The medical issue: Why can't the Jays get it right?
Posted: Sun Sep 2, 2018 2:17 pm
Just a thought exercise, related to the Donaldson rehab, also past rehabs and injury diagnosis failure involving a host of players dating back to Adam Lind's foot fracture that went undiagnosed for weeks.
It boils down to this. The Jays don't have the confidence of some veterans who have the kind of nagging injuries that linger, with protracted rehabs. They can't seem to get this right. Admittedly, medical diagnosis often is not a simple yes/no, unless the x-ray, CT scan or MRI is crystal clear (which it often is not). And when you have the oldest roster in baseball, those kinds of nagging injuries like calves and hamstrings can take longer to heal. Nor is it absolutely a Toronto problem - look at the whole Kawhi Leonard fiasco in San Antonio with a younger player and a misdiagnosis/possibly botched rehab. The Spurs had a long history of managing older players' injuries really well, which why guys like Duncan, Manu and Parker were able to extend their careers at a high level.
However, I look at the Raptors, and to a lesser extent the Maple Leafs (the Joffrey Lupul situation being the outlier) and wonder if there is a philosophical approach to how injuries - beyond the usual stuff like ankle sprains and knee and shoulder wear issues like tendinitis - are handled. The Jays tend to send anyone for extended rehab to Dunedin, whereas in-season, the Raptors or Leafs keep these types of rehab programs close to the city. The latter both have exceptional facilities, like the Biosteel Centre, and of course the Raptors have one of the best sports science guys in the business, Alex McKechnie, with the team. And off-season, a lot of players cleaning up in-season injuries or off-season surgeries are working out with McKechnie in Vancouver or with friends/associates of his in the US. In other words, the principal guy in charge keeps control of these situations year-round. (Yes, the Raptors and Leafs are younger, which is likely a factor).
I'd like to know more about the Jays medical/sports science hierarchy. I get the feeling there is no hierarchy. Look at the high performance department, per this chart.
https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/team/front-office-directory.
It looks like there are a lot of sous-chefs but no one head chef. It's a pretty flat structure. Lot of consulting physicians in two locations.
The head of high performance is a sports psychologist, and the mental side has been a point of emphasis for the Jays under the current administration, but it doesn't seem like that's been undermining the team as much as lingering injuries (I'm thinking about Donaldson, and in 2016-17, Edwin Encarnacion in particular.) Just wondering if the Jays would do better with a more hierarchical structure, and would do well to go speak to someone like McKechnie for advice on what they could do better.
It boils down to this. The Jays don't have the confidence of some veterans who have the kind of nagging injuries that linger, with protracted rehabs. They can't seem to get this right. Admittedly, medical diagnosis often is not a simple yes/no, unless the x-ray, CT scan or MRI is crystal clear (which it often is not). And when you have the oldest roster in baseball, those kinds of nagging injuries like calves and hamstrings can take longer to heal. Nor is it absolutely a Toronto problem - look at the whole Kawhi Leonard fiasco in San Antonio with a younger player and a misdiagnosis/possibly botched rehab. The Spurs had a long history of managing older players' injuries really well, which why guys like Duncan, Manu and Parker were able to extend their careers at a high level.
However, I look at the Raptors, and to a lesser extent the Maple Leafs (the Joffrey Lupul situation being the outlier) and wonder if there is a philosophical approach to how injuries - beyond the usual stuff like ankle sprains and knee and shoulder wear issues like tendinitis - are handled. The Jays tend to send anyone for extended rehab to Dunedin, whereas in-season, the Raptors or Leafs keep these types of rehab programs close to the city. The latter both have exceptional facilities, like the Biosteel Centre, and of course the Raptors have one of the best sports science guys in the business, Alex McKechnie, with the team. And off-season, a lot of players cleaning up in-season injuries or off-season surgeries are working out with McKechnie in Vancouver or with friends/associates of his in the US. In other words, the principal guy in charge keeps control of these situations year-round. (Yes, the Raptors and Leafs are younger, which is likely a factor).
I'd like to know more about the Jays medical/sports science hierarchy. I get the feeling there is no hierarchy. Look at the high performance department, per this chart.
https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/team/front-office-directory.
It looks like there are a lot of sous-chefs but no one head chef. It's a pretty flat structure. Lot of consulting physicians in two locations.
The head of high performance is a sports psychologist, and the mental side has been a point of emphasis for the Jays under the current administration, but it doesn't seem like that's been undermining the team as much as lingering injuries (I'm thinking about Donaldson, and in 2016-17, Edwin Encarnacion in particular.) Just wondering if the Jays would do better with a more hierarchical structure, and would do well to go speak to someone like McKechnie for advice on what they could do better.
