The Attrition War, Blue Jays
Part of a continuing series, follow-ups to the initial post detailing the Mariners history over the same period.
Do the Mariners, in comparison to other teams, suffer a higher rate of injury to their pitching prospects than other teams? Here, I look at the Blue Jays.
Please note that I am trying to refrain from drawing any conclusions or making any comparisons, guessing at causes or relationships, or doing anything but presenting straight data. When the series is finished, I’ll have a summary post where I talk about those things.
In every organization so far there have been are several cases where those stats seem to ignore something important. I’m going at attempt to address those in the summary post, as well as methodology and thoughts on future research directions.
The Blue Jays had 24 pitchers who appeared at least once on a Baseball America Top Ten prospect list between 1995-2004.
Of those, pitchers who injured their elbow and required surgery: 2
Of those, pitchers who injured their shoulders and required surgery: 1
(generally, I’m looking for major surgeries that require ~1y off)
Detailed data:
Clayton Andrews, 6/1999
Traded to the Reds in November 2000 as part of the Steve Parris deal.
David Bush, 7/2004
Pitching in the minors.
Brian Cardwell, 7/2001
Went back to basketball after 2003.
Chris Carpenter, 5/1995, 3/1996, 3/1997
Shoulder surgery for torn labrum in 2002.
Vinny Chulk, 8/2003
Pitching in the majors.
Pacual Coco, 8/2001
Released in March 2003.
Tom Davey, 7/1999
Traded to the Mariners in July 1999 as part of the David Segui deal.
Kelvim Escobar, 4/1997
Signed with the Angels before the 2004 season
Bob File, 5/2001
File had surgery in December 2002 that may have involved removal of his collarbone. Did pitch the next year, though only briefly. What was wrong and why the surgery required a chunk of his collarbone remain obscure to me.
Matt Ford, 10/2001
Selected by the Brewers in the Rule 5 draft in January 2002.
Gary Glover, 9/1998, 6/2000
Traded to the White Sox in November 2000
Roy Halladay, 6/1996, 1/1997, 1/1998, 1/1999
Halladay’s had many problems with his shoulder, which I may eventually detail here, but never underwent surgery that cost him a full year.
Edwin Hurtado, 8/1995
Traded to the Mariners in December 1995 in a four-player deal.
Marty Janzen, 2/1996
Drafted by the Diamondbacks in the 1997 expansion draft.
Charles Kegley, 6/2001
Released in 2004
Billy Koch, 6/1997, 7/1998, 2/1999
Traded to the Athletics in December 2001 for Eric Hinske and Justin Miller.
Brandon League, 7/2002, 5/2003, 10/2004
Pitching in the minors.
Dustin McGowan, 4/2002, 1/2003, 2/2004
Ligament replacement surgery in May 2005.
Vince Perkins, 8/2004
Pitching in the minors.
Jose Pett, 6/1995, 4/1996
Left as a minor league free agent. I believe he lost at least most of one season to a pitching injury while a Jay, but haven’t found details.
Francisco Rosario, 4/2003, 5/2004
Ligament replacement surgery in fall 2002 (November?).
Jose Silva, 3/1995, 5/1996
Traded to the Pirates in November 1996 in a complicated trade.
John Sneed, 10/2000
Traded for Rob Ducey, claimed back on waivers four months later, then claimed by the Twins three days later.
Joe Young, 9/1997
Unknown.
Comments
One Response to “The Attrition War, Blue Jays”
Jose Pett, 6/1995, 4/1996
IIRC, Pett was a (pre age-gate) 16-year-old phenom who missed a year due to a significant car accident. He never regained the promise that lead to his high expectations.