens might be well into his
forties, but the latest Cy Young Award on his mantle certainly shows that his
skills haven't diminished. His green light shines in defiance of his age.
Roy Oswalt made a credible case for the same award, but his workload and injury
history make him a red-light player, despite being 15 years younger. This team,
especially the pitching staff, doesn't match up with conventional thinking.
Research shows that older pitchers aren't injured significantly more than
younger pitchers, but they do tend to take longer to heal. The reverse is
true for younger pitchers, who come up with more numerous injuries but heal
quickly. Making it tougher, there's a line around age 34 where the
"survivor effect" starts kicking in.
All in all, this is a team that's pretty healthy. Give a lot of credit to
Dave LaBossiere and his medical staff; they've consistently been in the top
third of baseball when it comes to preventing injuries and returning their
athletes on schedule. If they deliver Berkman when they say they will, and
keep this pitching staff together, they'll deserve a lot of the credit for
a winning team.
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