It's Just Week One...But So Many Players Are Done

Jarrod Parker.  Brandon Beachy.  Kris Medlen.  AJ Griffin.  Bobby Parnell.  That's the start of a decent fantasy pitching staff back in January, now it's the roll call of the inpatient ward.  Add to that missed starts by Yu Darvish, Mike Minor and...Clayton Kershaw, and now you have a panic.  What's up baseball?  Is Dr James Andrews hiring out hits on elbows?  When do we have a serious conversation about this?  We've reached a point where a young pitcher going for Tommy John surgery seems routine.  Never mind double dips like Beachy and Parker. 

It might be time to question the systemic coaching of pitchers in American baseball and that includes high school and college ranks.  The exact issue is hard to pinpoint.  Overuse in young, developing arms?  Too much babying of young prospects which leads to more inflammation once their workloads increase?  I don't know.  But I do know this, maybe Trevor Bauer is an odd ball, but maybe he's right.  Do we have to force every pitcher into the same round hole?  Some might actually know what drills get the best response from their bodies.  Bauer's love of the running warmup pitch and long toss may not be a big thing.  Not that long ago pitchers always long tossed.  Now it's frowned upon and bullpen sessions are the norm.  Isn't that basically extra mileage on the elbow?  They're putting high stress on the joint using the normal pitching motion.  Long toss is a little different.  Miguel Sano might well be the only position player I've ever heard of having TJ surgery.  Shouldn't that mean something?

Jason

New Episode for 2014

Episode one of 2014, Fantasy 101 is now available at podbean.com/keepersandsleepers.  Also on iTunes and Stitcher.