I've asked this question several times, but haven't been able to find the answer yet. I am curious to know if Home Run Baker had any type of tests or scans done on his elbow in the off-season. This seems to be a chronic injury with him, so it's not like this has snuck up on anybody. It's frustrating when guys don't do their off-season maintenance right away at season's end, thereby jeopardizing being ready for the next season as soon as possible. That's another reason I was frustrated with Mauer last year. Didn't he wait to have his knee scoped until around mid-December?

From the time the news came out a couple of weeks ago that Baker was going to be held back because of his elbow I have feared the worst. At this point, I would be surprised to see him give the Twins any meaningful innings this year. Terry Ryan was on KFAN yesterday and sounded pretty frustrated that Baker has missed so much time over the last couple of years.

I don't know the answer to that for sure, but my understanding is "no". But if the diagnosis turns out to be "tendinitis" (as in, a negative MRI finding), what difference would the tests have made? The Twins are supervising him NOW and still don't seem to know exactly what's wrong with him.

But your criticism of his preparation routine and "maintenance" could be 100% fair. The Mauer analogy is a good one, and Sidney Rice's hip problem on the Vikings also reminds me of this (though in Sidney's case, there were contract negotiations involved and reasons for him to purposefully delay treatment). And yet, I also believe that some guys are just constructed more poorly than others, and a guy like CC Sabathia can just roll out for Spring Training every year and ramp it up for 200 IP. Baker is not that guy.