Order Now The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2010 is now in development and will ship in mid November! This year's book will feature articles by THT's staff as well as Bill James, Rob Neyer, Tom Tango and Craig Wright. If you use this link to purchase the Annual, you will be in the first group to receive it and you'll be supporting THT.  Derek Ambrosino
John Burnson Derek Carty Marco Fujimoto Eriq Gardner Matt Hagen Jonathan Halket Rob McQuown Troy Patterson Mike Silver Paul Singman Michael Street And here's the full roster. Got a question for our fantasy baseball experts? Email us:
Heater MagazineAdd 10 MPH to your fantasy team — see for yourself
HEATER MAGAZINE Winner, 2008 CBS Sportsline Fantasy League of Experts  Plus our Statistical Definitions Most Recent Comments
Top 10 prospects for 2010: Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals (8)
Top 10 prospects for 2010: Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers (4) Waiver Wire Offseason: NL (2) Acey-deucey (1) Waiver Wire Offseason: NL (12) Monthly Archives
November, 2009
October, 2009 September, 2009 August, 2009 July, 2009 June, 2009 May, 2009 April, 2009 March, 2009 February, 2009 January, 2009 December, 2008 November, 2008 October, 2008 September, 2008 August, 2008 July, 2008 June, 2008 May, 2008 April, 2008 March, 2008 February, 2008 January, 2008 December, 2007 November, 2007 October, 2007 September, 2007 August, 2007 July, 2007 June, 2007 May, 2007 Gear up for baseball season with Chicago White Sox tickets and New York Yankees tickets. LA Angels tickets, Houston Astros tickets, and Atlanta Braves tickets are hot sellers! You can get Boston Red Sox tickets, San Diego Padres tickets or Chicago Cubs tickets for your favorite baseball fan. Coast to Coast Tickets has the best MLB tickets like Minnesota Twins tickets, LA Dodgers tickets, Milwaukee Brewers tickets, New York Met tickets and St. Louis Cardinals tickets. Find premium Chicago Cubs tickets and other Chicago tickets at JustGreatTickets.com. Chicago Cubs Tickets Chicago Tickets  All content on this site (including text, graphs, and any other original works), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License. |
Most Recent Posts
Friday, April 04, 2008Keep Watch Over K-Rod’s Ankle InjuryPosted by Chris Neault at 4:56amIt is reported today that Francisco Rodriguez has been struggling with an ankle injury since late 2007, and it is believed to be causing him pain that is leading to him altering his mechanics while on the mound. This ankle injury was never really talked about last season, so he must have kept it a secret. Looking at his 2007 splits on a month-by-month basis, it appears that the injury could have occurred in July or August. July: 9.1 IP, 8 H, 5 BB, 10 K, 3.86 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, .235 BAA August: 13.0 IP, 10 H, 8 BB, 14 K, 3.46 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, .200 BAA September: 10.2 IP, 7 H, 7 BB, 17 K, 2.53 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, .184 BAA While these numbers don't look so bad, especially the batting average allowed and strikeout totals, you have to understand how ridiculously good his career numbers have been. For reference, here are his career numbers: July: 61.2 IP, 75 K, 2.63 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, .196 BAA August: 63.2 IP, 76 K, 2.26 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, .181 BAA September: 74.2 IP, 116 K, 1.93 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, .167 BAA Wow. The discrepancy is easy to see now, is it not? Clearly, something was affecting the pitching performance of K-Rod. According to Lyle Spencer of MLB.com: Francisco Rodriguez (ankle) said he has been using a more compact delivery to soften the landing of his left ankle that has been giving him problems. "Before, I used to be more open, swinging my leg around. I'm trying to take a little pressure off my left ankle. It's been really painful after every outing. That's because my delivery was so violent. The trainers [Ned Bergert and Rick Smith] have been doing a great job with exercises, putting tape on it. As long as I do my treadmill—exercises to make it stronger—I'll be fine. It's not a big deal. I just have to make sure not to land so hard. It's the only change I've made. Now [the delivery] is more on a line, not toward first base. Now it's quick, short, let it go," Rodriguez said. The problem with changing your mechanics due to a foot problem is that your body coordinates movements based on information it receives from other body parts, particularly your feet, eyes, and spine. Your feet are your body's primary interaction with the ground, and when your ankle is injured, and you are landing differently, you are going to throw differently because your body is going to recruit the stabilizing muscles of your spine, shoulder, hips, etc. in a different manner—or not at all. The body is not going to be stabilized properly. The nervous system picks up on the pain, and creates a "new" way for your body to move. This can lead to further pathology and injury. If his ankle is still bothering him, and is changing how he is throwing, you can easily see how there would be concern for injury to other body parts, particularly his shoulder or elbow, or perhaps something else. Be very cautious here. It may sound like an innocent problem, but all K-Rod owners should have Shields and Speier on speed dial in case he starts complaining of shoulder soreness or stiffness as a result of his altered mechanics. If last season's splits are any indication—and they very well may be—K-Rod could be in for a down year, in the realm of a 3.00 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. Bet you wish you waited to select your closers later in the draft, huh? Send all injury-related questions or comments to (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Commenting is not available in this weblog entry. Next Post: Fantasy roundtable: Most valuable undrafted player>> <<Previous Post: Fantasy Mailbag: Closers, Jurrjens, Butler, Jackson |
