The Elbow History of J.J. Putz

Posted on May 15, 2009 by Joe Janish

Amazing what a few minutes on Google can reveal.

2006

September 8, 2006, from The Seattle Times:

Putz began his Mariners career mainly as a starter. He threw between 90 mph and 94 mph, threw a fastball and a slider and a split-finger fastball he had trouble locating. His arm motion put extra stress on his shoulder and elbow.

Concerns with durability are long gone now — the Mariners tweaked the motion to relieve stress — but there were enough then to switch Putz from future starter to present bullpen.

2007

March 12, 2007, from MLB.com:

Right-hander J.J. Putz, recovering from tightness in his right elbow, threw from 90 feet on Monday and will progress to long toss on Tuesday, followed by a bullpen session on Thursday.

March 16, 2007, from MLB.com:

“Everything was fine,” Putz said. “It was a little sore, as expected, but when I started doing my other [postgame work], it started to hurt a little more. It was in the same area of the elbow as before, and that’s why they decided to have the MRI.”

March 17, 2007, from USA Today:

Seattle Mariners closer J.J. Putz has a mild right elbow strain, and the team should have him back soon.

Putz got a scare after feeling some stiffness in the elbow following a bullpen session earlier in the week, but the 30-year-old right-hander was set to throw again on Tuesday.

“We were never really too worried about it. It was more of a precautionary thing, anyway,” Putz said on Saturday. “I felt fine throwing my bullpen Thursday; it was just a little achy afterward. The pain went away as the day went on.”

Tests showed that the injury was a strain and nothing more serious.

Also on March 17, 2007, from MLB.com:

The diagnosis, made in Seattle by Dr. E. Edward Khalfayan, was a “mild flexor pronator strain.” … The flexor is the muscle that rotates the wrist and helps generate velocity.

March 18, 2007, from The News Tribune (Byline: Darrin Beene):

Here’s all you need to know about the health of the Seattle Mariners closer: J.J. got an OK from his MRI. Medical director Edward Khalfayan in Seattle examined the pictures of J.J. Putz’s right elbow on Saturday and said Putz has a mild strain of the flexor pronator. Trainer Rick Griffin described the injury as common among pitchers in spring training and that two or three Mariners have already had the condition and recovered from it.

March 26, 2007, from The Seattle Times:

… the faces of Mariners officials were tense and the answers terse Thursday, when Putz went out for his bullpen session that initially seemed an unqualified success. He threw well and felt great — until 30 minutes after he finished. That’s when his elbow tightened. Again.

“It was kind of like an achy stiffness,” Putz explained Friday before hustling off to his MRI. “They made it sound like that’s a good thing, just because that it’s showing it’s getting fatigued and stressed. As the night went on and this morning, it’s kind of gone away, so that’s good.”

Is this a full-blown crisis, or merely a false alarm? The Mariners are leaning heavily toward the latter characterization, but when MRIs and elbows are involved, it’s hard to rest easily until the pitcher involved is throwing free and clear.

2008

June 11, 2008, from The Seattle Times:

McLaren said this was the first he’d heard of any elbow problem involving Putz this season. Putz was sidelined for much of 2007 spring training with a problematic elbow, but both the closer and manager say they have no idea whether this is similar. …

While the possibility of an injury has been speculated upon before, the team kept being reassured by the fact Putz’s velocity was rising. Putz was still hitting 95 mph in Wednesday’s affair before being pulled.

June 12, 2008, The Seattle Times:

The Seattle Mariners say closer J.J. Putz has a hyperextended pitching elbow, a swollen triceps tendon and nerve irritation in his right arm that will keep him from throwing at least through this weekend. …
Khalfayan’s diagnosis is triceps tendon inflammation and an irritated ulnar nerve.
Putz will not throw over the weekend. He will be re-evaluated on Monday.

June 13, 2008, from MLB.com:

A MRI exam taken on Thursday revealed that the Mariners closer hyperextended his right elbow, resulting in “triceps tendon inflammation and an irritated ulnar nerve.” The exam showed no damage to the ulnar collateral ligament or the flexor bundle in his right elbow.

“I went into (the exam) thinking of the worst,” Putz said prior to the Mariners’ Interleague series opener against the Nationals at Safeco Field. “Everybody I have talked to that has had Tommy John surgery told me the first thing they felt was numbness in their fingers. I had that feeling and (Thursday) was pretty miserable until I got the results. Knowing that I don’t have any structural damage is a big relief.”

June 14, 2008, from The Seattle Times:

J.J. Putz’s arm still hurt Friday, his elbow throbbing even as he leaned against a wall outside the Mariners clubhouse to answer a reporter’s question about his second trip to the disabled list this season.

The Mariners closer felt better in one important way, though, after finding out his elbow injury would not require anything more significant than rest to heal.

“I’m very relieved that it was nothing structural,” Putz said. “Just take a few days off and start throwing again.”

Putz said he experienced numbness in his fingers after throwing a split-fingered fastball on Wednesday in Toronto. He left the game after that and will now wait until he is re-evaluated Monday before throwing.

June 28, 2008, from MLB.com:

Putz was eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list on Friday but will remain on the DL through the All-Star break, and perhaps deep into July.

He suffered a setback while playing catch in Atlanta prior to the Mariners’ second Interleague game against the Braves last weekend, saying he misunderstood the terminology of what he had been told by the training staff regarding the extension of his throwing arm.

He “snapped” his elbow when he threw, which aggravated the original injury, diagnosed back then as a hyperextended right elbow. The same pain he experienced on June 11, minus the tingling sensation in his fingers, returned last week and he said it didn’t subside until Thursday.

December 19, 2008, from the New York Post:

Putz said the elbow woes have healed completely and that he started throwing with no problems late last month. The bigger challenge, he admitted, will be adjusting to the high-pressure, high scrutiny atmosphere in New York after six years in laid-back Seattle.

2009

March 8, 2009, from SI:

Putz said he ramped up his workouts a couple of weeks earlier this winter to prepare for this competition. In fact, he said he’s throwing with the kind of intensity and polish he normally would not have until about two weeks later. He touched 95 mph against Canada and was clocked at 94 on his last three pitches to Bay.

“It definitely takes a toll on you,” Putz said. “I reached back, but the velocity wasn’t really there. That’s when you focus on locating your pitches.”

May 14, 2009 from the Daily News::

Putz had an MRI on Wednesday that revealed inflammation in the back of the elbow, which has caused a bone spur, Mets GM Omar Minaya said.

“He’s had this spur before, and guys sometimes play with it,” Minaya said.

Posted in Mets Injuries | Tagged | 10 Comments

Where’s Ollie: Latest Dispatch

Posted on May 15, 2009 by Joe Janish

It’s been a few days, but finally we’ve heard from Ollie …

From: ollie@wheresollie.com
To: Ollie Spotters
Date: May 15, 2009
Subject: Singin’ In the Rain
Hi friends! The last few days have been a whirlwind … not unlike watching me pitch in the fourth inning on a Thursday afternoon! I stood on the big stage and sang my heart out in front of millions of people, hoping to win a chance to go to LA. I sang my favorite Dionne Warwick song — “Walk On By” — but I think people didn’t understand it since I sang it in Spanish and to a reggae beat (that was Jose Reyes’ idea, which I fear was an error). Paula said I was adorable and Randy described my performance as “wild” but Simon wasn’t impressed, criticizing my voice as “uneven and out of control”. Oh well, it was fun anyway, and I incorporated my trademark hop into the routine, which was cool. Since I was eliminated from the competition you won’t be seeing me on the stage again, but I will be showing up somewhere, soon … so KEEP LOOKING !

Metstradamus caught a snapshot of Ollie just before he was voted off American Idol:

ollie-am-idol

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Manuel: You People Are Confused

Posted on May 15, 2009 by Joe Janish

manuel-ghandi-smIn case you missed it, I’m re-posting a pearl of wisdom from Jerry Manuel. It is for everyone who is “confused” and thinks that J.J. Putz was “overused” by pitching in 19 of the team’s first 33 ballgames (a pace that would have equaled 93 appearances over a 162-game season).

“… I don’t think anybody’s been overused. I think what happens is a lot of times, early in the season, because guys get in games, but people forget that there’s off days … you know there’s off days so they say ‘well he’s been in this many games and this many times and he’s gonna be worn out’ … But there are times like we’re in now, that you don’t have off days, so those are the days that people kind of get confused on that”

Hmm … strangely, I’m even more confused now than I was before.

FYI, below are the exact dates that Putz pitched:

April 6,8,10,13,15,17,18,21,24,27,29

May 1,2,4,5,8,10,12,13

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Link Roundup

Posted on May 15, 2009 by Joe Janish

At TheRopolitans, Andrew Vazzano has a very bleak diatribe on Willets Point, the dilapidated neighborhood surrounding Citi Field.

In a post titled “Journey to Metca”, Matthew Silverman describes his trip to a fan’s basement that holds more Mets memorabilia than Citi Field (though, that’s not saying much — Citi Field houses less Mets history than I have in my sock drawer).

Speaking of history, Rob Kirkpatrick, author of 1969: The Year Everything Changed, is recreating the Mets miracle ’69 season by posting game-by-game summaries on his blog.

This has nothing to do with the Mets, but I was a big fan of “The Bird” so you’ll have to excuse me (it is my blog after all) — SI posted an historical perspective of Mark Fidrych.

In case you missed the first streaker at Citi Field the other day:

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Mets Game 34: Win Over Giants

Posted on May 15, 2009 by Joe Janish

Mets 7 Giants 4

Once again the Mets got on the board first. Once again their starting pitcher gave them a 6+ inning, “quality start”. Once again the bullpen blew a save in the late innings. And once again –this being a recent revision to the daily plot — the Mets fought back to reclaim the lead.

John Maine stumbled at the beginning, giving up two quick runs and his 1-0 lead in the first frame, but didn’t allow another one through the next five and two-third innings. He battled through two outs in the seventh, then finally handed the game over to the Mets’ bullpen, which was without J.J. Putz. Brian Stokes did his job, getting the final out of the seventh, but Bobby Parnell allowed two runs on three hits and a walk in the 8th, making the game four-all.

In the top of the ninth, however, the middle of the Mets lineup took over the game. Carlos Beltran started the rally with a two-out double to deep left-center, stole third, and trotted home on a David Wright single to give the Mets the lead. Moments later, 40-year-old Gary Sheffield led the way on a double steal, setting up a two-out, two-run single for Ramon Castro. Who said this team can’t hit with two outs and RISP?

As usual, Frankie Rodriguez made things interesting, but nonetheless knocked down the Giants for his tenth save.

Notes

David Wright reached base in all five of his plate appearances, drove in two, scored one, and stole a career-high four bases. He’s now hitting .331.

Wright’s four thefts helped the Mets set a team record for steals in a game (7). That’s one more than Carl Crawford stole all by himself against the Red Sox in a game two weeks ago … but, it’s still a lot. Who would believe that the Mets would pull off this historic grand larceny on a night that Jose Reyes sat on the bench with a calf injury.

Before the game SNY ran yet another misty-eyed Keith Hernandez returning to his old neighborhood spot — basically the same one we saw last year. I sort of enjoyed it, except for the part where Keith went on and on about his Little League MVP trophy, and think it would’ve come off as a lot less lame if they did away with the melancholic guitar solo playing in the background.

For the second time in three days, Carlos Beltran was thrown out at third stealing but was called safe by the umpire. The ball beat him to the bag and Pablo Sandoval blocked the entire bag with his tree trunk of a thigh, applying the tag a split second before Beltran’s toe caught the base. A few minutes later Beltran scored the go-ahead run. Deja vu all over again, as Yogi would say.

John Maine threw two wild pitches in the first inning, walked two, and threw five non-swinging / non-hit strikes. In all, he threw 30 pitches in that first frame, only 13 for strikes. For a moment there, it appeared as if he might not make it out of the first frame, but he settled down and took advantage of the aggressive Giants hitters swinging at his high fastballs.

As you know, I’m all for pushing a starter to more realistic (and manly) pitch counts, but can someone explain to me why it’s OK to push a pitcher with awful, potentially harmful mechanics such as Maine to 118 pitches, but pitchers with efficient mechanics (Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey) are held to 95-105 pitches?

For everyone who’s been saying Gary Sheffield is “finished”, you may want to reconsider. His bat speed is still among the elite, and he’s 4-for-10 in his last two games in the starting lineup with a homerun and a double. And although he’s not a blazer on the basepaths, his speed is above average and he’s as good or better a baserunner as anyone on the team, inasfar as reading the ball off the bat, getting good secondary leads, taking the extra base, etc. I think it makes sense to give him at least a full week or two in the everyday lineup, to see if indeed he can still be an impact player. With Carlos Delgado’s hip barking, that may well happen.

Edgar Renteria left the game in the 8th inning with a leg injury. Scary to think that the Giants lineup could be even more feeble, but it will be if they are without Renteria.

Speaking of, how is it possible that the Giants can be so terrible at the plate, when there were so many big bats available at rock-bottom prices this winter? Heck, there are still a few decent sluggers looking for a job. And we thought the Mets were being unreasonable / cheap / idiotic for not signing a bopper.

Next Game

The Mets and Giants do it again at 10:15 EST PM on Friday night. Livan Hernandez goes to the hill against Tim Lincecum.

Posted in Mets 2009 Games | Tagged , | 3 Comments

JJ Putz Kaputz

Posted on May 14, 2009 by Joe Janish

Earlier today, Mets GM Omar Minaya announced that J.J. Putz took an MRI that revealed inflammation in the back of his right elbow. Additionally, it was reported that Putz has a bone spur in that same elbow.

Per Minaya:

“He’s had this spur before, and guys sometimes play with it.”

According to Minaya, Putz does not need surgery and will get a cortisone shot, which will make him unavailable for at least the next two ballgames.

For those who forgot, last year there was another Mets pitcher who had an inflammation as well as a bone spur in his throwing arm, though it was the shoulder and not the elbow. The comments were similar though, in the early stages of the injury. Something to the effect that the pitcher could continue to throw, and would not cause any further damage. Also last year, there was a reliever with an elbow issue, but his problem was originally diagnosed as “forearm tightness”. He’s on track to return to the team in September, if all goes well.

In March, we reported concern about J.J. Putz’s velocity. Yesterday, Jerry Manuel suggested that Putz’s problem was likely due to not enough work in spring training:

“I think maybe for him, out of all the guys that the WBC might’ve hurt, it could be him,” Manuel said of Putz’s participation with Team USA during spring training. “He’s shown flashes of stuff, but he probably needed all of spring training to get right.”

(Or maybe he was damaged goods when he was acquired in December.)

More recently, we suggested that Putz might have been overused. Indeed, Putz himself admitted to feeling “fatigued” as well as “sore”.

However, Mets manager Jerry Manuel quickly dispelled such notions on WFAN yesterday. One of his direct quotes, in answer to Mike Francesa’s question, “Putz … has he been overused, is he a little sore, where is he right now?” :

“No, he’s in good shape. I don’t think anybody’s been overused. I think what happens is a lot of times, early in the season, because guys get in games, but people forget that there’s off days … you know there’s off days so they say ‘well he’s been in this many games and this many times and he’s gonna be wore’ … But there are times like we’re in now, that you don’t have off days, so those are the days that people kind of get confused on that.”

The Urban Dictionary has a fairly acceptable definition for kaputz. (Please note that you will encounter adult language by following that link.)

Posted in Latest Mets News, Pitching Staff | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Mets – Giants Quick Preview

Posted on May 14, 2009 by Joe Janish

The Mets begin a four-game series in San Francisco tonight at 10:15 PM EST. Here’s the rundown …
sf-giants
Game One: John Maine (3-2, 4.54 ERA) vs. Jonathan Sanchez (1-3, 4.78 ERA)This is the matchup of borderline enigmas. Both Maine and Sanchez have shown the ability to make batters swing and miss, and seem to have the stuff of a #2 starter. But, both have also had trouble staying consistent enough to realize that potential. Sanchez’s main issue is walks — he’s given 22 free passes in 26 innings thus far.

Game Two: Livan Hernandez (3-1, 5.08 ERA) vs. Tim Lincecum (3-1, 3.25 ERA)
These pitchers have identical won-loss records, but their paths to success are strikingly different. As good as Lincecum was last year, you wouldn’t have known it from his performance against the Mets — he gave up nine hits, two of them homers, in his six-inning start against them last year. Edgar Renteria, Bengie Molina, Aaron Rowand, and Rich Aurilia have all handled Livan well in their careers against him, but Hernandez has been able to keep Randy Winn at .244 lifetime.

Game Three: Johan Santana (4-2, 0.78 ERA) vs. Randy Johnson (3-3, 5.89 ERA)
A marquee matchup of Cy Young vs. Cy Old. Santana is pitching about as well as he ever has in his career, while Johnson is reminding people of Steve Carlton’s last years in the bigs. Though Johnson is striking out more than a batter an inning (39 Ks in 36 IP), he’s also allowing a hit per inning — and 10 are homeruns. But if we’ve learned anything this year, it’s that having the best pitcher in the universe on the mound means little when you’re the New York Mets. Of note: Bengie Molina is 11-for-25 with 2 HRs in his career against Johan; Johnson is two wins shy of 300.

Game Four: Mike Pelfrey (4-0, 4.89 ERA ) vs. Matt Cain (3-1, 3.00 ERA)
From the standpoint of a baseball fan, I’ve been liking the matchups Pelfrey has been drawing — they appear to be potential pitching duels. As a Mets fan, I’d rather he be pitted against, say, Osiris Matos. Cain has shown flashes of brilliance in his first few years in the bigs, sporting a thundering fastball with the ability to dominate hitters. But at 24 years old and with three full MLB seasons under his belt, Cain is at a point where Pelfrey was last year — time to turn a corner and begin realizing his potential. He’s been impressive thus far, pitching at least six innings in each of his starts and posting a nice ERA. The statheads are worried that his strikeout rate has dropped and he’s throwing less fastballs, but so far the changes have resulted in positive performance. Pelfrey continues to look better and stronger with each start, and getting enough quick groundball outs to keep his pitch counts low. Note: David Wright and Jose Reyes are a combined 15-for-29 against Cain.

Closing Thoughts

With identical 18-15 records, the Mets and Giants meet in what could be a litmus test for both teams. San Francisco has shown strong pitching but paltry offense, while the Mets have been more or less the opposite. Despite the Mets’ inconsistency in the starting rotation (after Santana) and recent bullpen woes, they stand second in the NL in ERA at 3.95. The Giants’ 4.13 is not far off and good enough for fifth in the league, and I think it’s fair to say that, across the board, the arms for each club are comparable. Offensively, it’s no contest — the Giants are one of the worst-hitting teams in MLB, while the Mets are second in the NL in batting average and third in OPS. However, all that hitting has scored 165 runs — which is only seventh-best in the NL.

Bottom line: if it’s agreed that the teams are equal from the mound, then, on paper, the Mets should be able to at least split this series in San Francisco. What will actually happen … well, that’s what the games are for.

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Pearls of Wisdom

Posted on May 14, 2009 by Joe Janish

We are starting a new section here, to celebrate the genius that is Jerry Manuel.

For nearly a year now, Jerry has been dropping zen-like pearls of wisdom from his lips, empowering others and placing the game of baseball in its proper perspective. It’s high time someone started recording these motivating quotes and epithets, to spread his word and enrich the lives of future generations. Further, we present the words here for the New York Mets players, who, since they are not allowed to read the newspaper, may be missing out (surely John Maine or some other internet-savvy Met can print these pages out and pass them around the clubhouse?).
manuel-ghandi-sm
By the end of this season, we should have enough quotes collected to publish a book (and possibly motivational DVD) titled “Baseball by the Book Manuel“.

Without further ado, herewith today’s lesson, snared from the Washington Times:

“Momentum in my opinion is something you can’t really determine until it’s past you.”

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