Mike Napoli has a hip disease, which held up his contract with the Red Sox:
The mystery of Napoli’s hip condition was cleared up. He has avascular necrosis (AVN), a disease that causes bone deterioration due to an interruption of the blood supply.
The issue was discovered in Napoli’s MRI in December. He does not have symptoms and is taking medication. He has been working out and expects to be ready for Opening Day. Grieper said the condition is in both hips.
“This has not affected him whatsoever,” Grieper said. “Mike is asymptomatic. No soreness, no restrictions, no nothing.”
So his contract has incentive clauses that are dependent on Mike staying healthy.
The interesting thing about this is the Rangers did an MRI before last season on his hip. If he had no symptoms and has never had a hip issue, why the MRI?
I doubt every player who signs as a FA gets an MRI on every body part. Why did the Red Sox do an MRI? Probably because the MRI done by the Rangers was part of his medical records. Which leads us back to the question why the Rangers did the MRI.
Napoli not getting a QO from the Rangers is also interesting if the Rangers thought he was healthy. The only way Napoli would accept a QO is if he knew something was wrong that would prevent him from getting a multi-year deal, so there was no risk to the Rangers making a QO if they wanted to go in a different direction and get a draft pick if they thought he was healthy.
If I’m not mistaken, it’s the same condition that caused Bo Jackson’s early retirement.
Joe G » Yes, but we know that Bo’s was a result of a football injury. I suspect Napoli might have gotten his in a collision at the plate.
Actually, AVN can be broken down into traumatic and non-traumatic causes. Napoli has never had a hip injury that we know of, so this suggests a non-traumatic cause.
Since he has bilateral AVN it is unlikely a single collision at the plate caused his AVN.
Non traumatic causes include alcohol abuse, prolonged use of corticosteroids, hyperlipidemia, etc. About 15% of non-traumautic causes are idiopathic.
Anabolic steroids can cause hyperlipidemia.
Symptomatic patients with AVN progress to hip collapse more rapidly than asymptomatic patients. Thats why knowing why Napoli had the MRI by the Rangers is important.
It could have been be a back or groin issue, pain in these areas could have been caused by his AVN and misdiagnosed. Whats more bothersome is the fact nobody asked in the con call with Napoli about the reason for the MRI by the Rangers, which likely triggered the Red Sox doing their own MRI after review of his records.