Medical Sanity?

Among interesting notes:

--Jason Bay won't start again this season. He probably shouldn't have been playing when he was playing, but still, I take this as good news in that the Pirates are actually not forcing an injured player to play.

--Ian Snell won't make his final start. Given Snell's comments last week about his arm being "kind of sore," after a 92 pitch seven inning gem, I figure it's better to be safe than sorry. While I still think Snell could've used a better choice of words when he stated that someone else could have his final start, "between the lines" of his comments I read a pitcher's desire to protect his most valuable asset--his arm. Really, far better to veer on the side of caution than risk--I'm glad Snell won't be pitching this weekend.

--The Pirates came to their senses and shut down Paul Maholm for the season. They probably should have done this prior to his last two starts (as something clearly wasn't right, and unfortunately, those two awful starts completely and unfortunately screwed with his final statistics for the season).

--While I screamed last night (okay, not exactly, as I don't really scream at a team that's out of contention for anything but the first overall draft pick) when Jim Tracy replaced Freddy Sanchez with Jose Castillo, Sanchez is another player who, if injured, as he appears to be, doesn't need to be playing. Get him healthy.

Perhaps there is no change:

--Gorzelanny was understandably unhappy about his last two starts and wants to win his fifteenth game of the season. All right, fine and dandy, and very understandable. I admire the competitive drive, I really, really love the "I will win and we will win" mentality, and maybe it doesn't matter if he pitches another five or six innings given he's already so far over his previous career high in terms of innings pitched at this point anyway.

But...you had to sense a but, right? But--really--if we're doing things properly in terms of research, do we really need to add unnecessary risk of injury?

At this juncture, of course, I say, let him go for 15 because he deserves to finish a season that's been excellent on a high note. But I also say: next season, let's take the more sensible path with our most valuable players before it reaches the point where research shows you're risking a potential downturn in performance or a greater risk of injury.

In conclusion: In the midst of chatting up the Bucco TV announcers, the new GM spoke of making decisions about obtaining and signing players based on medical tests. Given recent history, the new GM might be advised to consider seriously upgrading the quality of the team's medical staff--and putting systems in place to prevent medical problems before those problems actually occur. Here's to hoping the common sense to shut down injured players prevails throughout the organization in terms of providing players and prospects with everything necessary to maintain good health and to prevent unnecessary problems while providing immediate and prompt treatment for any problems that do occur.

Medical sanity is something the PBC organization could surely use in large, large doses, and a hat tip to the new CEO and GM if an imposition of medical sanity is one of the improvements they strive to put in place by the end of this season and have revamped by the start of next season.