Joel Zumaya Injury Is The End

So Tom Gage breaks the news the other day that Joel Zumaya's shoulder popped on him, but he kept-on a-pitchin'. While I admire the determination and whatnot, but athletes need to realize that them playing through injuries do not help teams. Joel definitely 'gutted' it out against the Yankees, but he shouldn't have. This mentality is counter-intuitive as guys want to win and there's the whole macho-element of it, but pitching through pain doesn't help the team win and then you (likely) will have to go under the knife.

When Joel hurt his shoulder a couple of years ago, I thought that there was no way it wouldn't get hurt again. He brings his elbow way above his shoulder which puts unnecessary strain on his shoulder and arm. He's violent in his deliver and anyone throwing as hard as he does is an injury risk regardless of mechanics -- the human arm is not built to throw a baseball 100 MPH.

I lamented back in early July that Zumaya's control problems aren't helping the ball club. It's possible he was hurt back then (here's Lee's diary of his outings), but even if he was, that doesn't undo all of the outings in which he wasn't hurt and still walking people. He's never been able to not walk hitters and as a reliever, that's one of the worst things you can falter with.

For now, it'll be rehabilitation but the notion that he'll ever be an effective reliever for the Detroit Tigers (I'd argue in baseball, though) is pretty much done. His mechanics, velocity, and injury history all suggest that his body is not able to hold up to the constant strain. Add into that that he's not effective, and you've got a remedy to a sad end.

At least we'll have his 2006 run to remember him by. He's a fan favorite because of that, and he should remain that way. Almost in the same way as The Bird was loved by all Tigers fans old enough to remember him despite flaming out all-too-quick.

Side note: my computer needs to be replaced, so I'm on a backup at the moment and don't know when I'll get my main one back. So I cannot do the Hardball Times fielding numbers at the moment. That series will resume at some point, though. It's fun (to me, at least).