Injuries happen - 2023 version

[Frobby]

During the 2010’s, I used to track all the games lost to injuries by the teams in the AL East.   In light of various statements that the O’s were fortunate with injuries in 2023, I thought I’d do that same analysis for this year.

Baltimore: 758 games lost to injury (147 for position players, 156 for starting pitchers, 455 for relievers)

Position players: McCann 21, Urias 15, Mullins 46, Mountcastle 32, Hicks 33 = 147

Starters: Means 143, Bradish 13 = 156

Relievers: Tate 162, Givens 83, Akin 83, Perez 13, Voth 67, Coulombe 13, Bautista 34 = 455

Boston: 1,588 games lost to injury (559 for position players, 373 for starting pitchers, 656 for relievers)

Position players: Mondesi 162, Duvall 54, Chang 75, Arroyo 24, McGuire 31, Reyes 40, Story 112, Duran 37, Casas 15, Urias 9 = 559

Starters: Whitlock 69, Bello 26, Paxton 59, Crawford 16, Sale 60, Houck 56, Kluber 87 = 373

Relievers: Mills 162, J. Rodriguez 133, Kelly 143, Martin 23, Schreiber 58, Ort 76, Bleier 51 = 646

New York: 1,835 games lost to injury (521 for position players, 600 for starting pitchers, 714 for relievers)

Position players: Bader 46, Trevino 78, Rortvedt 38, Donaldson 91, Stanton 43, Judge 49, Peraza 13, Bauers 12, Allen 40, Rizzo 54, McKinney 38, Dominguez 19 = 521

Starters: Gil 162, Rodon 111, Montas 160, Severino 69, Cortes 98 = 600

Relievers: Trivino 162, Kahnle 77, Leffross 162, Loaisiga 113, Weber 103, Hamilton 28, Middleton 23, Abreu 21, Misiewicz 13, Peralta 12 = 714

Tampa Bay: 1,236 games lost to injury (163 for position players, 587 for starting pitchers, 486 for relievers)

Position players: Siri 33, Lowe 27, Walls 34, Margot 26, Mejia 26, Raley 9, B. Lowe 8 =163

Starters: Glasnow 53, Baz 162, Elfin 14, Springs 149, Rasmussen 122, Littell 20, McLanahan 67 = 587

Relievers: Armstrong 58, Thompson 14, Fairbanks 30, Cleavenger 126, Fleming 59, Faucher 35, Kittredge 123, Kelly 14, Adam 27 = 486

Toronto: 693 games lost to injury (136 for position players, 108 for starting pitchers, 449 for relievers)

Position players: Espinal 15, Jansen 43, Kirk 8, Belt 21, Bichette 25, Kiermaier 9, Chapman 15 = 136

Starting pitchers: Ryu 108 = 108

Relievers: Green 134, White 64, Cimber 107, Pop 58, Romano 16, Richards 14, Danner 43, Swanson 13 = 449

Obviously, some players are more important than others.  Still, the Blue Jays and Orioles got off very lightly compared to the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays.  

[sportsfan8703]

I forgot Mondesi existed. I do remember there being some uproar here last offseason that we should’ve claimed/traded for him when KC got rid of him. 

[ShoelesJoe]

Tampa's numbers can be put down to just bad luck, but the Red Sox and Yankees have old rosters where it would be a given that they'd lose a lot of games to injuries. With all the kids on our team I'd expect us to lose the fewest (or close to it) games to the IL of anybody in the AL East. 

[Ohfan67]

16 hours ago, ShoelesJoe said:

Tampa's numbers can be put down to just bad luck, but the Red Sox and Yankees have old rosters where it would be a given that they'd lose a lot of games to injuries. With all the kids on our team I'd expect us to lose the fewest (or close to it) games to the IL of anybody in the AL East. 

I thought the same thing about age, but at least by average age of roster the Orioles and Rays were 28.2 and the Red Sox and Yankees were 28.6 and 28.3, respectively. That’s a head scratcher. Blue Jays average age was 29.6 and Texas Rangers were 29.7. 
 

Maybe there’s more to this once you drill down into the specifics, but at least based on average age of roster it doesn’t look like that explains the days lost to injury. 

[Ohfan67]

Just now, Ohfan67 said:

I thought the same thing about age, but at least by average age of roster the Orioles and Rays were 28.2 and the Red Sox and Yankees were 28.6 and 28.3, respectively. That’s a head scratcher. Blue Jays average age was 29.6 and Texas Rangers were 29.7. 
 

Maybe there’s more to this once you drill down into the specifics, but at least based on average age of roster it doesn’t look like that explains the days lost to injury. 

Ps. I guess losing old players to injury could actually decrease your average age if they are replaced with really young players. 

[Spy Fox]

The Yankees getting almost nothing from Rodon/Severino/Montas/Cortes was a huge factor in the division this year. 

[AdamK]

This was something I never wanted to bring up, like bragging about how well your car is running or how much sleep your baby is getting... Talking about it feels like flying too high to the sun.

I never even really counted Means or Tate since they were out from the start, but having them sooner certainly could have helped.