MLB Playoffs: Injury Breakdown
It’s every player’s dream to perform on Major League Baseball’s biggest stage in October. However, the grueling grind of the 162-game schedule can take its toll on even the most fine-tuned athletes.
There are several important cogs who were essential to their team’s ascension into the postseason this year who will be limited or miss the playoffs due to injuries.
While the Phillies have evolved from an injury-decimated unit to the hottest team in baseball, teams like the Twins and Braves are limping into the postseason with key players hobbled or out entirely.
Let’s take a look at who is out and who might try to pull their best Kirk Gibson or Curt Schilling impersonations to capture playoff glory on a hobbled frame.
Justin Morneau
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The 2006 AL MVP will miss the entire postseason due to post-concussion symptoms.
Minnesota’s big lefty has been out of action since July 7 when he caught a knee to the head sliding into second.
This is the second straight postseason that Morneau has missed. Last year, he suffered a stress fracture in his lower back in mid-September and was kept out of action.
The Twins haven’t really missed his production, going 49-28 since his injury and finishing second in all of baseball in OBP and sixth in total runs.
Morneau was having another MVP caliber season when he went down, batting .345 with a .437 OBP, .618 SLG, 18 homers and 56 RBI in just 81 games. It’s scary to think how good this lineup would have been with him healthy.
Joe Nathan
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The Twins closer, who has accumulated 246 saves over the last six seasons, missed the entire 2010 season when he elected to undergo Tommy John ligament replacement surgery back in Spring Training.
The Twins bullpen has struggled in 2010, posting just 40 saves while blowing 18 chances, although they finished eighth in all of MLB in bullpen ERA for the year at 3.50.
Minnesota went out and acquired several pieces in the pen for the stretch run including Matt Capps from the Nationals and Brian Fuentes from the Angels. Capps could turn out to be an even better option than Nathan this postseason. He finished the year with 42 combined saves and a 2.47 ERA.
Nathan has a career playoff record of 0-2 with a 7.88 ERA and a 2.37 WHIP in eight innings of action.
Jon Rauch
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Rauch is another key piece to the Twins bullpen that’s dealing with some injury issues. He said last week that he’s been pitching with pain in his knee for over a month. He had fluid drained from his left knee last week, received a cortisone shot and didn’t pitch over the season’s final weekend.
After a bullpen session on Monday, Rauch said he was good to go, but Ron Gardenhire has yet to name him to the roster.
Rauch appeared in 59 games going 3-1 with a 3.12 ERA and 1.30 WHIP this season. Last October against the Yankees, he appeared in three games and posted a 6.75 ERA.
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Joe Mauer
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Mauer has been bothered by some knee discomfort the last few weeks, but proclaimed himself good to go on Tuesday. He missed 11 days due to some tissue inflammation in mid September.
"I guess it doesn't matter now, but I am feeling good," Mauer told reporters this wekk. "I will be behind the plate and I am looking forward to it.”
The Twins will need their top hitter to be in peak form against the Yankees. The $184 million man finished third in the AL with a .327 batting average this season.
JJ Hardy (knee), Jim Thome (back) and Scott Baker (cortisone shots in elbow) are also dealing with some nagging injuries for the Twins.
Larry "Chipper" Jones
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Jones’ prolific Braves career may have ended the same year that his legendary manager Bobby Cox slides out the door.
The 38-year-old third baseman tore his ACL back in August and is out for the entire playoffs. He says he’s planning on trying to rehab the knee over the offseason in an effort to return in 2011, but it will be a tall task.
The Braves will miss his clubhouse leadership and playoff experience. He’s played 17 seasons in Atlanta and has 333 playoff at-bats in his postseason career. He’s a lifetime .288 playoff hitter with 13 homers and 47 RBI and appeared in three World Series.
However, he probably wouldn’t have been much of a factor in terms of production. He was hitting .265 with 10 homers and 46 RBI when he went down after 95 games.
Martin Prado
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Along with Omar Infante and Brooks Conrad, Prado has been one of the most pleasant surprises for the Braves this year. Unfortunately, the 26-year-old utility infielder will miss the entire postseason after he suffered a torn external oblique muscle in the last week of the season.
Prado provided Cox with flexibility in the field and tons of production in his offense. He finished the season ranked fourth in hits and seventh in batting average and runs scored in all of MLB. He hit .307 with 15 homers, 66 RBI and 100 runs scored.
Jair Jurrjens
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Jurrjens missed his last three starts of the regular season due to a torn meniscus in his right knee. He threw a bullpen session on Tuesday, but Bobby Cox hasn’t made a decision on his roster spot.
Either way, he won’t be in the rotation for the NLDS.
Jurrjens was limited to just 20 starts this season as he dealt with injury issues earlier in the season as well. When he did pitch, he wasn’t all that effective going 7-6 with a 4.64 ERA and 1.39 WHIP. Still, you need all the quality arms you can get in October.
Josh Hamilton
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The presumptive AL MVP missed most of the month of September after he fractured two ribs crashing into a wall tracking down a fly ball on Sept. 4.
He returned on Oct. 1 and went 3-for-11 with a home run and three RBI in the final three games of the season.
He is wearing padding underneath his jersey and received an anti-inflammatory and nerve-block shot back on Sept. 21.
Tuesday he said he was feeling better and is ready to suck it up and playoff through it.
Hamilton led the AL with a .359 batting average and a Bonds-like 1.044 OPS.
David Murphy
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Murphy missed the last four games of the season due to a strained left groin.
Ron Washington named him to the roster after he tested the groin by running in the outfield and on the bases Tuesday.
He won’t start the first two games, as Jeff Francoeur started in right field on Wednesday vs. the Rays. He’ll be jostling with Francoeur and Julio Borbon for starts and pinch-hitting/pinch-running duties. Both he and Borbon are left-handers.
Murphy had his best full season as a pro in 2010, posting a .291 batting average with a .358 OBP, 12 homers, and 65 RBI.
Andy Pettitte
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Many people have predicted that Pettitte will be the Yankees linchpin this postseason. That’s got to be a scary fact for pinstripe fans throughout the country, considering he’s 38 years old and coming off of a groin injury that cost him most of September.
Pettitte made just three starts after straining his left groin in mid-August. He allowed 11 runs over 13.1 innings in those outings.
Despite his late-season stumbles, Pettitte will take the hill for the Yanks in Game 2.
Tough to blame Joe Girardi for the decision, considering his other options included Javier Vazquez and A.J. Burnett.
Pettitte was having a great year before the injury and still managed to put up solid numbers for the year, going 11-3 with a 3.28 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 129 innings and 21 starts.
He’s one of the most prolific and clutch Yankee postseason pitchers of all time, going 18-9 with a 3.90 ERA and 1.33 WHIP in an incredible 40 postseason starts with the Yanks and Astros.
Alfredo Aceves and Damaso Marte
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Aceves has been out since May 12 with a strained lower back, and Marte hasn’t pitched since July 17 due to inflammation in his left shoulder. Both have been ruled out for the entire postseason.
These injuries hurt the Yankees’ depth in the bullpen, particularly in Marte’s case. His absence leaves the Yankees with only one left-hander to face a Twins’ lineup that features Joe Mauer, Jason Kubel, and Jim Thome. Boone Logan is the team’s only lefty for the postseason.
Marte only pitched 17.2 innings this year, posting a 4.08 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and nine holds in 30 games.
Placido Polanco
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Polanco ruled himself out for Wednesday’s Game 1 against the Reds due to a strained back he suffered Monday. He received treatment for the injury on Tuesday, but is still not able to go. Wilson Valdez will start in his place.
The Phillies are hoping he will be able to return on Friday for Game 2.
Polanco, like many other Phillies, missed a decent chunk of the season due to a bone spur and tendinitis in his left elbow. He had to receive four cortisone shots throughout the season to keep himself in the lineup.
Polanco had a very productive season in his return to Philly, batting .298 with 76 runs scored and 52 RBI.
Jimmy Rollins
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J-Roll played in just 88 games this season and has been plagued by right hamstring issues for most of the last month and a half. He missed from Sept. 9-25 with the hamstring, but Charlie Manuel has kept faith in the 2007 MVP and will start him in the leadoff spot for Game 1.
Since his return from the injury on Sept. 26, Rollins has gone 4-for-19 with a homer and four RBI. He hit .243 with eight home runs and 41 RBI on the season.
The Phillies need Rollins to be active on the base paths this series to take down the Reds. Both Rollins and Manuel admit that he’ll be limited, however. That most likely means no stolen bases, fewer extra base hits, and maybe even limited mobility at short.
Keep an eye on this injury in the first few games of the series: It could be a game-changer.
Carlos Ruiz (knee) and J.C. Romero (sore left lower back) are also dealing with nagging injuries for the Phillies.
Jim Edmonds
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A strained Achilles tendon kept him off of the Reds' roster. The Reds decided to keep Juan Francisco instead.
The young and relatively inexperienced Reds could miss Edmonds’ playoff experience. He won a World Series title with the Cardinals in 2006 and has a career .274 postseason average with 13 homers and 42 RBI in 64 games.
Scott Rolen, Bronson Arroyo, and Orlando Cabrera should bring enough playoff knowledge to outweigh the loss. Plus, Edmonds was only hitting .207 in 13 games with the Reds anyway.
Mark DeRosa
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DeRosa was one of the prize free-agent acquisitions for Brian Sabean’s club in the offseason, as they outbid the St. Louis Cardinals for the versatile utility man’s services. But DeRosa went down in early May with a wrist injury.
The Giants will miss his versatility—he could be used nearly anywhere in the infield and corner outfield positions) and his playoff experience.
Freddy Sanchez
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Sanchez was ruled out for the NLDS, replaced by Mike Fontenot. Sanchez missed the first month and a half of the season recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. Bruce Bochy claims that he benched Sanchez because he believes his shoulder is still not 100 percent.
Sanchez hit pretty solidly all year though, posting a .292 batting average with a .342 OBP, 55 runs, and 47 RBI in 111 games. He had 14 hits, including four doubles, two homers, and six RBI, in his final 10 games. Questionable move on Bochy’s part, in my opinion.
Evan Longoria
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Longo missed some time at the end of the season due to a sore left quad.
He said he was about 80-90 percent earlier this week, but there's no way he's missing any time in the postseason.
Longoria, who recently opined about the poor attendance at Rays games, is the lifeblood of this Rays team's offense and is also probably the team's top defensive talent.
In his third season, the 24-year-old hit .294, posting a .372 OBP and .507 SLG with 22 homers and 104 RBI.
Rocco Baldelli
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Was anybody else as shocked as I was to see this guy on the Rays’ roster, let alone in their starting lineup as the DH for Game 1?
Baldelli, who came up and stole Rays fans' hearts in 2003, has been bothered by a plethora of strange injuries throughout his career. In 2005, he tore his ACL in the offseason and then needed Tommy John surgery to repair an injured elbow later the same year. That kept him out a year and a half.
In 2007, his comeback was halted by recurring hamstring problems. After exhaustive medical tests, it was determined that Baldelli suffers from metabolic and/or mitochondrial abnormalities that cause him fatigue and muscle problems.
Since then, he’s made comebacks with the Mariners, Red Sox, and again with the Rays this season. He was limited to just 10 games while rehabbing from yet another shoulder injury and made more contributions as a special instructor than as a player, hitting just .208.
And yet here he is in the postseason. I guess Joe Maddon thought this story was too good to pass up. The feel-good story could end up hurting the team though, considering his presence kept clutch pinch-hitter Willy Aybar off the squad.
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