The Attrition War, Mets
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 Mets.
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 Mets had 29 pitchers who appeared at least once on a Baseball America Top Ten prospect list from 1995-2004.
Of those 29, pitchers who injured their elbow and required surgery: 5 (Cammack, Herbison, Isringhausen, Pulsipher, Seo)
Of those 29, pitchers who injured their shoulders and required surgery: 2 (Roberts, Wilson)
Unknown injuries: 1 (Presley)
(generally, I’m looking for major surgeries that require ~1y off)
Injuries with open questions:
Cammack, 3-year bone spur?
Isringhausen, did they get his shoulder, too?
Readers are, as always, encouraged to to add/correct information here in the comments or by email. Citations are particularly welcome.
Detailed data
Juan Acevedo, 4/1996
Traded to the Cardinals in March 1998 for Rigo Beltran.
Lesli Brea, 7/1999, 6/2000
Traded to Orioles in July 2000 as part of the deal for Mike Bordick.
Eric Cammack, 9/2000
Bons spur surgery in April 2001 that seemed to take him out for three years (!)(?). Signed a minor league deal with Athletics in January 2004.
Jaime Cerda, 9/2002, 8/2003
Traded to the Royals in January 2004 for Shawn Sedlacek.
Octavio Dotel, 10/1997, 7/1998, 2/1999
Trade to the Astros in December 1999 as part of the deal for Derek Bell and Mike Hampton.
Geoff Goetz, 4/1998
Traded to the Marlins in May 1998 for Mike Piazza.
Dicky Gonzalez, 10/2000, 10/2001
Traded to the Expos in April 2002 for Bruce Chen.
Arnold Gooch, 3/1997
Traded to the Dodgers in December 1998
Jeremy Griffiths, 7/2004
Pitching in the minors.
Aaron Heilman, 1/2002, 3/2003
Pitching in the majors.
Brett Herbison, 7/1997
Elbow surgery in 2000 (?), missed season.
Jason Isringhausen, 6/1995
Elbow surgery in September 1996. Complicated and nasty elbow surgery including tendon repair in January 1998 (and shoulder surgery? Sporting News seems to indicate so). Traded to the Athletics in July 1999 for Billy Taylor.
Sean Johnston, 8/1996
Unknown. Signed with the Cubs as a minor league free agent in February 2001.
Scott Kazmir, 2/2003, 1/2004
Pitching in the majors.
Bob Keppel, 9/2003, 6/2004
Currently down with a torn rotator cuff (“small tear”) and other shoulder issues, may require surgery.
Eric Ludwick, 9/1996
Traded to the Cardinals in 1996.
Nick Maness, 7/2001
Released in 2003, went to the Indy leagues.
Neal Musser, 10/2002
Pitching in the minors.
Matt Peterson, 6/2003, 3/2004
Traded to the Pirates in July 2004 as part of the Kris Benson trade.
Kirk Presley, 9/1995
Unknown arm injuries ended his career.
Bill Pulsipher, 1/1995
Elbow surgery in April 1996. Traded to the Brewers in August 1998 for Mike Kinkade.
Grant Roberts, 4/1997, 1/1998, 3/1999, 3/2000, 5/2001, 8/2002
Labrum repair surgery in May 2004.
Jesus Sanchez, 5/1998
Traded to the Marlins in February 1998 (along with A.J. Burnett) as part of the Al Leiter/Ralph Milliard deal.
Jae Weong Seo, 4/1999, 6/2002
Ligament replacement surgery in 1999.
Pat Strange, 2/2000, 2/2001, 4/2002, 7/2003
Signed with the Twins in January 2005 as a minor league free agent.
Billy Traber, 8/2001, 5/2002
Traded to the Indians in December 2001 as part of the Roberto Alomar deal.
Derek Wallace, 5/1997, 8/1998
Traded to the Royals in August 1999 for Jeremy Jackson.
Paul Wilson, 2/1995, 1/1996
Labrum repair surgery in November 1996. Traded to the Devil Rays in July 2000 with Jason Tyner for Bubba Trammell and Rick White.
Ed Yarnall, 2/1998
Traded to the Marlins in May 1998 for Mike Piazza.
Comments
2 Responses to “The Attrition War, Mets”
Wow, no comments about our new heated intraleague rivals?
Sad part about this information is that the Mets have twice built dominant pitching staffs and won WS’s with predominantly homegrown pitching talent. The folks in charge in the late 60’s and early 80’s apparently forgot to leave the instruction manual.
Well, arms like Seaver and Gooden are pretty darn hard to come by.
Regardless, dissasembling “Generation K”, dealing Kazmir, and keeping Heilman & co in crappy roles is pretty unforgivable.