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Saturday, March 09, 2013

Muray Chass: DON’T BLAME TATTOOS ON WBC

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If the players who compete in the WBC work out and play the way they do with their own teams, they are no more susceptible to injury than if they play for WBC teams. Injury developments from the first two Classics (2006, 2009) bear this out.

In fact, Major League Baseball statistics show that players participating in the WBC have been less likely to be injured than those who are in spring training with their own teams.

Of the 73 major leaguers who opened the 2009 season on the disabled list, only two (Ichiro Suzuki and Rick VandenHurk) played in the World Baseball Classic. And Ichiro had a stomach ulcer, which presumably didn’t result from the WBC.

Of 786 non-WBC players, 140, or 17.8 percent, visited the disabled list in April 2009. Only 9.5 percent of WBC players (11 of 115) needed DL time that first month.

In addition, MLB reports, the lowest percentage of active roster players starting the season on the disabled list over the last eight years occurred in 2006 and 2009, the same years as the first and second Classics.

bobm Posted: March 09, 2013 at 05:10 PM | 12 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: injuries, pinata, wbc

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1. Bitter Calculus Instructor Posted: March 10, 2013 at 02:01 AM (#4385351)

This guy sounds like one of them new fangled saber-nerds trying to make his point using statistics and such.

2. The John Wetland Memorial Death (CoB) Posted: March 10, 2013 at 06:46 AM (#4385386)

[edit]

3. Jolly Old St. Nick Done Jumped The Ship

Posted: March 10, 2013 at 08:31 AM (#4385406)

It seems kind of cruel to post a Murray Chass blog that 99% of the snarkers on BTF won't be able to snark about. Doesn't this violate some sort of unwritten code of ethics?

4. RMc and His Roster of Rubbish Posted: March 10, 2013 at 10:55 AM (#4385446)

MY FAVOURITE PLAYER WAS HURT IN A MEANINGLESS GAME AGAINST CHINESE TAIPEI, MR PRESIDENT

5. The District Attorney Posted: March 10, 2013 at 10:58 AM (#4385447)

Ichiro had a stomach ulcer, which presumably didn’t result from the WBC.

Of course it did... he was worrying about getting hurt!

I read the article to see what it had to do with tattoos. Chass mentions Elvis Andrus having to miss a day of spring training due to tattoo soreness. Don't really know what his point is.

6. BourbonSamurai, vassal of the Harpsburg Empire Posted: March 10, 2013 at 11:28 AM (#4385461)

Hmm, some Murray Chass I agree with.

7. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: March 10, 2013 at 11:35 AM (#4385467)

Of the 73 major leaguers who opened the 2009 season on the disabled list, only two (Ichiro Suzuki and Rick VandenHurk) played in the World Baseball Classic.

Isn't this simply selection bias? Most of these guys were probably hurt or hurting before the WBC, so couldn't play in the WBC.

8. Matt Clement of Alexandria Posted: March 10, 2013 at 11:41 AM (#4385475)

Isn't this simply selection bias?

Well, it definitely reflects selection bias. But surely some of the 71 non-WBC players in the sample were healthy to begin with and got hurt playing spring baseball. So the question is what these percentages are, relative to the population.

9. Petunia inquires about ponies Posted: March 10, 2013 at 02:57 PM (#4385604)

Obviously the point isn't that WBC players are more likely to get hurt playing in the WBC (although that Canadian catcher is singlehandedly trying to change that), but that WBC players are liable to get hurt outside of the supervision of the training/medical staffs of the MLB organizations with which they are under contract (though at least for Red Sox and Mets players, this is actually a huge plus).

10. What did Billy Ripken have against Elroy Face? Posted: March 10, 2013 at 07:09 PM (#4385831)

Well that's good. Because I was about to blame tattoos on the WBC, until Murray Chass told me not to.

11. Walt Davis Posted: March 10, 2013 at 08:09 PM (#4385901)

Chass mentions Elvis Andrus having to miss a day of spring training due to tattoo soreness. Don't really know what his point is.

He's poking fun -- guys get hurt in regular spring training for all sorts of reasons, including tattoos. The WBC doesn't cause injury any more than it causes guys to get tattoos.

I've never really bought the injury threat complaint but it is based on the idea the players will try harder in the WBC than they do in spring training, and therefore get hurt. So would this be evidence that players should put in more effort early or is it evidence that WBC-MLB players are taking it easy in the WBC?

Also if MLB is that worried they can dip into MLB's slush fund to provide better-qualified trainers for the WBC.

12. RollingWave Posted: March 10, 2013 at 09:42 PM (#4385954)

the less injured part also has something to do with that really injury prone guys probably would be more inclined to not participate in the WBC, but it is true that the odds of WBC really hurting player is meh.

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Saturday, March 09, 2013

Muray Chass: DON’T BLAME TATTOOS ON WBC

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