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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.

SAN DIEGO PADRES
Team Audit | Depth Chart
 

Dashboard


2010 Recap
 

2010
 

2009
 

2008
 

2007
2nd in NL West
33 entries
14 DL trips
               

717
TDL

22
DMPI
 

717
TDL
7th
 

22
DMPI
20th
 

1657
TDL
29th
 

34
DMPI
29th
 

1420
TDL
21st
 

35
DMPI
26th
 

542
TDL
2nd
 

18
DMPI
3rd

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
Will Venable

28

0

5

22

Red

Yellow

Green
Jason Bartlett

31

31

22

17

Red

Yellow

Green
Chase Headley

27

0

1

0

Yellow

Green

Green
Ryan Ludwick

32

0

16

30

Red

Yellow

Yellow
Brad Hawpe

32

16

7

22

Red

Yellow

Yellow
Orlando Hudson

33

62

4

35

Red

Red

Yellow
Cameron Maybin

24

3

0

10

Yellow

Yellow

Green
Nick Hundley

27

2

61

1

Yellow

Yellow

Green
Jorge Cantu

29

1

12

2

Yellow

Green

Green
Chris Denorfia

30

16

0

1

Red

Yellow

Green
Kyle Blanks

24

0

40

139

Red

Red

Red
Eric Patterson

28

11

0

16

Yellow

Yellow

Green
Rob Johnson

27

0

14

4

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
Mat Latos

23

0

0

15

Green

Green

Green
Clayton Richard

27

0

0

0

Green

Green

Green
Aaron Harang

33

32

44

68

Red

Red

Red
Tim Stauffer

29

187

0

52

Yellow

Yellow

Yellow
Dustin Moseley

29

24

191

0

Yellow

Yellow

Yellow
Cory Luebke

26

0

0

0

Green

Green

Green
Heath Bell

33

0

0

0

Yellow

Green

Green
Mike Adams

32

0

92

26

Red

Yellow

Yellow
Luke Gregerson

27

0

28

0

Green

Green

Green
Chad Qualls

32

0

42

0

Yellow

Green

Green
Pat Neshek

30

146

189

46

Red

Red

Red
Ernesto Frieri

25

0

0

0

Green

Green

Green
Joe Thatcher

30

0

0

29

Yellow

Green

Green
Wade LeBlanc

26

0

0

0

Green

Green

Green

Summary: One of the reasons that the Padres were able to contend in 2010 was their improved health. Their numbers were even a little better than the above ratings suggest, as a few major injuries skewed the DMPI results. Chris Young's shoulder strain and Kyle Blanks' Tommy John surgery accounted for 164 and 139 days missed, respectively, raising the team's DMPI dramatically.

That TJ procedure makes Blanks the lone high risk across the board on the offensive side of things, and the Padres haven't decided exactly how (or when) they plan on bringing him back to the majors. Will Venable and Jason Bartlett both missed time in 2010, but for relatively minor issues, not for major injuries that soaked up chunks of their seasons. Venable was placed on the 15-day DL for 19 days due to lower back stiffness and soreness, but he didn’t have any other significant injuries to contend with. Bartlett is certainly more of a risk, as he has lost time to injury in each of the last three years. These absences stemmed from relatively minor complaints, but they still sent him to the disabled list (hence the risk factor).

Chase Headley has missed just one day over the last three years, thanks to a sore shoulder in 2009. Beginning in 2009, Ryan Ludwick started to deal with nuisance injuries, like calf or hamstring strains that would end up putting him on the 15-day DL. Since the calf bothered him during the entirety of his 2010 stint with San Diego, it's worth keeping an eye on. Brad Hawpe's thigh, quad and hamstring problems have sent him to the 15-day DL for short periods of time, and he also dealt with cracked ribs down the stretch in 2010. Orlando Hudson has suffered plenty of injuries throughout his career, including surgery on a broken left wrist in 2008 and an oblique strain last year. It's no surprise that a 33-year-old middle infielder with a history of injuries would be considered risky. Cameron Maybin is only 24, but he has yet to prove that he can remain healthy at the major-league level.

Mat Latos will end up starting the season on the 15-day DL, but he is eligible to come off as early as April 6. The medical staff is already pleased with his progress, so he may return at that early date. Clayton Richard also had shoulder inflammation this spring, which cost him eight games. He has remained healthy otherwise, so he should not be considered an extremely high risk.

Aaron Harang comes over from Cincinnati with an extremely risky profile. He has lost significant amount of time in each of the last three years, including 68 days last year to a lower back strain and a bruised ankle from a batted ball. Harang spent the winter rediscovering his old (successful) mechanics, so perhaps his old health will return as well. Tim Stauffer missed time in 2010 thanks to appendicitis, but his move to the rotation from the bullpen increases his risk. Between Dustin Moseley, Wade LeBlanc, and Corey Luebke, the Padres should be able to fill in the fifth spot in the rotation as well as the necessary spot starts. Moseley has the most risk of the group, though.

The bullpen, besides Pat Neshek, is a mostly healthy group. Chad Qualls pitched through knee pain that hurt his numbers in 2010, but he has thrown well this spring. Joe Thatcher's rating may be a little optimistic, as his shoulder is hurting and may cause him to miss time like he did in 2010, but he's not one of the primary relievers in the pen: the big three of Heath Bell, Luke Gregerson, and Mike Adams are expected to stay off the DL for the duration.

The Big Risk: Latos is going to be starting the season on the disabled list due to bursitis in his right shoulder, giving us a peak at what the club looks like without its lone ace. Two of the remaining starters have already suffered their own injuries this spring, and consequently are not quite where they need to be. A third has missed a significant amount of time in each of the last four years. Several arms in the bullpen have also been injured this spring and have experienced varying levels of success, meaning that the Padres need Latos to be right, and soon.

Comeback: Tommy John surgeries in a positional athlete are far from rare, but they occur less frequently than they do with pitchers. Kyle Blanks received his scar at the end of July and has been rehabilitating ever since. The TJ procedure has a good track record in positional players, and with Blanks' elbow progressing well this spring, he should be added to the list of success stories soon. The Padres could use his bat, as long as his elbow is healthy.

Best Health: Chase Headley isn't the most productive Padre, but he is the healthiest.

Worst Health: Harang has to hope that there's some magic left in his old mechanics, because all the time he has missed over the last few years has earned him this spot.

Thank you for reading

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LynchMob
3/29
It seems a flaw in the system/process/algorithm to show Mat Latos with "0"s for 2008 and 2009 ... I don't know the details, but I'm pretty sure he didn't make all his starts in both those years, did he?

And shouldn't you have a manual override so that a player already on the 15-day DL doesn't show a green bone for 1-day and 15-day :-)
Stingers56
3/30
I think most, if not all, of the starts he missed last year were efforts to limit his innings. Trust me, I had him last year in two leagues and again this year. And now he's starts the season on the shelf due to some concern.
Stingers56
3/30
I just checked he was on the DL in the middle of July last year.
cidawkins
3/30
Yeah we don't list the starts that he missed to limit innings if he is healthy. In 2008 and 2009, he did miss time in the minors but none in the major league level. This was similar to previous years here at BP which followed only major league disabled list transactions. By next year we should be able to incorporate all of the major, minor, and winter league data to give a much more detailed analysis.
irussma
3/30
There's something bothering me about the Best Health/Worst Health ratings - actually, it's more the Worst Health and Big Risk side of things. Yeah, Harang is rather injury-prone, but he's also not someone the Padres are really relying on - they took a fairly low-cost flier on him *because* he's injury-prone. Saying that he has the worst health on the team isn't telling us anything we don't already know. The same goes for Pat Neshek.

Now, someone like Orlando Hudson, a significant health risk who's also the team's starting second baseman - and who is on a multi-year, eight-figure contract - is much more interesting and much more potentially damaging. I suppose that's what 'The Big Risk' is supposed to cover, but too often it focuses on a player who projects to have excellent health. Case in point: 'Big Risk' Mat Latos is green across the board (granted, he's actually injured right now, so the risk is still there).

I'm not trying to be overly critical, by the way, since I'm actually really enjoying these articles. There's just an oddity here - maybe change the 'Big Risk' to be a player who combines an important role with a high chance of being hurt (like, say, Hudson) and have another category like 'Can Least Afford to Lose?' That's what the 'Big Risk' segments have been about - the team's least replaceable player, whether he's healthy or not.