Ervin Santana had Surgery Today

[Guest]

If every athlete had surgery for something bothering him at the end of the season, they’d each have at least two surgeries every offseason. Rest, rehab and injections are the common path, which usually works, except for relatively obvious stuff. “Testing” the injury is usually an invitation to make it worse or at least take longer to heal. It’s unfortunate it didn’t work for this injury, but a loss of even eight starts from Santana should not be considered the difference between being a playoff team or not.

[nicksaviking]

 

Surgery is also part of the deal when you're an athlete and are expected to manage your health to be available to perform. This isn't TJ or a shoulder/knee rebuild. It's a relatively minor procedure plus some cleanup due to wear & tear, something a lot of athletes have to do at the end of a season. If they knew there was a possibility of this happening then it would have been negligent not to have the finger tested and fixed a month or two ago.

 

This article has a decent explanation of the procedure:

https://zonecoverage.com/2018/twins/seehafer-explaining-ervin-santanas-mcp-release-procedure/

 

Injuries and surgery are a side effect due to the occupation, they are not an obligation. An employer that tries to take domain over their employees' bodies would be human traffickers.

 

It's not the club's call, it's the player's, no matter the severity of the procedure.

[Kelly Vance]

Well lets not overreact. The Yankees were bummed when Wally Pipp got hurt and they had to start a kid named Gehrig.

[Ryan Atkins]

Someone get Tommy Milone on the line. What? He already signed with Washington. Crap, now what do we do? Could we pry Andrew Albers back from Japan?

 

In all seriousness, I think it is a certainty now more than ever that the front office will sign one of the remaining free agent starters.

[Taildragger8791]

 

Injuries and surgery are a side effect due to the occupation, they are not an obligation. An employer that tries to take domain over their employees' bodies would be human traffickers.

 

It's not the club's call, it's the player's, no matter the severity of the procedure.

 

I feel like my comment was taken a little to the extreme, but then again it's the internet so I should expect that. My comment was part wishful thinking and part frustration venting, but I never advocated for preemptive or unnecessary surgery. Nor did I say the club should have control over a player's surgical decisions or he should be throwing full-bore sliders in Decemeber, because that would be utterly stupid. That doesn't mean we can't criticize the situation to see if it could have been handled better.

 

My hope was that the player and team would have worked together this offseason to identify the recovery status of the injury sooner than this week. Maybe the doctor never said surgery was a possibility, or maybe there is no reasonable test to check out the finger other than full-go bullpen sessions. I would understand if that's why this played out the way it did. But if surgery was a strong possiblity and there were reasonable tests that could have been done to monitor progress then it seems like a waste to not have worked this out sooner. What are the chances that an extra month of rest for a cumulative wear/tear injury is the difference between full recovery and required surgery?

[SheboyganBrats]

Damn!  If only they had known this before Big Sexy signed that minor league deal with Texas.  Okay, I've had my snark for the day.

[Taildragger8791]

 

Injuries and surgery are a side effect due to the occupation, they are not an obligation. An employer that tries to take domain over their employees' bodies would be human traffickers.

 

It's not the club's call, it's the player's, no matter the severity of the procedure.

 

We all agree a player has control over their body, especially with respect to surgical decisions. Typically the player doesn't have a choice because the alternative is to retire, and they want to play (or get paid). But just to play devil's advocate...what if Santana chose to sit out the year over what appears to be a minor procedure and ran into this again next spring? What if he decided to forgo surgery altogether and tried pitching with 2 fingers or his left arm until his contract ended? Maybe he's into homeopathy or has religious beliefs steering him away from surgical treatment. In both scenarios he's fully expecting to get paid to not play (or play poorly) and consume a roster spot. Do you support him then?

[Heezy1323]

 

Which leads back to the question, why wasn't his progress checked earlier during the offseason? Seems to me it should have been and it doesn't sound like it was.

Again, this is because experts recommend 3-4 months off from throwing each year in pitchers. The risk of injury goes up 5x in those who fail to do so (in one study). So ramping him up earlier to 'see if the finger flares up' is not without risk. You are simply trading one risk for another. 

[Taildragger8791]

 

Again, this is because experts recommend 3-4 months off from throwing each year in pitchers. The risk of injury goes up 5x in those who fail to do so (in one study). So ramping him up earlier to 'see if the finger flares up' is not without risk. You are simply trading one risk for another. 

 

Is there any type of testing that could be done on the finger other than throwing? Imaging? Finger exercises to stress the joint?

[nicksaviking]

 

We all agree a player has control over their body, especially with respect to surgical decisions. Typically the player doesn't have a choice because the alternative is to retire, and they want to play (or get paid). But just to play devil's advocate...what if Santana chose to sit out the year over what appears to be a minor procedure and ran into this again next spring? What if he decided to forgo surgery altogether and tried pitching with 2 fingers or his left arm until his contract ended? Maybe he's into homeopathy or has religious beliefs steering him away from surgical treatment. In both scenarios he's fully expecting to get paid to not play (or play poorly) and consume a roster spot. Do you support him then?

 

Yes, the Twins gave him a contract knowing full well the various consequences of a hypothetical injury. The Twins shouldn't be pressuring him into any medical treatment he doesn't want just as all of our employers shouldn't be pressuring us into any medical treatment we don't want. Most of us have worker's comp available to us, he has a guaranteed salary.

 

And it's a good reason for the teams to take out insurance policies on the larger player contracts.

[Heezy1323]

Is there any type of testing that could be done on the finger other than throwing? Imaging? Finger exercises to stress the joint?

It’s unlikely that anything could be tried that would replicate the stress of pitching. I’m sure they tried some things. It is unfortunate that the timing is what it is, but I’m not sure it was avoidable.

[jimmer]

I always stand with the human being that doesn't want surgery. Always.

yeah, I have a few people who give me carp because I chose physical therapy over surgery after tearing my ACL. The surgery, the pain of recovery, and the physical therapy afterwards was more than I was willing to do at my age. I had to give up a couple activities, but overall, not much has changed.

 

Of course, I am not a pro athlete making over 10M a season to play baseball. If I was, I likely bite the bullet on a relatively small procedure like that since I am getting paid ridiculous money.

[Jham]

Pineada threw the other day!!

 

Aren't many vets with minor league contracts given leave from their contracts if a Major league offer comes in and the player isn't likely to make the team? Big Sexy?

[jorgenswest]

As I understand this injury, it results from repeated use. It has probably been aggravated previously and he rebounded back without surgery. Surgery is a tough call. You don’t always come back to the same level. Electing surgery is a risk to your career

 

I am still interested in finding histories of pitchers with previous surgeries to the middle finger and their recovery. How likely does Santana make a full recovery and is at that level soon after he returns?

[Heezy1323]

 

As I understand this injury, it results from repeated use. It has probably been aggravated previously and he rebounded back without surgery. Surgery is a tough call. You don’t always come back to the same level. Electing surgery is a risk to your career

I am still interested in finding histories of pitchers with previous surgeries to the middle finger and their recovery. How likely does Santana make a full recovery and is at that level soon after he returns?

I certainly don't read every article out there, but with a brief search I couldn't find anything. If you'd told me Santana had surgery and asked me to guess the body part, I think the middle finger MCP joint capsule would've been about #12,342 on my list of guesses. I doubt there are any meaningful comps out there.

 

That being said, it's certainly better than an elbow or shoulder issue. I'm guessing his likelihood of a full recovery is pretty good (though I'm not a hand surgeon). 

[diehardtwinsfan]

Heezy, I think I speak for all of TD when I say that your contributions here are invaluable. I really appreciate your takes on these types of things.