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April 20, 2009

Under The Knife

Monday Meds

by Will Carroll

Brian McCann (NA)
One of the least understood advances being made in baseball involves fine-tuning a player's eyesight by opting for laser eye surgery. In its various forms, the vision correction has been credited with great feats, but the data set is so incomplete as to make it difficult to even guess about the actual effects. If there's one thing we could say about the surgeries, it was that it couldn't hurt. There had never been a negative consequence that was made public, but now we might have the first. McCann had the surgery last year, and has had trouble with dry eyes from time to time since then. It's become significantly worse over the past few weeks, and he's going to head to a specialist to have his eyes checked. There's a chance that he may need a redo or some smaller procedure. Since we don't have any in-season examples, we really have only anecdotal evidence to go on. McCann may need to go on the DL if the problem can't be corrected with eye drops, and this has the potential to go much further if more surgery is needed. This one will need to be watched very closely, though the team expects to make a DL decision on Monday. I don't have enough information to put a DXL on this.

Alex Gordon (60 DXL)
Gordon had his hip scoped on Friday, and according to reports, everything went as planned. The labral tear was repaired, and he'll head directly into rehab. Like Alex Rodriguez, Gordon was on a stationary bike within 48 hours of the surgery. It's always hard to tell how an individual will react to a major injury; it's a combination of pain tolerance, drive, conditioning, and genetics. It appears, though, that Alex Gordon is on much the same track as A-Rod, and while I'm going to leave the DXL at the long end of current estimates, there's no reason to expect (yet) that he can't come back on much the same schedule. It's almost funny to think back to the early reports on Chase Utley, when we were talking about his missing six months.

Cristian Guzman (15 DXL)
The Nationals—or is it Natinals now?—spent much of the weekend reconfiguring a team full of holes. One of those holes is at shortstop, where they made the move to push Guzman to the DL. This was a little surprising, since Guzman not only insisted that he was fine, but also demonstrated it with some agility drills. There might be some conservatism at work on a team under fire and with an all-new medical staff. His hamstring is worrisome, given the two "pops" that he described, as well as his past problems there. Still, all indications are that he'll return by the minimum and jump right back in where he left off, making Nate Silver look like a genius. Again.

Jay Bruce (3 DXL)
There may not be a more wired press corps than what they have in Cincinnati. All of the major beat reporters not only blog, they also use Twitter to get information out. That kind of quick data flies in the face of the idea that injuries can still be hidden. (Let's see if NFL beat writers figure this out.) We'll leave the concept that there's some competitive advantage to hiding injuries alone for now, and get back to Bruce, who was first thought to be out with a hand injury. He'd been hit on the hand by a pitch, so that was a reasonable assumption, though reports that it might be his wrist percolated on Sunday. Word is that X-rays were negative on both locations, and that Bruce will be back early this week. Look out for any signs of lingering problems in both his bat control and power.

Trevor Hoffman (20 DXL)
"Hell's Bells" in Nashville? That might not seem like the best fit, but Hoffman is headed to Triple-A. Given that most rehab outings for closers are set up with them "starting," it would probably seem a little strange to hear his trademark entrance music playing in the first inning. Hoffman has had no issues with his oblique during recent throwing sessions, and he's expected to have a few outings in Nashville to make sure he's ready. (Tuesday and Thursday are the plan, if you're looking to go.) He should be back in the Brewers' bullpen by the weekend. While I don't expect any problems, I also don't expect miracles. The differential between his fastball and changeup will remain the best predictor of his success. Don't discount the stellar performance of Heath Bell as a motivator for the competitive Hoffman.