Jul 08
Via Tyler Kepner:
Phil Hughes has missed more than two months with a fractured rib but has still not been cleared to throw off a mound. Hughes is playing catch, and Brian Cashman said he expected him to pitch in minor league games next month.
Boy, that must have been some fractured rib.
Hughes was placed on the D.L. on April 30th. Now, ten weeks later, he’s still a month away from pitching in a game again. Three months to heal from an injury that was not severe enough for Hughes to even remember how it occurred?
From what I can find, it seems like the standard recovery time for a fractured rib is 4-6 weeks. So, what’s up with Hughes? Or, are the Yankees just babying him?
16 Responses to “Hughes: Slowest.Healer.Ever?”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Have you checked the records on Wakefield’s rib injury in 2006?
He missed eight full weeks, making his last start before going on the DL July 17 and returning against Baltimore September 13. Plus, he came back before he was ready out of loyalty and a desire to help a team that was desperate for bodies at that point, and he lost all four starts. By his own admission, it took a long time into the off season before Wakefield felt truly 100% again. He was late starting his throwing program because of it.
They are tricky injuries that can take a long time to heal. Hughes may be on the far end of the scale but its hardly completely out of whack.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:26 am
They are tricky injuries that can take a long time to heal. Hughes may be on the far end of the scale but its hardly completely out of whack.
———–
And given that the organization has “babied” him since the beginning, it should come as no surprise that they’re taking a conservative approach with him.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:07 am
I dunno…me, I would have expected this for Hughes:
June 15th: Begin tossing on flat ground.
June 30th: Begin throwing off a mound.
July 15th: Begin rehab starts in the minors.
The whole thing seems to be taking about 3 to 4 weeks longer than expected…again, given the fact that the injury, when it happened, was small enough that Hughes could not pinpoint where or how it happened.
Unless, of course, he knows exactly how it happened and he didn’t want to fess up to something?
July 8th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I find this whole Hughes thing to be odd. I would not be surprised if the Yanks were hiding something about the nature of the injury, or how it happened.
And, whatever happened with his eyes? I thought he couldn’t see the signs.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Nice to see Cashman has staked the future of the franchise on a borderline Mr. Magoo with the recuperative powers of a 90-year-old man.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Hughes has always been babied. I wont care if he has 10 good years because of it though.
July 8th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Babying pitchers has proven to be foolish. The Yankees, and just about all organizations, are idiots. Pitchers need to pitch.
July 8th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Babying pitchers has proven to be foolish. The Yankees, and just about all organizations, are idiots. Pitchers need to pitch.
———–
There need to be some sort of balance struck, given the recent rash of overuse injuries.
July 8th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
>> There need to be some sort of balance struck, given the recent rash of overuse injuries >>
What about if all Yankees prospects jump right into the 8th inning setup role?
July 8th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
As much as I like Phil Hughes, I am not buying his story about him not knowing how he hurt his ribs or when it happened.
I don’t know if the Yankees are hiding something about his injury, but I damn sure as hell don’t think he is being straight about how he got (or thinks he got) hurt.
July 8th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Dan Shanoff called, and he asked to have his use of superlatives back.
July 8th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
If you buy a solid #2 on the FA market, it will cost $15m/yr. A #3 might cost $11m-$12m. To have a cost controlled kid like Phil, who could easily be a #3 and maybe a #2, is worth ell over $100m.
I don’t know his story, but he was rushed to the Bigs last year in an attempt to win. The Yankees still want to win this year. My guess is the Yankees will bring him back as soon as they feel they safely can.
It’s silly Steve to wonder if this is truly a 12 wk injury or only a 8 week injury. Ribs do need a while to heal. Not to just walk around. But to pitch? That puts a lot of tork on a body.
July 8th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Where are you getting the 4-6 week figure? A quick search of the web shows that 6-8 weeks is the more commonly cited figure.
But does that figure include rehab time, or just the time it takes before rehabbing can begin? I would expect that they would want to be very careful with pitchers to ensure that they can throw without any pain at all, since throwing with pain can lead to mechanical changes that could result in other injuries.
Moreover, the “three months” that you complain about is not total healing time, it’s healing time plus rehab – which is different. A pitcher can’t simply go from not throwing to pitching in a major league game without risking injury. Why do you think they have spring training?
July 8th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
By the way, the injury was reported as a “stress fracture.” By definition, stress fractures result from repeated stress – so it is unlikely that Hughes would remember how it occurred.
July 8th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
has anyone heard anything on sheppard? Will he be announcing the all-star game? that would be awesome
July 8th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
GatorGossage,
He initially had a story about how he hurt it, then backtracked, and didn’t know how he hurt (but could guess) it, it was also labeled at least 3 different ways as being a rib injury.
The last version is that he was just pitching and it just cracked on its own, and he didn’t know it until later on, or it could have been hurt some other time, and he found out about it while pitching.
I.E. Bullcrap, I like Hughes, I think this is going to be one of those stories we’ll find all the details about sometime a few years down the road.