Under the Knife

The Miami Marlins got quite the shock on Monday. Jose Fernandez was sent to Los Angeles for an MRI to check his elbow. According to Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network, the diagnosis was a sprained elbow. That diagnosis specifically points to UCL involvement. The UCL is the ligament replaced in Tommy John surgery.

Just as Clayton Kershaw is coming off the disabled list, Hyun-Jin Ryu is heading onto the disabled list with a shoulder injury. The Los Angeles Dodgers swap their No. 3 pitcher for their No. 1, but their depth has already been tested by injuries, making any further time lost a tough proposition.

Michael Bourn could be headed back to the disabled list after starting the season there. His repaired left hamstring is acting up again, a big problem so closely after surgery.

Missing any time is frustrating to Matt Cain, but the San Francisco Giants are making good use of a little understood MLB rule in order to minimize that lost time. Cain's finger laceration will only cost the minimum time due to the Giants' use of the "retroactive" provision of the disabled list rules.

Pitch counts are now an acknowledged part of baseball. For all the sabermetric advances in the game, the one that's made the most inroads into the consciousness of baseball fans and the actions of baseball teams is the simple pitch count.

The problem is, it's not helping.

Yu Darvish has been great since joining the Texas Rangers, but a neck injury has forced the team to bench its ace, according to MLB.com. Darvish has a sore neck and is heading back to Dallas for more tests. It is very likely he will start the season on the disabled list.

The story this week has been pitching injuries, but while the outbreak of Tommy John across the league got headlines, it's not unusual. Tommy John surgery is happening more and more. Remember, David Wells, a player from the not-too-distant past, may have been one of the first 10 MLB players to have the surgery.

The Minnesota Twins got the news they were dreading Saturday morning. Their top prospect, Miguel Sano, will have Tommy John surgery and miss the 2014 season, as reported by ESPN.com.

To understand the ratings here and why these specific players are risky, first you must understand risk. This is not a general term, but a very specific term of art most closely related to the insurance industry. While we all know Flo and the Geico gecko, few of us have learned how insurance works or why it's so profitable. If you want to know why Matt Kemp, Derek Jeter and Joe Mauer—three of the biggest names in baseball with contracts to match—are risky, please let me explain before you blow up in the comments.

Miguel Cabrera fought through the last month of the season and then the playoffs while dealing with an amorphously defined injury.