Jennings "I had an MRI done today, (Tuesday) I had an MRI in April," he said. "The one today was pretty much the same. It showed a little more deterioration of the flexor tendon. The MRI showed the ligament looked really good, which is great news, because that's a major surgery."
Link
So what would an MRI done in December 2006 have looked like? If the Rockies knew Jennings was injured (the MRI evidence shows he wasnt) in 2006, why did they offer him a 3 year extension? Elaborate ruse to increase his trade value?
This pertains to all pitchers, not just Jennings:
You can actually hurt yourself at any time whilest throwing a baseball.
Fact!
It doesn't require a previous boo-boo, pain, rest between starts the previous year, anything like that. You can simply pick up a baseball, throw it and guess what... you may hurt yourself, right then, right there. So eggszactly when can I pinpoint, as a pitcher, the day I "injured" myself?
I can't.
The presence of pain in the shoulder or elbow does not necessarily tell me that is the day I hurt myself. Heck, I can have pain every time I threw a baseball since middle school (and trust me, it seems that way for any one who has ever toed the rubber). When I got hurt is entirely different from when I first felt pain. So if the presence of pain and the swapping of x-rays were end all, be all for MLB organizations to pronounce the readiness of a pitcher to be a member of their team, then it would be so easy to dismiss at least half of the major league pitchers in professional baseball today. And won't the MLBPA have a field day with that sort of practice on an organization's part too! Woo-hoo! Not since the days of collusion-gate would the MLBPA have some serious legal issues to hold over the MLB. And a huge pay day too. If an MLB team were to easily just say "I know he's injured in spite of *what he says* and I'm going to DL him or DFA him" and cry foul and demand money back from him, his agent and also for trades to be rescinded, the MLBPA would step in and put a stop to that right away. The choice is either the MLB organizations and the MLBPA work as a partnership or as an adversary on player treatment.
So when is a pitcher "injured" and when would an organization be good enough to be aware of "damaged goods"? You tell me, because what eggszactly is the science beyond what is currently in place to make sure you know? It is hence why the MLB offices and the commissioner has always told clubs "it's buyer beware" in all cases (especially those who think they have legitimate complaints of being sold damaged goods - See: Shirotka, Mike, whose Dad is a one time acquaintance of mine on several teams I played on and I can assure you that Mike never believed he was damaged goods). There is no good science to this beyond your own due diligence and then when you make the deal, know you did all you could do but injury is part of the risk with pitchers at all and any time. It's also why any contract with a pitcher for more than three years is considered a gamble by any standards (see: Martinez, Pedro).
