Baseball injury report

From Injury Watch Sept. 10…
Vladimir Guerrero (OF, LAA)

The tests on his sore right elbow revealed a posterior impingement (pinching) in the back side of his elbow region and tendinitis in the triceps/elbow region. He has been on the sidelines since last Wednesday and may not return to the Angels lineup until Tuesday. Guerrero has a high pain tolerance and can play at less than 100%. If he is out of the lineup, it must be serious. There don’t appear to be any signals from the Angels so far that he is done for the year. If he is not ready by Tuesday, it may signal the need for more down time this week.

From Injury Watch Sept. 7…
Mariano Rivera (RHP, NYY)

Rivera has set the bar so high with an outstanding career that it has come to this: In August, he posted a 3.86 ERA and opposing hitters batted .268 against him. There is speculation in New York that he is pitching with a tired arm, and his “poor” August is the proof. If you break down the month of August, he allowed 15 hits in 14 innings, but walked just three batters and allowed just one homer. He had one blown save, which definitely is not something that would suggest he is struggling.

One thing does catch your eye, though, over an eight-game stretch. He allowed at least one hit in seven of the outings. Clearly, he is not the lights out, 1-2-3 type closer used to be. Rivera is, however, at the age of 37, still one of the best in the American League. We believe that the rumors of a tired arm are unsubstantiated, and even if he is scuffling some, he is still a highly effective closer.

From Injury Watch Sept. 6…
Randy Wolf (LHP, LAD)

Wolf had surgery on Wednesday to repair a frayed labrum, and he also had some scar tissue of the bursa sac cleaned up in his pitching shoulder. While the MRI spotted the bursa sac problem, the frayed labrum was a surprise. Luckily for Wolf, the damage to his labrum was not significant and did not require any sutures or anchoring of the structure.

Because of the type of minimal surgery that was done on the labrum, Wolf has a good chance of being ready at the start of spring training.

From Injury Watch Sept. 6…
Adam LaRoche (1B, PIT)

Once the season is over, LaRoche will have his left knee examined to determine the cause of the discomfort that has plagued him since June. He says the knee injury is not bad at the moment. The MRI performed in June did not reveal any structural damage at that time. It has gotten worse recently and it did not help that he fouled a ball off his kneecap over the weekend.

LaRoche’s situation is being compared to Jason Bay, who needed minor surgery after the 2006 season to clean up the damage to his knee.

From Injury Watch Sept. 5…
Chris Young (RHP, SD)

Young has declared on several occasions that he is healthy and does not feel the strained oblique or lower back ailment that sidetracked him early in August. While that may be the case, all is not well with Young, one of the leaders for the Cy Young Award this season. He has been knocked around his last three starts and does not look like the pitcher who dominated earlier in the season.

Speculation in San Diego is that Young is healthy but has altered his mechanics because of the back and oblique strain maladies. This would help explain his poor pitching, and provide the possibility for Young to bounce back shortly. Young and the coaching staff are poring over video to find a flaw in his mechanics. If he is indeed healthy, his owners should expect a rebound before the end of the season.


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