'Freak' injuries and bad 'breaks'
The eminently breakable Chris Getz has his second season-ending injury in as many major-league seasons:
Leaving the team to have surgery Thursday in Philadelphia was not the way Getz wanted his season to end. The lower oblique strain that put Getz on the 15-day disabled list Aug. 21 still is bothering him, and a specialist discovered it was a sports hernia. The original plan was to address it at the end of the season, but that went out the window with the Sox’ playoff chances. […] ‘‘I had a few freak things happen, the broken finger, and I kind of look at this as a freak thing as well,’’ Getz said. ‘‘I’m trying to take all of this as a positive because I know what it takes now. I don’t want to say I know what it takes, but I know I have to improve in certain areas. That’s always a positive.”
The freak things that have happened:
- 2007: Ankle injury that cost him three months.
- 2008: Broken wrist that cost him the last month.
- 2009: Strained triceps (two games), fractured tip of middle finger (several games), sprained ankle (couple games), strained oblique (a few weeks), and now the sports hernia.
Getz isn’t nearly good enough in any facet of the game to be hurt this often. While his success on the basepaths is somewhat of a shocker — I knew he had good speed, but 25-for-27 good? — he doesn’t get on base often enough to make it pay off (see: Podsednik, Scott, 2006-2007).
Two priorities for 2010:
No. 1: Confirm Jayson Nix’s true value. Nix has a decent bag of tools, but I’m still not sold on his game. Two bases-loaded backwards K’s in one game doesn’t help. I often get the feeling that Nix takes pitches without knowing why he takes them.
No. 2: Change Getz’s uniform number. The last person to wear No. 17 before Getz for a full season was Darin Erstad (as noted below, General Soreness wore it for a half-season). Case CLOSED.
**********************************
More news:
*Scott Linebrink on his struggles:
“This is fixable,” Linebrink said of his woes. “There have been some bad breaks here and there. I haven’t thrown the ball like I should. From a character standpoint, it has helped toughen me up. This is a very refined game, and there is a fine line between success and failure. You hear all the time about guys who have continued success and they don’t really know how to deal with failure.
*Josh Fields on his game:
“I didn’t come in at the weight I planned on coming in,” said Fields, who made 47 starts at third base and eight at first base this season. “It altered my running game a lot. Normally, I’ll steal a few bases.”
“After my knee surgery, I couldn’t get the weight down before the season started. So, I still have a lot of work to do there.”
Author
Actually, Griffey Jr. wore number 17 in between Erstad & Getz. Don’t worry, I don’t count rent-a-part-time-player Griffey either.
You’re right … and maybe Getz is experiencing the injuries Griffey somehow avoided despite playing CF. That number has bad juju.
I have no doubt about that.
I like Getz and still don’t even know why. I like Nix power at the position and range but he needs to cut down on the k’s before I’d feel comfortable with him as an everyday player. If Getz could stay healthy and bat leadoff I’d prefer him over Pods but he needs to bat around 300 to make his obp work at leadoff. If the sox do get Figgins or Beltre for next year maybe it’s time to move Beckham or Ramirez to 2b permanenetly? Could we afford Figgins and an outfielder though? We suddenly have a few holes needing plugged again for next year.
Beltre would come cheaper than Figgins and be a definite upgrade for the D. After which, you could move either Beckham or Ramirez to second.
There’s always the chance of a guy like Ramirez being dealt for an outfielder, too, which would mean a Nix/Getz platoon at second. That would be OK if it’s the weakest offensive position on the diamond. If it’s another case like this year, where it competes with CF and LF for most of the year, they’re in trouble again.
just wondering: how predictive is getz’s injury-proneness — lots of different body parts — compared with, say, crede’s ever-present bad back?
It’s really not, willardmarshall. Getz’ injuries have been (relatively) minor and run the gamut in many different shades. It reminds me of myself. I went 25 years of my life with only one broken bone (collarbone at age 4) before the past 2 years which have involved a broken foot, ankle (on the other leg), elbow, two fingers, and I’m pretty sure a nose at some point.
None of these were my body giving out, they all had causes, just unlucky.
A bad back, however, is a bad back. Bad backs may be bad luck, but it’s not a flukey “now it’s here now it’s gone” injury like a broken finger. Bad backs linger, disappear, return, etc. And I can’t remember too many times when a player taking cortizone and “resting it during the off-season” has ever fully healed. Usually it’s surgery to fix a back injury or the injury never leaves.
So I would say that no, there’s no predicative value in Getz’ myriad of injuries to suggest he’ll have Crede’s back problems. Although at this point if it guaranteed Getz at least 2 years of Crede’s 2006 production I’d absolutely take injuries sandwiching those years.
Carlos Quentin would be another guy with a collection of “freak” injuries. Tommy John surgery, torn labrum, broken wrist, plantar fasciitis, and now a knee issue.
It’s entirely possible that it’s bad luck, but at this point, the burden of proof is on Getz to show he can last a full season, much like Crede or Scott Podsednik a few years ago. And until he shows it, the Sox can’t plan around him.
Unlike Crede, he can actually shed the label with a couple straight seasons of zero to little missed time.
No such thing as freak injuries for guys who always get hurt. Its real simple, Guys who always get hurt, always find a way to get hurt, guys who dont dont. Then their is the middle portion of players who have normal mild injuries with maybe 1 significant injury during their career.
Hope that makes sense although it sounds kind of funny.
You sound like Joe Morgan here.
Stop sounding like Joe Morgan.
So “Glass Getz” is broken again. If Kenny relies on him to be our regular 2nd baseman next year he must be smoking funny cigarettes. This guy cannot be counted on to play anywhere near 150 games. We need to find another 2nd base candidate to take over the position!!!!
My fear for this off-season is that Kenny will stand pat. Even though our starting pitching looks strong we need significant change in most other ares. If Kenny is out of cash with the Peavy & Rios acquisitions, we are out of luck for 2010.
What in Kenny Williams past makes you think he is ever going to stand pat????
My thoughts exactly. I would bet KW would trade everyone on the team before he ever stood pat.
Jim, much props on the Mr. Glass pic. I can’t get enough of it.
Thanks. I figure I can reuse it.