I think it's pretty obvious that's the case. He's had a tender shoulder before. I think the Stros babied him way too much coming out of HS. Not exactly a lot of digging required to find that article...front page headline at the O's site.
Arm injuries in pitchers in his age range are fairly common. All things being equal, I'd rather the astros take a cautious approach to pitching prospects in the 18-23 range. Labrum injuries are pretty bad. Medical science has come a long way, but I can only think of a few pitchers who have successfully come back from a labrum tear/surgery. It certainly makes the Tejada trade look even better if the biggest piece given away had some serious arm injuries.
plan on buying that. seems very low. last year it was 78.5 and houston won, what, 73 games? would have expected it to be around the 78-81 mark this spring. I'm not exactly bullish on the astros chances, but I can't imagine them having as bad of a year as last year.
i believe we were 200-1 to win the pennant as well possibly like 75-1 for the division off the top of my head
Interesting note from Alyson today: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/...d=2382639&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou I'm extremely pleased to hear that. I hope Woody can turn it around, but if he pitches like last year, I'd much rather give Sampson or Paulino a shot as opposed to trotting him out there every fifth day because of his contract.
Seeing that Wandy is our #2 and could revert to mean, that #3 Backe has never been injury free an entire year, that #4 Woody is an old fart who could go anytime, and finally that our bullpen in a bit untested, yeah winning more than 73.5 is not a given.
I think our likely rotation will go a little something like this: Oswalt, Backe, Wandy, Chacon, Paulino/Sampson
And speaking of former Astros with seemingly chronic injuries... http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2008/news/story?id=3260676 Brad is an awesome guy, but I was disappointed in how the local media didn't cover his injury enough last season. Starting around July, he was essentially walking on one leg before games in the clubhouse and admittedly in a lot of pain. I don't think it's much of a coincidence that his performance tailed off in September, either. Granted, he did get it cleaned out with offseason surgery... but it was certainly a concern in how it lingered and never really improved throughout the second half of 2007.
Fewer guys are easier to root for than him. Totally stand-up guy. Hope he bounces back & kicks serious Met arse this year. And weren't you part of the "local media"?
