Former All-Star righty Henderson Alvarez put on a showcase yesterday, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). There’s no word yet on how it went, though it’s certainly promising that he was able to take the mound at all. Alvarez, who only just turned 27, is said to be to full health. He last appeared in the majors early in the 2015 season, before a string of shoulder problems intervened. About half of the MLB clubs were represented at the showcase, per Heyman; it’s not surprising to hear of the interest given Alvarez’s young age and track record of success — including a sterling 2014 campaign in which he placed 12th in the NL Cy Young voting.
Here’s more on some injury situations from around the game:
- Giants infielder Eduardo Nunez is heading to the 10-day DL with a hamstring injury, as Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on Twitter. That placement opens space for Conor Gillaspie to return from his own stint on the disabled list. It doesn’t seem to be a major injury, as the club has given Nunez time to try to work through the issue, but clearly the hope will be that he can return sooner than later. Nunez seems like the most obvious trade piece on the San Francisco roster, and he’ll need to be in top form at the deadline to maximize his return.
- Rays skipper Kevin Cash says that infielder Matt Duffy had a procedure to “remove a pea-sized calcium deposit” from his problematic left heel, as Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter links). The hope is that doctors have identified the cause of Duffy’s ongoing pain, which has lingered much longer than anticipated. Cash says he expects Duffy to return to action this summer, which could represent a nice boost.
- There’s still no clarity on the status of Red Sox righty Carson Smith, who has been working back from Tommy John surgery. But president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and manager John Farrell weren’t exactly brimming with confidence yesterday, as Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com reports. It has now been ten days since Smith last threw, and he’ll be evaluated by medical personnel before picking up a baseball again. At this point, there’s no clear timetable for Smith to make it back to the majors, though Farrell says the organization has “not closed the book in a sense on anything Carson can contribute this year.”
- While his potential shift to third base has drawn all the headlines, it’s also notable that Braves slugger Freddie Freeman has made major strides in the healing process for his broken wrist. As David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Twitter links), Freeman says that doctors have seen dramatic improvement over the last week. While he says he can still feel some pain in the surgically repaired joint, he stressed that “it’s pain, it’s not hurt” at this stage.
- Rangers lefty Martin Perez is headed to the 10-day DL with a fractured right thumb, per a club announcement. Fortunately, that’s his non-pitching hand, so it seems likely he won’t require an extended absence. (Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News has the story on the injury, which was caused by a rogue hotel door.) Texas will also welcome back southpaw Cole Hamels, who is slated to take the MLB mound on Monday.
- The Dodgers announced yesterday that righty Chris Hatcher will head to the 10-day DL with thoracic inflammation. The 32-year-old has struggled to a 4.66 ERA, with seven home runs clouding his stat sheet though he also carries a strong 10.6 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9. He has been replaced on the active roster by fellow right-hander Ross Stripling.
- And finally, the Reds have officially activated righty Homer Bailey. That move was expected at this point, but it’s still plenty notable. The high-priced righty has made just eight MLB starts since the beginning of the 2015 season, and will be trying to reestablish himself as a healthy and productive big leaguer. Young outfielder Jesse Winker was optioned to create roster space.
Three years ago we’d never even heard of thoracic syndrome. Now it seems like virtually a weekly event.
I’ve noticed a lot of people recovering from Tommy John tend to lead toward this surgery.
I’m wondering if this is a new name for some other condition. Or is it one that simply went undiagnosed until recently?
I believe the diagnosis was less specific but over the past 5-10 years it has gradually become more common to see it coined as TOS. I remember reading about it back when Adam Wainwright underwent surgery to fix it and it being a very invasive operation requiring the removal of a rib or two. If I remember right it used to be something that was a career ended just because of the invasiveness of the surgery.
The first player I knew to have that surgery was Josh Beckett. What was that, three years ago? Since then, one after another — and always pitchers (IIRC).
Chris Carpenter was the first I can think of getting the procedure done. That was in 2012 I believe. Here is a bit about TOS in baseball: TOS occurs when the blood vessels between the collarbone and the first rib become compressed. This usually causes pain in several different places depending on the nature of the specific injury. The shoulders, neck and fingers are all target areas for pain and numbness due to the compression.
Its probably under diagnosed in baseball considering its symptoms are pretty common for ball players.
Sorry I got Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter backwards… CC had the surgery not Wainwright.
I was wrong all these guys were before Carpenter: Kenny Rogers, John Rheinecker, Jeremy Bonderman, Hank Blalock, and Matt Harrison
It’s almost like the sudden gluten allergy epidemic
@ililikebaseball – Interesting. Thanks for the distilled explanation.
Could the frequency of occurrence be attributable to the scouts’ bias towards really big pitchers who throw with max effort on every pitch? The lanky guys seem less prevalent in the majors. Instead, we saw jacked up, 6’5″ pitchers who try to throw every pitch like it’s their last.
Could be. From what I understand the area under the shoulder gets inflamed and pinches the nerve responsible for feeling in the shoulder up against the ribcage. So in order to relieve the pressure they remove the rib(s) in the affected area. Max effort can certainly cause some swelling and shoulder problems.
Can this be the end of the Chris Hatcher saga please?
Hatcher is not hurt he just sucks. DFA him already
It only hurts when he pitches.
I like Nunez a lot. We don’t really have a place for him in D.C. but he never strikes out and steals a bunch of bases. What could he get them this summer?
I forgot Homer Bailey existed.
Alvarez could be a sneaky good stretch-run SP for someone.
As long as Freddie can just make the plays that should be made at 3B this year, his bat will more than make up for the rest.
He won’t be able to make the plays. I love him, but the guy looks like a troll over there.
If Alvarez is healthy…welcome back to Miami? Desperately need pitching. Even if he isn’t good, he’s an upgrade
Agreed with everything you said except “even if he isn’t good……”
Injuries are killing the Sox pen…… trades and signings haven’t done squat
giants lost 50th game even if they play 600 baseball they will probably lose 90 games 1st draft pick 2018.
Freeman needs to at least play two weeks in the minors at third please