Injuries Threaten Pirates' Recovery

By any measure, the Pirates' Jason Bay was a superstar in 2006. But he injured his knee in 2007, and was never quite the same again.

In that year, his batting went downhill to "league average," and his crippled fielding pulled his overall usefulness down to that of a replacement player. Bay has since regained his star batting ability, but his continued weak fielding makes him worth perhaps $5 million less than he might have commanded were he a free agent in 2006.

Freddy Sanchez was another star who was that, when healthy. But concerns about his durability led management to "lowball," then trade him when he declined to play for only $5 million a year in 2010 and 2011. After a strong start to 2009, he finished the season poorly with San Francisco, apparently vindicating management's judgment.

But "injury" has hurt the Pirates most in the rotation. Tom Gorzelanny was a very promising pitcher through 2007. But in that year, he pitched 50 more innings than in the previous year, a development that seemed to "hamstring" him in a very uneven 2008. He spent almost a year in the minor leagues "rehabbing," before being traded.

And after a stellar start in 2005 and a fair "sophomore" year in 2006, Zach Duke's pitching went steadily downhill in 2007 because of injury. He has since recovered to roughly his 2006 (mid-rotation) level of performance, but no more.

Paul Maholm, today's star, was another pitcher that was useless in September of 2007 when he was hurt. With Duke also injured, that left the Pirates to finish out the year with the likes of Matt Morris, Bryan Bullington, and John Van Benschoten, who were routinely drubbed.

Bullington and Van Benschoten were big, strapping guys that the Pirates were prone to drafting, but even more prone to getting hurt. Except for brief stretches of excellence in the minors, they alternated between injury and mediocrity or worse.

Matt Morris was a formerly strong pitcher acquired from the San Francisco Giants in a trade, in his early 30s, during his declining days. What surprised the Pirates was the speed of his decline: He fell apart suddenly in much the manner of the New York Yankees' Chien Ming Wang and had to be released—his $10 million salary notwithstanding.

The consideration for Morris was one Rajai Davis, a finesse player whose most obvious attribute was his basepath running and fielding speed. Considered a "light" hitter, he nevertheless posted an on base percentage of .361 in 2007 (on the strength of walks), and matched that in 2009, albeit with a .305 batting average. Davis is the kind of useful, durable player that the Pirates shun.

That's why its troubling to read that reliever Joel Hanrahan is ailing while Jose Ascanio is also on the disabled list, since we traded proven performers Sean Burnett and John Grabow for them. 

The Pirates have a tendency to acquire players, particularly pitchers that are powerful when healthy, a fact that makes them injury-prone. Their formerly most durable pitcher was a smallish man named Ian Snell, who, however, had psychological, rather than physical problems.

This is the year that the Pirates are supposed to come back to respectability. But this recovery might be thwarted again if too many key players are, or get, injured.

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