4/15/09

Pelfrey’s pitching with tendinitis in forearm

Mike Pelfrey Somewhere, Tom Verducci is checking Mike Pelfrey’s name off his list and patting himself on the back.

According to an on-air report by Peter Gammons, via MetsBlog, Pelfrey has been pitching with arm tendinitis and has it to blame for his season ERA hovering above 8.

Here’s a little background info on tendinitis from WebMD:

How Is Tendinitis Treated?

Initial treatment includes:

  • Avoiding activities that aggravate the problem
  • Resting the injured area
  • Icing the area the day of the injury
  • Taking over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medicines

If the condition does not improve in a week, see your doctor. You may need more advanced treatments, including:

  • Corticosteroid injections. Corticosteroids (often called " steroids") are often used because they work quickly to decrease the inflammation and pain.
  • Physical therapy. This can be very beneficial, especially for a "frozen shoulder." Physical therapy includes range of motion exercises and splinting (thumb, forearm, bands).
  • Surgery. This is only rarely needed for severe problems not responding to other treatments.

Why Verducci, you ask?  Well if you’re a longtime reader, you probably know I love Verducci’s writing.  Also, he’s focused on the effect of increased innings on young pitchers.  Pelfrey fits into this category, and Verducci recently ranked him seventh for the greatest jump in innings for young pitchers.

From a post on April 8:

Verducci met with Pelfrey down at spring training, and much of his latest article focuses on Pelfrey and a handful of other young pitchers he has "red flagged" for injuries in 2009. Of the 10 pitchers Verducci picked, Pelfrey had the seventh largest jump in innings with 48.

How much should those guys be worried? Over the previous three years I red-flagged a total of 24 young pitchers at the start of those seasons. Of those 24 at-risk pitchers, 16 were hurt in that same season. Only one of the 24 pitchers managed to stay healthy and lower his ERA.Not the greatest news in the world for Mets fans or Pelfrey.

The Mets need to handle Pelfrey with kid gloves. He's a good pitcher, but it's too early in the season to have him injure himself or a long period of time.