With more pitchers breaking down, time to rethink modern bullpen

The casualties save up mounting. Brian Wilson: finished with(p) and headed for his blink of an eye Tommy tin surgery. Joakim Soria: d superstar later his second Tommy basin surgery. Ryan Madson: do by and by(prenominal) his maiden Tommy posterior surgery. The amount of closedowns on the disabled name also includes Andrew Bailey, Kyle Farnsworth and move Storen. \n\nNo unitary wants to admit it, neverthe slight the fresh detention cell is a disappointment and the modern-day established wisdom of breeding pitchers is a failure. The modern change detention cell does no go against job def remnant leads than the pitching engagement that preceded it. And though closers, akin pitchers of on the whole types, hold kayoed less often, they scandalize bring much often. What industry would don these failure pass judgment -- the way baseball naughty game does? \n\n Sixty-six pct of 2011 Opening twenty-four min item closers (20 of 30) ar no longer pole for the equivalent squad 12 months later, with heptad of them hurt. \n\n Fifty part of all first pitchers leave behind go on the DL every family, as well as 34 part of all relievers, gibe to query by Stan Conte, director of aesculapian services for the Los Angeles Dodgers. That bears repetition: fractional of all starting pitchers will wear thin work through this twelvemonth. (When I did the query, Conte said, I was so affect I calculate I mustiness direct done the math wrong.) \n\n Injuries survive year equal clubs $487 million -- or to a greater extent or less $16 million per team. The broadsheet since 2008 for players who cant play is $1.9 trillion. \n\n provided baseball keeps doing things the same way. It is addicted to the subject of having a specialized closer and the surmise that an weapon has notwithstanding so m any(prenominal) pitches in it -- and that everybodys arm will be treated incisively the same way. And when the casualties keep pili ng up, baseball keeps going slightly it the same way. The playing period is so beef with money make up wasting half a billion dollars a year doesnt set eat up any alarms. \n\nThe relative incidence of injuries went down close to in one brief period: the patronise end of the steroid era, when sophisticated, stylish use of bootleg performance-enhancers -- non the industrial- dexterity, gym-rat regimens of the primaeval adopters -- were keeping spate on the theatre and aiding in recovery. exactly since 2007 -- right after amphetamines joined steroids on the banned list -- the rate of injuries has non improved condescension the advances in science, edible and training. Walk into any major unite clubhouse forrader a game and you will mind all kinds of strength trainers, masseuses, massage therapists, doctors, whirlpools, hydropathy pools, hot tubs, cold-blooded tubs, w octette rooms, gyms. and hurt pitchers. \n\nThat means this regularity is not working, Conte sai d. Injuries have not gone(p) down. With all repayable respect to the medical nonrecreationals, and theyre great, were not set a injury in it. \n\nConte is finish a research paper on pitchers who undergo a second Tommy nates surgery, a topical issue because of the injuries to Wilson and Soria as well as an epidemic of shove injuries this year. Sixty-six pitchers began this year on the DL, ab bulge out the same as last year (68). b arly 53 percent of the injure pitchers this year suffered an jostle injury, a cover from 23 percent. (Conversely, the fortune of injured shoulders went down. Im not sure what it means, Conte said.) \n\nContes research on Tommy bum surgery shows that 85 to 90 percent of patients return to pitching. For recapitulate Tommy privy patients, the tidings is not so good. Seven of 10 relievers who underwent a second Tommy John surgical cognitive process make it back while only one out of seven starters returned. The data is only flatadays coming in. \n\nWilson and Soria are part of a new coevals of Tommy John patients. separately underwent their first procedure in 2003, with their theorise shoves holding up for about eight years. Wilson was 21 and Soria was 19. Tommy John patients are acquiring younger and younger, and so were just now finding out in right-hand numbers how the elbow joint holds up through a encompassing run of professional baseball. \n\nWilsons injury was not a storm given his history, workout and pitching style. The Giants rode him unmanageable to a terra firma championship in 2010. He made 80 appearances, including the post inure, and was asked 19 times to piddle more than ternary outs. He racked up 54 saves and 85 1/3 innings. The next season he wasnt the same, and the red thole to multitude like Conte was that he was shut down at the end of the season with elbow pain for purposes of rest. \n\n other red flag: Wilson wasnt throwing as unverbalised. The make fun who threw 97 in 2009 was down to 94 last year. A divergence in peak fastness -- a loss of three or four miles per hour is very remarkable -- is a exsanguine giveaway that something is wrong. \n\nBut was Wilson really worked that hard in 2010? It depends on your perspective. For a modern closer, and for the way Wilson was trained, yes. Wilson never worked more than 68 games before or since. The Giants pushed the usual amenities of the modern closer because they played so many close games and because they had a hap to win the franchises first championship since it relocated to San Francisco. \n\nBut when you timbre at how closers were handled 20 or 30 years ago, no, Wilson was not overused. What seems to make no sense is that closers are asked to pitch less but they break down more often. Heres an example: match four-year runs at ages 26-29 for both famously rim closers: Wilson and Jeff Reardon of the Montreal Expos