I think you would need to look at who the teams played during the second half to make a definitive statement. In 3 out of the 8 years they had really good second halves and 2 others they were about .500 so it seems somewhat arbitrary.
Past injury has the highest correlation to getting injured in all predictive models.
Not to say it's guaranteed bit it greatly increases the likelihood.
Not necessarily. Whenever you have the surgery he did there is a increased chance of instability. Which in turn could lead to further issues.
It's not clear because there is an increased chance but no guarantee either way.
It is on the quick side but not unreasonable. Only the people with hands in him know his strength. That's the key. Everything should be healed. Just a matter of strength returning.
It makes sense if they want a long relief multiple inning guy. They weren't using Foster much and he wasn't going to be longer relief type. I don't imagine he'll be used much just like Foster.