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Team Injury Projections

The Team Injury Projections are here, driven by our brand new injury forecasting system, the Comprehensive Health Index [of] Pitchers [and] Players [with] Evaluative Results—or, more succinctly, CHIPPER. Thanks to work by Colin Wyers and Dan Turkenkopf and a database loaded with injuries dating back to the 2002 season—that's nearly 4,600 players and well over 400,000 days lost to injury—we now have a system that produces injury-risk assessments to three different degrees. CHIPPER projects ratings for players based on their injury history—these ratings measure the probability of a player missing one or more games, 15 or more games, or 30 or more games. CHIPPER will have additional features added to it throughout the spring and early season that will enhance the accuracy of our injury coverage.

These ratings are also available in the Player Forecast Manager (pfm.baseballprospectus.com), where they'll be sortable by league or position—you won’t have to wait for us to finish writing this series in order to see the health ratings for all of the players.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Team Audit | Depth Chart
 

Dashboard


2010 Recap
 

2010
 

2009
 

2008
 

2007
5th in NL West
29 entries
7 DL trips
               

654
TDL

23
DMPI
 

654
TDL
3rd
 

23
DMPI
21st
 

902
TDL
9th
 

27
DMPI
23rd
 

625
TDL
4th
 

13
DMPI
3rd
 

630
TDL
7th
 

16
DMPI
2nd

Hitters in approximate Depth Charts order at time of publication

 

Days Lost to Injury

2011 Injury Risk

Player

Age

2008

2009

2010

1-day

15-days

30-days
Stephen Drew

28

4

18

2

Yellow

Yellow

Green
Justin Upton

23

57

23

29

Red

Yellow

Yellow
Kelly Johnson

29

7

20

1

Yellow

Yellow

Green
Russell Branyan

35

46

43

54

Red

Red

Red
Chris Young

27

2

7

0

Yellow

Green

Green
Miguel Montero

27

31

0

62

Red

Red

Yellow
Melvin Mora

39

17

20

1

Red

Yellow

Yellow
Xavier Nady

32

14

203

0

Red

Red

Red
Juan Miranda

28

0

0

0

Yellow

Green

Green
Ryan Roberts

30

0

2

0

Yellow

Green

Green
Brandon Allen

25

0

0

0

Yellow

Green

Green
Henry Blanco

39

0

23

7

Red

Yellow

Yellow
Willie Bloomquist

33

49

1

9

Red

Yellow

Green
Geoff Blum

38

0

30

37

Red

Red

Yellow
Gerardo Parra

24

0

1

0

Yellow

Green

Green

Pitchers in approximate Depth Charts order at time of publication

 

Days Lost to Injury

2011 Injury Risk

Player

Age

2008

2009

2010

1-day

15-days

30-days
Dan Hudson

24

0

0

8

Green

Green

Green
Joe Saunders

30

9

18

0

Yellow

Green

Green
Ian Kennedy

26

33

0

0

Green

Green

Green
Zach Duke

28

0

0

25

Yellow

Green

Green
Barry Enright

25

0

0

0

Green

Green

Green
Armando Galarraga

29

0

4

0

Yellow

Green

Green
J.J. Putz

34

64

126

17

Red

Red

Red
Juan Gutierrez

27

0

0

15

Green

Green

Green
David Hernandez

26

0

0

45

Yellow

Green

Green
Mike Hampton

38

118

67

0

Red

Red

Red
Samuel Demel

25

0

0

0

Green

Green

Green
Aaron Heilman

32

7

0

0

Yellow

Green

Green

Summary: If not for the DMPI ranking, we could be congratulating the Diamondbacks on a job well done. They didn't have to deal with many day-to-day injuries—91 percent of their days lost were for transactions involving the disabled list—but larger injuries were an issue. Brandon Webb (372 days missed over two years) had at least a little to do with that. Surgeries—which have long recovery times, meaning longer DL stints—are the main culprit here. Arizona needs to work on reducing the number of major injuries that require significant downtime.

The new-look front office has put a new-look team on the field. New general manager Kevin Towers traded Mark Reynolds to the Orioles and signed Melvin Mora to play third in his stead. Mora has missed time on many occasions over the last three years, and there is a good chance that he will miss additional time in 2011—that hasn't been a problem in the past with Reynolds. Across the diamond, Towers signed Russell Branyan to a minor-league deal, which will be detrimental to the health of the team if he makes the big-league roster. He’s missed over 40 days due to injury in each of the last three seasons, and chances are his balky back won't allow him to buck that trend in 2011.

The middle infield looks much better from a health standpoint, thanks to Stephen Drew and Kelly Johnson, each of whom is a moderate risk for a minimum DL stint in 2011. Miguel Montero has missed nearly 100 days to injury over the last three years, so it's no surprise that CHIPPER isn't in love with him. Despite missing no time in 2010, Xavier Nady is considered a high-risk newbie thanks to the time he lost to Tommy John surgery in 2009. Chris Young doesn't present much of a health risk, but Justin Upton already has a whole lot of mentions of his left shoulder in the database.

CHIPPER has much higher hopes for the pitching staff. Dan Hudson, Joe Saunders, and Ian Kennedy are all low risks, although Kennedy comes with a caveat: he underwent surgery in 2009 on his shoulder for an aneurysm in his armpit. He handled 2010 well, but the surgery is still lurking in his record, so keep an eye on him throughout the season for signs of fatigue. Zach Duke had some risk associated with him, so when he went down with a broken hand this spring we weren't shocked. The other extreme risk is J.J. Putz, whose spring has already been interrupted due to back tightness and stiffness. He has also suffered from multiple elbow injuries in the past, on top of various minor injuries to other areas of his body.

The Big Risk: Of Upton's 2010 injuries, the one that stands out is the small labral tear in his left non-throwing shoulder—an injury that his brother B.J. also dealt with. Whether this is coincidental or the result of an anatomical variant cannot be determined without examining the radiology studies and clinical exam. The labral tear could cause his power to decrease, since the damaged shoulder is on his front side while hitting. While it is certainly possible to play at a high level with Upton's injury, it often ends up bothering players too much to continue unaffected, and at some point they require a surgical clean-up. Considering Upton's upside, there is no one of equivalent talent whom the Diamondbacks can substitute for their budding star.

Comeback: Meniscal surgery on Miguel Montero's right knee cost him over 60 days of last season, raising his risk level for this year, but he has responded well in the spring. He will need to keep his leg muscles well-balanced in order to prevent injury and come back 100 percent, but his health would be a boon to the D'backs, especially with Chris Snyder now a Pirate.

Best Health: It took Young some time to blossom, but at least he's been healthy.

Worst Health: Branyan's back makes him an easy pick for this spot, which is a bit scary when you consider that Mike Hampton is also on the roster.

Thank you for reading

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irussma
3/27
Fortunately for the D-Backs, healthwise, Mike Hampton announced his retirement yesterday.