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Team Injury Projections

The Team Injury Projections are here, driven by our brand new injury forecasting system, the Comprehensive Health Index [of] Pitchers [and] Players [with] Evaluative Results—or, more succinctly, CHIPPER. Thanks to work by Colin Wyers and Dan Turkenkopf and a database loaded with injuries dating back to the 2002 season—that's nearly 4,600 players and well over 400,000 days lost to injury—we now have a system that produces injury-risk assessments to three different degrees. CHIPPER projects ratings for players based on their injury history—these ratings measure the probability of a player missing one or more games, 15 or more games, or 30 or more games. CHIPPER will have additional features added to it throughout the spring and early season that will enhance the accuracy of our injury coverage.

These ratings are also available in the Player Forecast Manager (pfm.baseballprospectus.com), where they'll be sortable by league or position—you won’t have to wait for us to finish writing this series in order to see the health ratings for all of the players.

NEW YORK METS
Team Audit | Depth Chart
 

Dashboard


2010 Recap
 

2010
 

2009
 

2008
 

2007
Finish here
48 entries
14 DL trips
               

1145
TDL

24
DMPI
 

1145
TDL
25th
 

24
DMPI
22nd
 

1797
TDL
30th
 

30
DMPI
27th
 

1717
TDL
29th
 

32
DMPI
24th
 

1314
TDL
23rd
 

31
DMPI
23rd

Hitters in approximate Depth Charts order at time of publication

 

Days Lost to Injury

2011 Injury Risk

Player

Age

2008

2009

2010

1-day

15-days

30-days
Jose Reyes

28

3

141

44

Red

Red

Red
Angel Pagan

29

142

89

8

Red

Red

Red
Carlos Beltran

34

2

84

114

Red

Red

Red
David Wright

28

1

16

1

Yellow

Yellow

Green
Jason Bay

32

3

9

71

Red

Red

Red
Ike Davis

24

0

0

0

Yellow

Green

Green
Josh Thole

24

0

0

0

Yellow

Green

Green
Luis Castillo

35

60

7

51

Red

Red

Yellow
Luis Hernandez

27

1

0

15

Red

Yellow

Green
Ruben Tejada

21

0

0

0

Green

Green

Green
Willie Harris

33

0

16

1

Yellow

Yellow

Green
Lucas Duda

25

0

0

0

Yellow

Green

Green
Scott Hairston

31

36

42

17

Red

Red

Yellow
Nick Evans

25

0

0

0

Yellow

Green

Green
Ronny Paulino

30

0

0

5

Yellow

Green

Green

Pitchers in approximate Depth Charts order at time of publication

 

Days Lost to Injury

2011 Injury Risk

Player

Age

2008

2009

2010

1-day

15-days

30-days
Mike Pelfrey

27

0

11

3

Green

Green

Green
Jonathon Niese

24

0

60

19

Yellow

Green

Green
Chris Young

32

95

112

164

Red

Red

Red
R.A. Dickey

36

0

0

0

Yellow

Yellow

Green
Chris Capuano

32

199

0

0

Yellow

Yellow

Yellow
Johan Santana

32

0

45

31

Yellow

Yellow

Green
Francisco Rodriguez

29

6

2

52

Yellow

Green

Green
Manny Acosta

30

47

0

0

Yellow

Green

Green
Bobby Parnell

26

0

0

15

Green

Green

Green
Tim Byrdak

37

0

0

27

Red

Yellow

Yellow
D.J. Carrasco

34

0

13

12

Yellow

Yellow

Green
Pat Misch

29

0

0

0

Green

Green

Green
Dillon Gee

25

0

0

0

Green

Green

Green
Oliver Perez

29

0

108

50

Red

Red

Yellow
Taylor Buchholz

29

19

200

138

Red

Red

Red

Summary: Before pitchers and catchers even reported last season, the Mets experienced a health-related public relations meltdown, as Carlos Beltran had surgery on his right knee—supposedly without management's blessing or knowledge. The procedure was paid for with workers' compensation paperwork signed by the Mets, who, as we just said, claimed they had no idea this was happening. (Was the previous front office that inept? Did Beltran go out of his way to trick the Mets into signing a piece of paper using some kind of wacky, fit-for-television plot of his own devising? Would it surprise you if the previous Mets' administration fell for Beltran's plan to dress up as an old woman in order to pretend to promote a blood drive or sell magazine subscriptions? Before you answer, remember: Oliver Perez.)

After years of sitting near the bottom of the injury rankings, questions began popping up about the team's medical staff. It's a little crazy to believe that the medical folks alone were responsible for the Mets' consistent inability to stay on the field: roster construction also plays a large role here. When you build around players with injury histories or significant risk of injury, you must live with the likelihood that they will eventually get hurt. Ask Johan Santana, John Maine, Jason Bay, Kelvim Escobar, and Jose Reyes, to name a few. (How about we just avoid the story of how Francisco Rodriguez injured his thumb, since it has very little to do with how the medical staff operates?)

Fans are going to have to hope for success to come from the revamped front office this year, as there is little to hope for from an injury standpoint. Only David Wright and Ronny Paulino rate as low risks in this year's projected lineup. Beltran’s knee woes have been well documented, and he has needed time off this spring to deal with continued soreness (though surely some of the time off has been planned). Scott Hairston, Bay, and Luis Castillo all are rated as very high risks. Reyes is a high risk who has shown that he needs to be healthy to be productive. Maybe the front office saved its money this winter knowing that it would likely need to pick up another avalanche of doctor's bills.

We know Santana probably won't be back before June. Mike Pelfrey and R.A. Dickey are the lone starters with even a remotely healthy past. CHIPPER is somewhat merciful, rating both Pelfrey and Jonathan Niese as low risks, but remember that Niese tired down the stretch last year and hasn't yet shown that he can hit the 200-innings mark. The rest of the rotation members are all at least at moderate risk to end up on the DL. The Mets simply don't have the depth at this position to cover for injuries over a long stretch, especially any damages to their top two arms.

The Big Risk: Beltran has garnered plenty of attention throughout the spring, and most of it hasn't been for good reasons. While it’s expected that his knee would act up or that adjustments would have to be made to his training regimen, his history of trunk and leg strains, concussion, and neck pain are concerning. His monster seasons in years past are becoming a distant memory, but the Mets do need and expect some production from the middle-of-the-order hitter. Beltran is rated as the highest risk for all the position players on the Mets, and given the options to replace him, may not be someone they can afford to lose.

Comeback: After missing 70 days in 2010 and finishing the season on the disabled list, Jason Bay will be looking to put his concussion behind him. Concussions are very individualized, as we've seen when discussing cases like Justin Morneau's or Jason LaRue's. Bay's concussion ended a disappointing debut season with the Mets, as his symptoms lingered into the fall. His return should help stabilize the outfield and the lineup, which will be sorely needed if Beltran can't play every day.

Best Health: Niese profiles as the lowest risk, though as we warned, his fatigue issues could be a problem.

Worst Health: If you've read this far, you've probably already guessed that it's Beltran.

Thank you for reading

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Richie
3/11
Reyes is all-red yet a "moderate" risk??
yankeehater32
3/11
Whoops. Sorry about that. I'll make the fix.
ScottBehson
3/11
Those 1700+ days lost the past few years were truly something to behold. They used 8 shortstops two years ago. Amazin!!!!!
yankeehater32
3/11
For last year's Amazin Avenue annual, I wrote an essay on the Mets' injuries in 2009. It's really a ridiculous year of pain that started before things even kicked off and never relented.
TADontAsk
3/11
Forgive me if this was already addressed. There is a lot of content on BP nowadays (which is good!), so I may have missed it, but I'm not sure I understand why you're using 1+ day/15+ days and 30+ days as a measure. It seems just about every player misses at least 1 game a season. Last year, only 2 players played in 162 games.

Everyone should be a red for the chance of missing 1 game, so I don't think that's very useful. A measure that makes more sense to me would be 15+/30+/60+.
yankeehater32
3/11
It's not predicting one game missed, it's predicting between 1 and 14 days missed. Basically, what are the chances a player will have a few day-to-day injuries, but not end up on the DL?
TADontAsk
3/11
Excellent. Thanks for the reply!
dturkenk
3/13
Also, it's predicting days missed to a disclosed injury - not just days off for resting.