I’m a bit surprised by this from the Bill James mailbag:
As a Yankee fan (sorry, apologies upfront), I’d like to give the organization and A-Rod the benefit of the doubt on waiting until January to have surgery that, I seem to remember, we all knew he was going to have back in November. I’m assuming that there might have been medical reasons for having to wait? Otherwise…wtf?
Asked by: rtallia
Answered: 1/18/2013
I’ll tell you this: it’s a big wtf inside baseball. Obviously there is SOMETHING going on there that we don’t know about.
Via BBTF.
A James reader then posts:
Re: A-Rod’s surgery, the MLB web page has this: Rodriguez was preparing for Wednesday’s procedure by following a prehabilitation regimen to strengthen the hip, while reducing inflammation. Kelly [the surgeon] said that the wait will improve Rodriguez’s chance for a healthy return to the Yankees’ lineup. “Operating earlier actually will frequently result in a more prolonged recovery afterwards, because it takes longer for the muscles to respond and recover from the surgery,” Kelly said.
Asked by: pherzman
Answered: 1/19/2013
Sure.
I take the ‘sure’ answer to be rather dismissive. Bill now knows something we don’t and he doesn’t want to talk about it.
So is the claim of prior strengthening covering up some more sinister reason? Hip surgery like this is rather new. Albert Belle‘s career ended because this wasn’t available to him in 2000. By 2009, a number of players were undergoing the new procedure, including Alex. It’s quite possible that in the four years since, doctors discovered that the stronger patients recovered better.
Health prior to surgery does effect recovery times. Non-smokers do better than smokers. Remember Joe Montana’s quick recovery from back surgery? Part of that was due to his great core strength before the surgery. (I had a family member who also recovered quickly from back surgery due to the same reason.)
Plus, it’s easy enough to check if this is a recommendation with hip surgery:
Physical Therapy
If deemed necessary, instruction in an exercise program to begin prior to the surgery, as well as an overview of the rehabilitation process after surgery, will better prepare you for postoperative care.
Finally, the Yankees have a long term contract with Alex. They don’t need him back quickly, they need him back healthy. I suspect they are trying to maximize long-term health here.
Of course, maybe Alex was planning a big vacation, and didn’t want the surgery until after that. I think we would have heard about that. A story about Alex putting himself ahead of the team would get a lot of press, given A-Rod’s history.
If I remember correctly, during the season, before Mo underwent surgery for his knee, they had him do some work to strengthen muscles around the ligament in preparation for post-operative rehab. I get the feeling that Bill isn’t communicating much with the doctors in Boston. Plus, let’s not forget that December, with holidays, given what team doctors make, they probably were able to take some time off to enjoy the holidays with family
Some people are just bound and determined to hate Alex, and prescribe bad motives to him in every situation.
I also have Femoroacetabula impingements in both my hips. Basically, the ball part of my femoral bones have bony spikes on them. Very painful. The first way to deal with them is with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Ibuprofen) in high doses. That works until the side effects kick in. Next way to deal with it is via physical therapy. Which works better. So while I still have the FAIs, the pain is gone, even though I can still feel some bone on bone from time to time.
It sounds like he did have some other damage too which necessitated the surgery, but PT does work for FAI. Oh, and steroids & HGH do not cause FAI.
I’d trust the doctors over someone with an axe to grind.
it is common for athletes to put off surgery in order to strengthen muscles around the area and for inflammation to go down. The obvious question is why not have it the day the season ends or right when the injury occurs. Doctors and trainers sometimes make these decisions for the athletes.
I think the conspiracy James is alluding to is the related to the fact that the Yankees may have insurance on A-Rods contract. Such insurance policies typically require the athlete to miss a certain amount of time before paying out.
That amount of time missed before payout dictates the premium, so it may be an entire year, 2/3, 1/2 whatever. We don’t know but maybe some of baseballs insiders do.
Lets assume the Yankees had a policy that required Arod to miss at least 1/2 year before paying out, then they stand to collect 14 million less any deductible.
If Arod had the surgery in November and came back in June, the Yankees likely collect nothing.
If this theory is true, and the Yankees are out of it by July, or Youk is playing a great 3B and they are getting good production out of the DH spot, don’t be surprised if A-Rod has a set back that has him miss the entire regular season.
If HGH causes bone growth, and FAI is really excess or abnormal growth of the femoral bone causing impingement, I would not rule out HGH contributing to his FAI. It would probably be rare enough to have escaped detection at a 95% confidence level so would not be established as a medical certainty, and hence considered not to cause FAI (much like lead and asbestos were not considered by medical science to be harmful at one time).
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