ENABLE THE DISABLED LIST
As most
MLB fans know, if a Major League player incurs an injury, his team has the
option to place him on one of the designated disabled lists. The activating date/term would standardly
qualify the day after the injured player last played. If the player continues to be inactive
(essentially becoming a spectator) since he last played, his team would then
have the option to begin the disabled list’s timeframe in a retroactive manner,
but the retroactivity cannot exceed 5 days prior to the date they place the
player on the list.
For
instance, if a player last played on August 15th, but the team contemplated
their decision until August 23rd, then the team can’t choose to begin the
player’s disabled time from August 15th because more than 5 days have passed. The team would have to instead begin the
activation date within the current 5 days.
In the aforementioned example, the team could either choose August 23rd
as the activation date or they can choose any of the 5 days prior to August
23rd (in other words, no earlier than August 18th).
MLB has
3 disabled lists for teams to choose from:
7-day
disabled list:
This
option offers a 7-day period which can only be used for players diagnosed with
concussions or concussion-like conditions.
15-day
disabled list:
This
option is most commonly used by teams. It is typically utilized for what is
believed to be a minor injury.
60-day
disabled list:
This
option is obviously used for major injuries or conditions. Common examples include broken bones,
surgeries, or severe bruises or sprains.
Placing
a player onto any of the above lists correlates to one or both of the team's
rosters, where the player would be transferred from the roster(s) to the
disabled list. Then, upon the vacated
spot, the team would gain an opening/inclusion spot for an uncounted player.
To
expound more about the rosters, here are basic definitions of the two types:
25-man
roster:
This
roster comprises of the 25 players officially listed to the umpires before the
start of each MLB game. Most teams will
typically designate 12 pitchers and 13 hitters to form the total, but teams are
not confined to any specific integers to form the sum. They can interchange the breakdown of players
named before each game. Since I am
writing this in September, it's worth noting that the 25-man roster can
actually have more than 25 players only from September 1st through the last day
of the 162-game season. That allows
teams to include some minor league players to help rest their regulars and also
offers teams and their fans to see some of their potential stars in a Major
League game.
40-man
roster:
This is
basically the 25-player team as described above with an additional 15
players. This roster is crucial for the
present and future of a team as it designates the 40 players a team considers
their best. Players that aren't included
on this roster are vulnerable to other teams' acquisitions, in certain
conditions.
Now
that you've (hopefully) read and (with aspirin) understood the above, I can
begin my gripe. Why do teams constantly
avoid placing players onto the 15-day disabled list? If a player's injury is questionable and he
can't physically play for more than a few days, the team becomes somewhat
crippled. Of course, teams that aren't
competing don't overly care; but, to competitive teams it's a huge disadvantage
in close-scoring or extra-inning type of games.
They are essentially playing with only 24 players. Additionally, if the injured player is a
pitcher, being a player short could consequentially strain the pitching staff
in a domino effect for their team’s forthcoming games.
Now, at
last, I get to write about my disabled list gripe: Today, the Yankees finally placed Mark
Teixeira on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to August 27th). His injury occurred all the way back on
August 17th, when he fouled off a pitch into his right leg/shin. That day, the doctors took x-rays and
declared that Teixeira did not have a broken bone. As days/games passed, the Yankees continued
to analyze Teixeira’s condition on a daily basis, while playing games without
the 25th player, so to speak. Then, on
August 25th (over a week after the incurred injury) Teixeira convinced the
Yankees that he was able to play. The
Yankees foolishly obliged, later finding out that Teixeira’s judgment was wrong
as he couldn’t bear the pain that day.
Listening to Teixeira, was the Yankees second mistake!
Their
first mistake was much worse!! They
failed to place Teixeira on the disabled list initially. 8 days is way too long to compete with
essentially 24 players while their opponents had 25. Then, as a third mistake, they continued to
play even more games without Teixeira able to play. Again, the 25-man roster did expand a few
days ago, but one can argue that the Yankees disabled themselves for the 17
days Teixeira was unavailable as a player!
While
the Yankees are usually overprotective when it comes to reinstating or enabling
their potentially recovered players, this was an instance where they
uncharacteristically and clearly misjudged Mark Teixeira’s
condition…twice. As a Yankees’ fan,
their failed actions clearly disappointed me.
Even if the doctors’ diagnoses are at fault regarding Teixeira’s
condition, the final playing decision ultimately falls under the Yankees’
responsibility. I expected them to act
with over-precaution, as they usually do, especially for a player like Teixeira
who has a medical history of taking longer than most to heal.
The
Yankees and almost all of the MLB teams constantly fail to utilize the 15-day
disabled list and, instead, contemplate too long. We all make mistakes and so do our favorite
teams; but, repeating the same mistake is unfathomable to me. As a fan of a competing team (and especially
as a fan of the Yankees), every win/loss can factor into making the regular or
wildcard playoffs and can sometimes determine home-field advantage. I'd rather take a chance on the negative
repercussions of placing a player on the 15-day disabled list too early than
the much greater repercussions of not!!!
Enable the disabled list!
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