ptatc

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 1, 2012 -> 12:54 AM) Wow. Another pitcher bites the dust. Thanks for some good memories in a Sox uniform, John Danks. I don't expect we'll be seeing him excel on the mound again. But he had some good moments while it all lasted. That is far too pessimistic. It's a possibility but a remote one. Odds are he will be throwing again within 6 months.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 30, 2012 -> 07:36 PM) Very nice. I'm trying to be positive because I like where the Sox are at, at the moment. But KW didn't go from being below average to above in 4 weeks. That's right. He's been above average the whole time.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 31, 2012 -> 10:17 PM) So what will they do if they open him up and find absolutely nothing wrong? Will they fix something anyway just to make everyone feel better? They will always find something in a pitcher's shoulder. If they find nothing major the question will be if they find the correct minor thing. Look for the stand by "clean up" phrase. If they say that it will mean they didn't find much and just tightened it up as I stated earlier. This could either be really good or bad depending on how accurately the physician tightens it. Either way he will be throwing by spring training if it is a "clean up."

QUOTE (BlackBetsy @ Jul 31, 2012 -> 07:53 PM) It surprises me that with MRI, CT, etc. doctors still have to do "exploratory surgery" to figure out what is wrong with someone's shoulder. What I worry about is that Danks' problems are shoulder problems. The list of pitchers who have come back from shoulder surgeries successfully is a LOT shorter than those who have come back from elbow surgeries. This is because of the problem I stated earlier. The imaging doesn't always show the exact problem, it shows signs of the problem ie. fluid where it shouldn't be. There are so many structures involved in making the shoulder work that it is very difficult to tell what is going on. The bright side of this is that usually something major such as a rotator cuff tear is visible during these common imaging techniques. The fact that they can't find it could be a good sign. It means there is no major structural damage. Unless they aren't telling us something. I think he will be ready to throw by Spring training. These exploratories usually wind up a the general "looseness" as I stated earlier. If they find major structural damage it could be different. If it's not structural, the 7 months until Spring training should be sufficient.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 31, 2012 -> 03:47 PM) Would a full recovery be expected? That's the part where they would need to tighten it up just right to maintain enough flexibility yet increase the stability. Most often he would fully recover but it is less of a guarantee than if they knew what the damaged tissue was.

QUOTE (scenario @ Jul 31, 2012 -> 12:00 PM) I spent a few minutes looking on medical sites for treatment of this type of injury. Seems physical therapy is the first option. Surgery is not normally recommended for Grade 1 unless physical therapy doesn't provide results. Time period for therapy was described as normally 6-8 weeks. If he requires arthroscopic surgery, it says the normal recovery time would be 3-6 months. This is all true. However, I'm still skeptical if this is the actual problem. The did an ultrasound after the MRI. As I stated in a different thread, these are usually for muscle injuries not tendon. I think this case is one that no one really knows what's going on so they rested and rehabbed it to see if it would help. If it does, he'll pitch again. If it doesn't they'll do surgery. Most of the time, this type of ambiguous pain comes from overall shoulder instability. In a pitcher typically the "looseness" focuses in the anterior part of the shoulder and begins to degenerate tissue in this area. This could explain the original Subscapularis findings. The grade 1 tears show as fluid in the area as it's only a minor tear. General degeneration will show up like this as well. My guess is that if can't continue to throw they will do surgery to tighten up the joint capsule and "clean up" anything else they find. The only real danger of this is if they tighten up the capsule too much it isn't flexible enough. If they don't tighten it up enough, the joint is still too loose. It can be tricky. Either way if they do surgery anytime before Oct. he should be ready to go in spring Training.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 31, 2012 -> 03:15 PM) Rangers beat guy: Evan Grant ‏@Evan_P_Grant Sources: Rangers send 3B Christian Villanueva and RHP Kyle Hendricks to Cubs for Dempster. Good trade. Hendricks is going to be real good.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jul 24, 2012 -> 01:53 PM) With the mindset of them NOT taking his option next year, I woudn't mind them dealing Floyd in attempt to bolster a deal for Grienke. Yes, you may risk losing him in free agency next year, BUT having Grienke in the rotation along with Peavy, Quintana, and Sale THIS YEAR could be scary for any opposing team the rest of the way. Oh and Danks will likely come back at the end of August too. I will worry about the future during the offseason Another thing to remember is that both Quintana and Sale will most likely run out of gas this season and tire out. They will need a break. If Danks comes back he will be rested. But that means you will need to depend on Humber and Peavy and Floyd or Greinke more heavily.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jul 21, 2012 -> 08:24 PM) Urban legend. Not an urban legend. I know the guy.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jul 18, 2012 -> 09:17 AM) Unless Morel is learning 1B and OF during his rehab, he isn't going to be back up with the Sox this season. There's no room on the roster for a bench player who only plays one position, unless that position is C. He will be needed when Youk re-injures his back.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jul 10, 2012 -> 08:58 AM) And, although his son's condition may have had a small part in his 2011 performance, the fact that he's improved dramatically shows that it wasn't the major factor. His son still has epilepsy, and it's still a hard road for his family. It's not like he said, "To hell with my problems." He worked hard this off season, and that hard work is paying off. Or maybe it explains some of his slumps. It could be that when his son's condition worsens he becomes concerned for his health and he loses a little focus. Hitting a baseball is hard enough in perfect conditions. When you are worried about the health of a child and complete focus is near impossible it becomes really tough. Many people are saying that in the real world people get fired for performing so poorly. These are usually the people at the bottom. There are many CEOs like Dunn that are paid more than him and have had many more years of poor performance lately that continue to get bonuses more than Dunn's salary. Boo all you want to feel that you have some control or say with the team but don't discount the effect that a sick child can have on anyone's concentration at work.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 9, 2012 -> 09:50 PM) Not the slowest Sox ever. Harold Baines, at the end of his career, ran at a grandmotherly pace. Marc Hill was slower. I saw him get thrown out at first on a ground ball to the right fielder.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 7, 2012 -> 09:21 PM) Why is that unique? Didn't say it was unique. Just a question. Greg seems passionate about the Sox and it's seems odd. I have weekend season tickets and really enjoy going to ball games.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 7, 2012 -> 06:01 PM) I may have to go to some Sox-Royals games at Kauffman this year. The team looks like a contender at this time. Maybe Youk can help reverse the post all-star game hex on the team the last few seasons. So you only go to watch them if they look like a contenting team?

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Jul 6, 2012 -> 11:50 AM) i never read anything on it, or saw when it happend,(saw a video online i think) but what happend between aj and floyd in ny? I don't know what happened between him and floyd. I was referring to the comments from the giants pitcher before the Sox signed him.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Jul 6, 2012 -> 09:37 AM) All that "bad" work ethic stuff just seems funny now. He has been on the DL once in his career and will get pretty close to catching 2,000 games. The work ethic stuff is all wrong. He works as hard or harder than anyone on the field. That stuff was said because the guy didn't like him. AJ is a grade A jerk but is a good ball player and works hard at the game.

QUOTE (Cali @ Jul 6, 2012 -> 09:34 AM) There's no doubt in my mind, down the Road AJ is a coach in the Sox system. He will not be a coach. No one can stand the guy and no one will listen to him as a coach.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jul 2, 2012 -> 12:30 PM) Usain Bolt lost twice to Yohan Blake at Olympic trials. I'm betting Bolt still wins easily in London. Don't count out Gatlin. He was awesome in Eugene. The USA has a chance to get 30+ medals with a talented Track team.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 5, 2012 -> 08:41 PM) 2000 team surely.... That team, top to bottom, could rake. Perry, Durham, Maggs, C-Lee, Konerko, Thomas, Valentin. Singleton was probably the weakest hitter that year, Fordyce at catcher, but we added Charles Johnson in trade, who was a monster that season with the O's. That's probably the most impactful in-season move made for a position player b4 Youkilis. Julio Cruz.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 04:07 PM) Danks had a cortisone shot yesterday. Still no word on a possible return or prognosis. This proves that he is still having discomfort and they aren't sure where it's coming from. Cortisone injections are done in bursa and other passive tissues. They are not used for tendons and muscles. They are looking at something other than the subscapularis tendon that was reported earlier.

QUOTE (SpainSOXfan09 @ Jul 1, 2012 -> 12:21 PM) Quick update from MGon on JDanks (Basically says he will continue rehab with no definite return date). PTATC, can you comment on this? Link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,1444642.story Article: NEW YORK -- Chicago White Sox left-hander John Danks left the team Sunday to return to Chicago for tests on his left shoulder. Danks, who hasn't pitched since June 14 in a minor league rehabilitation assignment for Triple-A Charlotte, underwent a diagnostic ultrasound on his shoulder. Danks didn't not undergo an MRI since he isn't close yet to resuming his rehab assignment. The Sox stressed that Danks, 27, should be able to resume his rehab Tuesday. Danks hasn't pitched in a major league game since May 19 against the Cubs at Wrigley Field and there has been no projected date for his return. "I think we’re fortunate to be able to think that way with what Q (Jose Quintana) has done," manager Robin Ventura said. "We want to get him healthy first, and it keeps lingering and lingering, and you can’t look at him as we’re counting on him on this date. Every time we’ve done that, it’s been pushed back. We just want to get him healthy and Q just stays in that spot.” Reliever Jesse Crain, who has tightness in the back of his right shoulder, had yet to throw Sunday, and a stint on the DL still seems possible. “I think it’s more he’s gotten a pretty good prognosis of what it is," Ventura said. "It’s giving him some time (to rest), and hopefully that will do the trick. I don’t foresee a DL stint for him.” This is an interesting development. Diagnostic ultrasounds can be used for tendon imaging but are typically used for muscle belly imaging. My guess is that he is still having some discomfort and they are trying other things to determine the cause. The good news is that if they are looking at the active muscle tissue, they do not think it is a passive stability structure like the capsule or labrum. These need surgery to fix. If they think he is ready to begin on Tuesday then they must be pretty sure it's just muscular which just requires rest then strengthening.

QUOTE (bobryansson @ Jun 19, 2012 -> 11:36 PM) Happens not uncommonly that using the retrospectoscope on an x-ray shows something not seen previously. Tendinopathy seen initially on contrast MRI allows it to then be localized/visualized on prior plain scan, allowing comparison. Perhaps a stretch (No tendon pun intended.), but not necessarily "nonsense" or "crap." This is true. However, They would have done the same MRI the second time they did as the first for comparison. Since they determined it was a grade 1, the only thing you can really look at for the tendon is the presence of fluid in the tendon. The suscapularis is so small and blends with the teres major and lat tendons that regardless if you use T1, T2 or contrast medium, you really can't "see" the individual tendon well. Injuries to this tendon are often misdianosed using imaging techniques, as are many injuries to the shoulder because of the tight space and many anatomic structures present. I'm not an imaging expert but based on my experience and many research articles I refer to MRIs as "More Radiographic Income" as their true purpose. They can be useful to confirm the physical diagnosis but are not really useful on their own.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 20, 2012 -> 08:12 AM) I remember reading a story about Nolan Ryan years ago being one of the very first guys out there to lift weights. IIRC the Angels didn't even have a weight room, and in the mid 70's he turned an abandoned room into a weight room which he used alone. There was a big school of thought that too much muscle was bad for baseball related activities. Yes. The theory was it made you too "tight" and you couldn't get the full motion you need to throw.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 19, 2012 -> 01:51 PM) Isn't the meaning on those basically identical? A severe strain = a moderate tear? sorry I didn't post earlier, we had a late Lacrosse practice last night. The definitions are sometimes used interchangably but they really shouldn't. From what I read there is no tear. The grade 1 strain means there is no tear. This tendon however needs to be handled very carefully. It is the anterior or front tendon of the rotator cuff. It is responsible for slowing the arm down when he bring the arm back during the windup phase and accelerating the arm forward during the acceleration phase. If there is a severe problem with the tendon there will also be some stability issues with the whole joint because as you raise your arm over your head the humerus slides forward in the joint and this muscle needs to absorb some of that force. The grade 1 is a good sign and the 3-6 weeks time frame is a good estimate. The crap about the MRI being being better than before is nonsense. If it was worse before, he wouldn't have tried anything in the minors. This is not a season ending injury. Once the inflammation goes down and the strength up he'll be fine. It does however have a direct correlation to his decreased velocity not so much from strength but pain.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Jun 19, 2012 -> 03:49 PM) Nobody knows when any of these guys started using. Pretty much in the mid-80's with Canseco and McGwire.