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April 16, 2007

Under The Knife

Sikh and Ye Shall Find

by Will Carroll

I don't want to do a whole Jackie Robinson thing here, but I'll tip my cap to the man just the same. I came home from the grocery store and saw something going on at the park by my house. I've talked several times about never seeing kids playing sandlot ball or even catch, the way that I did back in the dark ages, so when I saw a group of young men in the grass, I had to stop. It took a couple seconds to realize it wasn't baseball but cricket that I was seeing. My area is heavily populated by Sikhs, so I shouldn't be surprised. It's not baseball, but it's something, a communal game where men gathered to play. It was interesting to watch, and more interesting to watch a man in a turban running after a popup. Hopefully, I can go back sometime, maybe learn the rules, and maybe even figure out if that bowler could be converted into a pitcher. I don't think there's been a player from the subcontinent in baseball yet, but maybe there's a cricketing kid somewhere in America who'll be his people's Jackie Robinson.

Powered by inspiration, on to the injuries:

• One of the more interesting conclusions I've reached from taking a look at five years of injury data in baseball and six in football is that the training room should not be a meritocracy. It's something I learned long ago, but never quite understood. It wasn't fair that the star player got more attention, but from this angle, there's a darn good reason. So knowing this, is it worse when a star player with a known condition breaks down? One thing I've looked at doing with injury stats is some sort of adjustment to the days and dollars for "expectation." It's still far too subjective to use as a comparison, but let's face it—subjective is better than capricious, which is how some injuries appear. I could say that I anticipated something would happen to B.J. Ryan, especially given a very high yellow rating. But it's almost the same as what he earned in 2006, and he came through fine there. Word from sources is that Ryan's elbow is definitely a problem due to the reduced workload and altered mechanics that came from his off-season back injury. He'll see Dr. James Andrews on Monday and most think that, like his teammate A.J. Burnett, Ryan is there largely for the confidence boost that comes from getting an Andrews seal of approval. Then again, a pitcher with Ryan's mechanics, and one that several scouts have told me was rushed through the minors to get as much value out of his arm as possible before it blew up, always represents a risk. The Jays will turn to Jason Frasor as closer for now, as Ryan hits the DL for what many figure to be at least a month.

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