Under the Knife

On Thursday night, Yu Darvish beat the Detroit Tigers and threw 130 pitches. It wasn't his best performance this year or even this month, but it may end up the most scrutinized. 

There are a lot of pitchers close to comebacks. With Zack Greinke making a quick comeback from his collarbone fracture and Jered Weaver not far behind him, not to mention Johnny Cueto's return, we will see a lot of pitching coming back to the mound. The problem is that there are just as many heading out with injury. 

Just look at the names in this week's UTK and you'll see the issue. Giancarlo Stanton, Zack Greinke, Troy Tulowitzki, Stephen Strasburg—these are big-time stars, with most making big time money or carrying the hopes of a franchise on their back.

Giancarlo Stanton looks like Superman, but injuries have been his kryptonite. On a hustle play in extra innings Monday night, Stanton racked up another injury. This time it is a hamstring strain that could cost Stanton a month or more, depending on the severity.

The NFL draft is this week, as you might have heard. The NBA playoffs have started, a two-month second season that will soak up a lot of attention if we get the expected LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant matchup. The NHL is getting ready for its postseason as well.

Jose Reyes slid awkwardly into second base, and the result has the Toronto Blue Jays questioning if their season is sliding away.

We're a week into the baseball season and I have 25 names to write about in today's UTK. Big names like Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Ryan Braun and Jered Weaver have missed at least a portion of the first week, losses that they and their teams can't get back.

Someday we'll take a look at their season stats on Baseball-Reference.com and wonder why their numbers were just a bit low. It takes a bit of a deeper look to understand that missed playing time, missed innings pitched, missed plate appearances are the usual reasons. 

Jered Weaver's injury was an odd one.

I made it to Opening Day.

This year, Opening Day meant more than most years, since I was the one that almost went on the DL. Instead, I stood on the field Monday in Milwaukee, looking at the steel roof above the green grass and loving that it was once again baseball season. It was an amazing feeling, talking with so many media friends and having everyone from Doug Melvin to Ryan Braun pausing to ask how I was feeling. 

We all like to look into the future. The problem is that the future doesn't like to be looked at. Things change, often quickly, and factors we never consider end up making a hash of our best predictions.