With the recent news of Chris Carpenter needing season ending (and at least half of next year) Tommy John surgery, there has been an awful lot of talk regarding the St. Louis Cardinals handling of injuries. A lot of the disdain has been in the general direction of Dr. George Paletta, who is the team physician. It was Paletta who performed Carpenter’s surgery on Tuesday, to the collective gasps of Cardinal Nation. But, let’s not leave team management and even the coaching staff out of this discussion as they both always have a huge say in the running of all on and off-field operations.

Bernie Miklasz wrote about the Cards recent track history when it comes to injured players earlier this week in the Post-Dispatch. He, along with the majority of fans are concerned, and a bit miffed by the way the team has handled various injuries, rehab, etc. The way the team handles the public relations aspect has even been called into question.  

Miklasz’s main evidence consists of the treatments of Scott Rolen, Mark Mulder, and Chris Carpenter. In all three cases the team doctors (aka Dr. Paletta & Co.) diagnosed the injuries as minor problems that later turned into season ending surgeries. Rolen’s arthroscopic clean-up of the shoulder turned into reconstructive surgery after seeking outside help. Mulder was told to rest his sore shoulder and eventually needed rotator cuff surgery after a second opinion. Carpenter was also told to rest, then had bone spurs removed, and then finally, after consulting various doctors around the country needed Tommy John surgery. It’s almost as if the team physicians have been playing down injuries in order to keep players in the lineup or keep their time out of the lineup to a minimum. Or perhaps it is team management and the coaching staff playing down the injuries?

These are just three of the main examples in the last few years. There are many other instances where minor injuries actually haven’t turned into major injuries. Still, a lot of times it seems that Cardinals players have lingering injuries. Prime examples are Edmonds with his whole body and Eckstein with his back. Perhaps, if they had sufficient rest and rehab time they would come back full strength without fear of re-injuring the same body part. On the other hand, these guys are old and that could totally be the reason.

Where, if any, does the fault lie? Do we blame Dr. Paletta & Co? Or do we point our finger at management and the coaching staff? Unless you are part of that particular clubhouse culture, I’m not sure you can give a true answer. I’m sure all parties involved are to blame. They have to all be pulling each other in different directions on every decision. Maybe Paletta diagnoses correctly and then management massages him into a different opinion. That’s a highly ethical matter from both sides that I won’t get into at the moment, but the possibility exists. In any case, it appears that the team is only concerned with Production and not concerned with Production Capability. In the end, if you don’t put enough resources and attention towards Production Capability, the Production will inevitably suffer.

In all of these cases the team has been noticeably quiet when relaying information to the fans. The Cards have always seemed to keep a tight lip when it comes to discussing the varying degrees of injury to their players. I don’t like the tactic and I can’t think of anyone else that likes it either. Just lay the truth on us. We’re all adults, we can handle it. Providing false hope to your fan base is just stupid and an outright lie to those that you count on.

I know the Cardinals are not the only team that operates in this manner. This “game” is a million/billion $ business and short cuts are bound to be taken. Give me some instances of your favorite teams where something seems fishy in the injury department.

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