How The Sox Mismanage Injuries

[absintheofmalaise]

Cuzittt wrote a piece for the .com today about how the Sox have mishandled injuries this season. 
 

 
 
One of the major difficulties in baseball is managing injuries. The decision to place anyone on the disabled list is complicated – balancing the extent of the injury versus the impact on the team tends to be more art than science. This year, the Red Sox have had a number of injuries where they have avoided the disabled list. Were those decisions correct or would a DL stint have helped the team, and the players, in the long run?

 

 
 
The Red Sox mantra of deep depth seems to indicate that at some level, they understand that players coming back from injuries too soon has a deleterious effect on team and player. A player like Brock Holt, who can play all the positions, would make the team think twice before bringing a player back too quickly. Yet, when Pedroia came back, Holt, coming off an All-Star appearance, was relegated back to the bench; starting one game at first base and seeing two pinch hitting appearances. The Red Sox with their large stash of outfielders – Holt, Craig, Castillo, Bradley, Brentz and Nava – should have found a way to survive a fifteen day absence of Hanley Ramirez. Sandoval’s injury also should have been a trivial issue to cover for fifteen days, with Holt sliding over to take over the starting position with one of the Pawtucket infielders, Garin Cecchini or Deven Marrero, coming up for the short term.

 

 

[soxfan121]

I don't get why they didn't just DL Sandoval and Ramirez, instead of dicking around. I totally understand why Pedroia was allowed to come back early - that guy has got to be super-annoying when he's not playing. But all three instances have hurt the ballclub. 

 

[threecy]

I was going to post about instances in which they didn't DL players and it worked out...but in digging up an example that came to mind - Pedroia's June 15th knee injury - his performance slumped in the subsequent 5 games, the last of which resulted in him injuring the opposite hamstring (he awkwardly rounded first base, but one has to wonder if overcompensating for the knee injury was a factor).