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Did The Indians' Medical Staff Miss Something About Borowski's Injury?

Hello everyone,

I was reading in the Plain Dealer on Sunday (the article was called "Still Looking For Work" by Paul Hoynes on Page C6) about how Borowski was auditioning for several teams (10 was implied) and threw for Boston and Detroit in Tempe, Arizona on Saturday.   You can also see the online version of that article here.

Borowski claims that his arm feels "attached to his body again" and that his stuff seems to be crisper after Brett Fischer's Sports Therapy massaged and loosened up a knot under his right lat muscle. 

My question is:  Should the Indians' medical staff have figured this out and tried to loosen or dissolve that knot under his right lat muscle? 

It sounds like Borowski told everything that was going on with him to Fischer's, something perhaps he didn't do with the Indians' medical staff, but even so, shouldn't the Indians' medical staff have examined that area and perhaps figured out that that knot may have had something to do with the sudden decline in his stuff from 2007 to 2008?  After all, lat muscles are pretty important to all pitchers, so I'd think that they would have examined his lat muscles - how then did they not discover the knot and at least try to dissolve it or loosen it up?

I'm not trying to blame the Indians' medical staff, but for the many accolades they have received about their medical care and keeping the Indians healthy throughout most of the past seasons, I would have thought they would have discovered this and tried to dissolve or loosen it and see if that might have helped Borowski pitch better before releasing him. 

Even if the season had still been lost with Borowski bouncing back, at the very least, we might have been able to pick up another promising prospect if Borowski had pitched more like he did in 2007.  It's likely someone would have been interested in him, being that most contenders' bullpens have issues (including the Red Sox's, Yankees', Rays', Brewers', Cubs', Cardinals', White Sox's, Twins', etc. - everyone virtually except for maybe the Angels' bullpen), so the possibility of gaining another worthwhile prospect was probably at least decent, provided Borowski's stuff rebounded and he had decent control like he did in 2007, which may have been possible if the Indians' medical staff had discovered and loosened that knot and the Indians allowed Borowski to pitch after that before releasing him.

Just a question to consider and my 2 cents.

0 recs | Comment 17 comments

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Joe Borowski is selling something.

The idea that all he needed was a good message is beyond ridiculous.

Relievers are volatile. Borowski may have been pretty unlucky in his 17 IP this season, ending up with a 7+ ERA. Then again, he may have been lucky last year to have a 5+ ERA.

In any event, how can we seriously consider a failure on the part of the staff when the result was so unsurprising, and Borowski not only hasn’t gotten a single out for another team, he hasn’t even been signed?

by Jay on Jul 28, 2008 12:55 AM EDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Hello Jay,

Good point – I suspect Borowski is certainly trying to “paint himself in a positive light,” but I just never heard of a knot in his right lat muscle (perhaps I missed it, though) and wondered whether that could have been a major contributor to the loss of his “stuff.”

Granted, I was never that impressed with Borowski’s stuff, and by the stats and such, it seemed ML hitters weren’t all that impressed with either, so of the two scenarios you mentioned, I would suspect the 2007 season was the luckier one, though I don’t know if Borowski is AS bad as his 2008 season was.

He seemed like he was more “passable,” so I’d suspect if his stuff rebounded that he’d be better than what he was in 2008, but I do think that his ability to save 45 games last year was at least somewhat attributable to luck and good defense – there were several jams he was in that could have resulted in more blown saves, but a good defensive play or a poor swing at a pitch way out of the zone bailed Borowski out of several of the jams he often found himself in.

Like I said, I wasn’t trying to blame the staff, but at the same time, I was just a bit surprised there had been no mention of the scar tissue and knot under Borowski’s right lat muscle before now – is that just Borowski painting himself in a positive light or did the Indians’ staff possibly miss something, maybe due to the fact that Borowski himself didn’t tell absolutely everything to them like he did to Fischer’s?

Just my 2 cents.

The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.

by indiansfan on Jul 28, 2008 1:23 AM EDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

It sounds like the kind of minor thing that just wouldn’t even get reported. I mean, I have all kinds of knots and soreness that never get reported.

by Jay on Jul 28, 2008 10:43 AM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Totally. It was just a knot.

by afh4 on Jul 28, 2008 2:16 AM EDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

THE CLEVELAND TEAM MASSEUSE DID NOTHING WRONG!

by Ohiokie on Jul 28, 2008 7:42 AM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

I’m sure mentally, Joe’s arm does feel better after not having to pitch for over a month. Like Jay said .. Joe is selling himself. If/when he gets back … see how his stats do before you cast blame on the medical staff.

After his “dead arm” injury, his breaking ball was noticeably improved .. but his fastball was still slow and flat. If he can’t get that pitch back up to 88mph with some movement, he is done as a reliever.

by Toxicadam on Jul 28, 2008 2:29 AM EDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Let’s face it, we all feel better after not having him pitch for over a month.

by Jay on Jul 28, 2008 10:42 AM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   1 recs

The knots and soreness I got contorting myself to will all those line drives not to fall seem to be gone now. Maybe JoeBo needs to develop an eephus pitch like Randy Johnson threw yesterday.

by FredOx on Jul 28, 2008 10:50 AM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Joe was almost the anti-closer. One of the psychological reasons behind the closer was to instill fear into the opposing team that the 9th inning was going to be a shutout inning. So, you better score in the 7th or 8th inning if you want a chance to comeback. With Joe, fans (and I suspect players) were salivating for that 9th inning so they could have a chance to come back.

by Toxicadam on Jul 28, 2008 12:28 PM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

I will not lose any sleep over letting Borowski go, ever.

by Roger Dorn on Jul 28, 2008 8:00 AM EDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

The reason we got Borowski in the first place was that his shoulder was a ticking time bomb which would at some point fail (he failed a physical with the Phillies I think before we signed him). No mystery massage is going to fix that.

by APV on Jul 28, 2008 4:57 PM EDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

[mystery massage joke pre-deleted]

Ground rules, guys. Seriously.

by fleerdon on Jul 30, 2008 12:20 AM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

He didn’t fail his physical, but the Phillies reduced their offer from two years to one.

At that point, he had multiple one-year offers to choose from, and he chose the Indians.

by Jay on Jul 30, 2008 12:50 AM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Ya know what’s funny? Antonetti’s brother’s a doctor – works in the DC area.

Resident LGT beer kinda sewer

by mauichuck on Jul 29, 2008 10:47 AM EDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Is his name Cristian Guzman?

by odradek on Jul 29, 2008 11:29 PM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

And here it is, 3 days later and Joe Borowski is still unsigned.

Weird.

by afh4 on Jul 30, 2008 12:26 AM EDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

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