SB Nation User Blog: hazel

The hiatal hernia (Or why you should stop worrying)

hazel — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:02:44 -0000

While I could post in the main thread about this, I'm instead going to make a fanpost because I deal with this ALL the time at my job and want to really clear it up. I debated whether this was really fanpost-worthy, but here goes.

Colby Rasmus has sat out two games with a stomach condition, probably gastritis (painful stomach lining inflammation), caused by a hiatal hernia. Hernia is the scary part, but this is the main thing I want to clear up. A herniation is any type of protrusion of a structure through the membrane that it should be anatomically confined inside. The scary hernias are sports hernias and herniated discs, both usually resulting from various types of strain and athletic activity (I could explain these further, but I'd rather just get to the point). Other hernias are just annoying, like the hiatal hernia (I think hemorrhoids might be a herniation as well).

At any rate, a hiatal hernia is an extremely common condition in which the top of your stomach begins to protrude through the diaphragm and into the thorax.

via upload.wikimedia.org

This is almost always asymptomatic, present in many, many adults, and is treated through more fiber intake, and the use of antacids to control the heartburn that it can exacerbate (it promotes reflux because stomach contents can slow or briefly stop their progress above the diaphragm). Large herniations sometimes require surgery, but this is extremely, extremely rare (I've never actually seen one large enough to require surgery).

via download.imaging.consult.com

They are usually an incedental finding on x-ray exams involving the drinking of contrast, and they look exactly like what they are. On the film above the stomach is the big lower blob, the esophagus is the blob that trails off the top of the image, and the hernia is the bit attached to the larger stomach and trapped above the diaphragm that you can see pinching the two. This film is of a bit more serious type of herniation, but you get the idea. You can also see them on normal chest films if there is enough air in the stomach.

In closing:

1. Do not worry. You might have a similar herniation and if you do there is a 90% chance you will never know about it.

2. Colby needs to eat fiber, and the reason eating late at night also causes him problems is that increasing the acid in his stomach and then laying down for several hours also causes reflux, which is made worse by the hernia.

3. Let's drink!

Advice for a Saberizing a Mac

hazel — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:55:32 -0000

I'm really interested in statistical analysis, but all of the advice I find is for windows machines. For instance, the Building a Sabermetrician's Workbench series (Colin Wyers) that details use of MySQL and such loses me just a few steps in because while Macs can run the MySQL program, I don't have the skills to use it in the raw form and programs to help that the series details are windows programs (SQLyog). There is a popular Mac program but by all accounts it sucks. Also you can apparently use SQLyog on a mac if you go a few steps further and install some more stuff, I'm just not sure if this is the best way to proceed and I'm wondering if anyone here uses a Mac and what programs they are using.

Right now there's always Excel, but I'd love to know some good Mac programs for the various fields (PfX, SQL, etc.). I am not entirely opposed to buying things but I'd prefer free.

This could have been us...

hazel — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:21:24 -0000

Giants Sign Randy Johnson

Eight mil, with incentives to push it to 13m.

They pay Renteria almost twice what he's worth, then they get RJ for half his worth. What the hell are they doing being smart?

I can't understand why this wasn't us offering this contract. It's short, below market, has huge upside, is for a starter. This is just extremely disappointing. RJ was stellar last year, and he played in a bandbox with a terrible defense. He moves to a big park with a terrible defense. I can't stop thinking this could have been our big park with our good defense.

Rooting for the Yankees

hazel — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 00:38:06 -0000

"And the rich get richer..."

is one way you might think of it. On the other hand, the Red Sox are outbid, and with the emergence of Tampa Bay, they could suddenly be the third best team in that division. While it's true that Yankees fans are historically more annoying than any others, it's also true that Red Sox fans have become more than insufferable in the last few years.

From wikipedia:

A home run by David Ortiz and a five out win by Keith Foulke helped the Red Sox win game 1. They won game 2 thanks to six innings from starter Curt Schilling. The Red Sox won the first two games despite committing four errors in each of them. Seven innings from Pedro Martínez where he did not allow a run helped the Red Sox win game 3. A home run by Johnny Damon in the first inning won game four for the Red Sox to secure series. The Cardinals never led in any of the four games in the series and trailed at some point of every inning in all four games. Manny Ramírezwas named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the series.

I have hated the Red Sox passionately ever since, and absolutely every single event that goes against them, I cherish. The Teixera signing I cherish too, and I don't much care if the Yankees are evil or whatever. They play in a far away place in another league. In addition, all of the credit the Red Sox have been getting over the years, along with all the jackass fandom they have been sporting since the day after they won has gotten too trite to bear. The only thing the Yankees can usually do that has any effect on me is beating the Red Sox, and I hope that happens far, far more often now.

Two things - Hochevar & Soria

hazel — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 01:16:43 -0000

First, what is everyone expecting from Hochevar? Personally, I expect nothing. I think Hochevar sucks and I think his time has passed. His mechanics have always been questionable (hung-arms Tom House pose), and he has never been able to put it together at any level for any length of time. Even when he has been able to post decent ERAs in small sample sizes his peripherals have been terrible. His FIP has never been good. None of his pitches grades highly. He has been touted by many as having the potential to be a #3 starter, but I can scarcely see that. Why do people like Hochevar at all?

Second, how likely is it that Joakim Soria gets a shot at the rotation? He seems like the utter anti-Hochevar: A guy who was drafted late and never given much of a shot despite consistently looking very good with the stuff and peripherals to back it up. He pounds the strike zone, and has several decent pitches (compared to, say, Hochevar who has zero). Also, I've heard he's the closer to limit his injury risk. Excuse me? As far as I know, he has never had one single injury and was a starter for his entire minor league/mexican league career. I remember hearing one person say his mechanics were bad, but I haven't seen anything to substantiate this claim.

A plea for sanity

hazel — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 02:39:57 -0000

Can we please give the Chris Duncan trade suggestions a rest? Literally every thread regarding personnel has at least half a dozen comments speculating as to what he could get us from the Rockies, Marlins, etc. or regarding how much SF needs a LH hitting 1B or how we can do without whatever other player because, hey, we always have Chris Duncan.

Chris Duncan has a herniated cervical disc. This is an extremely serious injury and it will be at least several months before anyone knows if he will have a shot at ever playing baseball again. Generally the treatment for C-disc herniations is not surgical, indicating that his injury is more serious than usual and probably occurred because of trauma. Generally the surgery performed to decompress the nerve involves complete disc removal, and it often involves fusion of vertebrae which causes permanent loss of range of motion. Surgery that does not fuse vertebrae is riskier and more difficult because it requires manipulation of the spinal cord itself.

These obvious problems with the trade aside, Chris Duncan has scarcely proven anything at the major league level and no one has any idea how Dave Duncan would react to this trade idea. No one in the front office has ever brought up Chris's name as someone who was even a possible trade chip.

Please stop suggesting we trade Chris Duncan. Please stop speculating as to his value.

The best mechanics

hazel — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:20:22 -0000

After reading that thread regarding the ASMI study of Mike Marshall pitchers, along with a few other websites, I'm really impressed by one person specifically: Glenn Fleisig. He seems to be one of the most competent and committed scientists involved in the study of pitching. His ego is well under control and his work seems at least solid.

There is one extreme flaw with this study, however. ASMI is the only group involved in it. Marshall is not a scientist, and he seemed practically insulted by the entire thing, even going so far as to publish his list of 40 questions for the experiment. Dr. Andrews is definitely not a scientist, and his financial stake in the experiment is certainly significant. There are glaring problems with the unrepeatability and subjectivity of the study.

I'm afraid I simply cannot fully support "research" that is so far from the system of double-blinding, peer review, and scrutiny that is so important to science. The fact that the names of pitchers involved cannot be revealed is fine: They are subjects of an experiment, and their privacy probably had to be repeatedly guaranteed to get them to participate (being labeled mechanically flawed in a scientific study could annhilate a pitcher's career). However, this means the study cannot be repeated, and there is obvious subjectivity in the inclusion of a group simply labeled "elite pitchers" while they remain faceless and their mechanics are not up to our scrutiny (only the results are revealed). While the ASMI study is a step forward, we have a long way to go.

So, let's say you were a scientist (perhaps you are one, who knows?). At your laboratory, who would you use as examples of the best mechanics? Personally, I'd love to see the following pitchers as the control:

Greg Maddux.

Roger Clemens (it's not miss congeniality, I hate the guy as a person).

Roy Oswalt.

Tim Lincecum (more out of curiousity than reverence).

Russ Springer Type A?

hazel — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:00:44 -0000

www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/09/elias-ranking-2.html

This could be great for us. Offering arbitration to Springer could get us a cheap, productive reliever, or it could get us some excellent draft picks. What would arbitration for him look like?

Isringhausen is a type B.

What's the best thing to do with these two? Don't we have to make an offer to get these draft picks? Does the risk with Izzy mean he's not even worth an offer?

Also, two decent targets for the cardinals, Rhodes and Ohman are not even type B, so signing them is draft-neutral.

Marshall training

hazel — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:00:04 -0000

Something interesting came up in the ASMI/Farrenkopf thread that I wanted to seize on and explore. Lefty lefty made a comment that it's possible that Marshall's pitchers tend to be injured less often because of their training regimen. This point has definite merit.

During the pitching motion, the stress on the elbow joint actually exceeds the tensile strength of the Ulnar Collateral Ligament. In particular, a 1992 study by Fleisig and Barrentine showed valgus torques on the elbow of 64 N-m (this force was exerted just after footplant, and it could be exacerbated if the arm were not up at footstrike, go Kyle!). This is higher than the torque at which medial collateral ligament lost integrity in a 1989 Dillman/Fleisig study (approximately 32 N-m).

The fact that the medial collateral ligament alone cannot withstand these stresses demonstrates that other musculature or anatomy is at least somewhat responsible for stabilizing the elbow during early acceleration. The triceps and muscles of the proximal forearm are most likely responsible, and training of these muscles and others could absolutely reduce risk of injury.

For another instance, the obliques are a source of constant problems for some (often very tall) pitchers because of their relative weakness. Training these areas has been shown to reduce injury risks as well.

Obviously, training in general reduces the risk of injury, but if Marshall has devised a very good set of pitcher-training tools that would certainly be of merit.

I remain skeptical of his other claims.

The MI problem

hazel — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:19:40 -0000

Supposedly we will have a bunch of cap room in this coming offseason $25-40 Million. According to many, the biggest weakness on the team is the offensively challenged middle infield. Our current (much maligned) middle infield looks like Izturis SS, Kennedy 2b, Miles 2b/SS, Lopez SS/2b(?).

Coming into next year, with the almost-certain departure of Izturis (neither Miles nor Lopez are under contract for next year), it's Brendan Ryan slotted for full-time at short, unless it's Miles (shriek), with Kennedy at 2b.

On the farm there are the well respected SS prospects, Pete Kozma (Quad cities/Palm Beach) and Jose Martinez (Springfield) who are both far away from ready. Also, there are several 2b's who don't really project as better than what we've got.

These are the MI's who've got free agency coming up (from Cot's Baseball Contracts).

Jamey Carroll * CLE

Ray Durham MIL

Mark Ellis OAK

Marcus Giles COL

Mark Grudzielanek KC

Orlando Hudson ARZ

Jeff Kent LAD

Felipe Lopez WAS/STL

Pablo Ozuna LAD

Nick Punto MIN

Jose Valentin NYM

Jose Vidro * SEA

Orlando Cabrera CWS

Alex Cintron CWS

Alex Cora BOS

Craig Counsell * MIL

Adam Everett MIN

Rafael Furcal LAD

Cesar Izturis STL

Ramon Martinez LAD

Edgar Renteria * DET

Juan Uribe CWS

* denotes an option for 2009.

Not a particularly inspiring list. Honestly, I like Adam Everett because he will be dirt cheap which will allow us to pursue offense somewhere else or spend money on pitching (AJ I love you!).

Also, there has been a lot of talk about trading for a MI with some offense (usually centered around Dan Uggla (vomit)), and the three that appear most likely to be on the block this offseason are JJ Hardy, Jimmy Rollins, and Dan Uggla (ughhh).

All three of these players are quantum leaps ahead of our current MI in terms of offense. None of them are better at their positions on defense (though only Uggla figures to be a significant downgrade).

JJ Hardy, various reports have said that the Brewers would be willing to trade Hardy if they feel Alcides Escobar is ready next year. The main problem with this trade is, what can the Cardinals offer for Hardy? The primary weakness of the Brewers is their relief, and it's not a strong suit for us either. I think our most likely point would be Mike Cameron's departure from center field, and Hardy would probably cost us Colby and another player.

Jimmy Rollins. This is mostly conjectural, but superstars in Philly have often gotten on the bad side of the fanbase, never to be forgiven (Bobby Abreu, Scott Rolen) and only booed mercilessly until their trades. Rollins, with one gaffe after another, looks to be in the inescapable Philly doghouse. Philadelphia's starting pitching could use a boost, and without Rollins the left side of their infield will be pretty shabby. Not sure exactly what this trade would entail, however (let's hear some ideas!). Also, Rollins is an aging player who could be entering his decline phase (hitting 260-ish this year, yikes!).

Dan Uggla (seriously, Dan Uggla?). I loathe the idea of Dan Uggla on the Cardinals. He's the all-HR's no-brains player that demands gigantic contracts (Andruw Jones style) and remains utterly unpredictable on offense and defense. Also, he's at the defensively less difficult position. No consistency, no glove, I'd rather have Khalil Greene. At any rate, the Marlins are always willing to make a deal, although this one as well as the others would have to come after the season ends. Talk has been bandied about him costing Colby and a(maybe even two) very good pitching prospect(s), and the Marlins are reputed to be looking for a CF and are always after pitchers. However, I imagine Uggla could be had for a Skip Schumaker/Anderson package because of their needs at CF and catcher.

Speaking of Khalil Greene, I'm going to profile a trade for him because of his recent struggles (okay, recent apocalyptic loss of all discernable ability). Greene could possibly be had for cheap because god only knows what he will do next season! A high-pop low-everything else Dan Uggla type hitter who actually plays decent defense and can run bases. Could resurrect himself in STL where his power that was swallowed up in San Diego could break out. Isn't SD in need of a catcher?

To end it, I'd just like to say that the MI market is a bit crazy right now. I doubt we will even have a shot at FA's like Cabrera or Furcal, while the trades are probably going to be costly. I think our best bet is either a cheap FA SS or two, along with an exploration of the trade market that leaves us open for a shot at some of the good FA pitchers (please please Burnett for the love of god!).

Alright, that's all I've got for now. Let me know what you guys think or if you know of any other possible trades or FA targets.