Alberto Arias' shoulder vs. Cecil Cooper

What with the news that Alberto Arias has been released, it's worth looking at what the heck happened to the 2009 breakout star - and it has a lot to do with Cecil Cooper. We actually speculated on just this subject in March 2010. Let's see what happened up to that point.

First of all, Ed Wade picked Arias off waivers on July 31, 2008 from Colorado, where he spent his whole career, signing with the Rockies as an amateur free agent in 2000. Arias was a starter in the Rockies' system for the first two years of what Baseball-Reference has listed, throwing 73IP in 2003, 135IP in 2004, 90.2IP in 2005, 111.2IP in 2006. In 2007, Arias made his MLB debut and, between the minors and Colorado, threw 33.2IP; that was bumped up to 91IP in 2008. With Colorado's system from the beginning of the season to the point where the Astros acquired him, he threw 59.1IP. Doing the remaining math, he threw 30.2IP in August and September for the Astros/Express.

And then 2009 happened, where Arias threw 62IP - again between Triple-A and Houston. We can go to FanGraphs and see his gamelogs from 2006-2008. What do we find?

Appearances on consecutive days

2006: 3
2007: 1
2008: 1 (with Colorado)
2009: 8

We don't have pitch# data from the minors, but we can see a few things about how Cooper used Arias in 2009.

Appearances on 0 days of rest, 2009: 9
Appearances on 1 day of rest, 2009: 13
Appearances on 2 days of rest, 2009: 10

Pitches per outing, May 2009: 13.45
PPO, June 09: 22.78
PPO, July 09: 21.46
PPO, Aug 09: 14.44

 There were some telling signs about Arias' future troubles towards the end of his 2009, which occurred on August 23 as a result of a sore knee:

*Arias threw 30+ pitches seven times in 2009 - five of them between June 26-July 27.
*In May, Arias' sinker was sitting at 93mph (1,555 rpm). In June, it was at 93.27mph (1,859 rpm). In July, it was at 94.07mph (2,051 rpm). And in August, that slider was even higher, at a season-high 94.53mph (2,045 rpm).
*From May-July Arias allowed a .224/.325/.294 line, with 35K in 38.2IP. In August, Arias faced 40 batters, and got 21 of them out, allowing a .459/.500/.595 line with 4K in 7IP.

Later in August, Arias pulled his hamstring slipping in the bullpen. On September 17, his simulated inning didn't go well, and he had knee surgery on September 23. Still, there was no reason to think that Arias wouldn't be ready in 2010. Wade mentioned him as a late-inning bullpen candidate in December 2009.

Thing is, Brad Mills was the manager when Arias was pronounced healthy enough to go after a middle-relief role in March 2010. That said, Arias strained his trapezius on March 9, threw two bullpens and a live BP before needing an MRI on March 21 before getting the report that he jacked his rotator cuff on March 23. Wade was not optimistic about his short-term recovery. On April 21, 2010, Arias was throwing, had a lot of pain, and ended up having surgery, ending his 2010 season. On August 30, he began throwing off flat ground, in preparation of 2011. On January 14, 2011, Arias would be ready for Spring Training, but felt tightness on Feb 21 - four days later he got a cortisone shot.

By March 2, 2011, Mills was talking about Arias' career with concern. On April 5, Arias was throwing off a mound and looking good, but had a set-back on April 19 and flew back to Houston to get examined by the team doctor. He was placed on the 60-Day DL at the end of June, and was outrighted off the 40-man roster in October.

So. Who is to blame for what happened to Alberto Arias? Cecil Cooper rode him hard in 2009, but ultimately what sent him down the injury path were knee and hamstring issues (and remember, the hamstring issue was a result of slipping in the bullpen). Now, was the knee issue a result of poor delivery? Was Arias pushed to return due to a questionable bullpen heading into 2010? Was the shoulder injury overcompensating from a dodgy knee, and things just snowballed? Was it a complete breakdown of the entire system as a whole? It's hard to say for sure. But while Cooper started him down the path, Cooper was gone long before Arias' career was in question.

Three outrighted to OKC

J.R. Towles, Jose Valdez, and Alberto Arias have cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Oklahoma City. So the 40-Man roster now stands at 37.

Tranzactionz! Durango claimed, Carpenter called up

A host of tranzactionz for your reading pleasure, courtesy of Alyson Footer (and here):

*The Astros claimed outfielder Luis Durango off waivers from the Padres, and sent him to Oklahoma City.

*They then transferred Alberto Arias to the 60-Day DL.

*They then optioned Brian Esposito back to Oklahoma City...

*...And called up David Carpenter from OKC to Houston.

*And according to Farmstros, Chia-Jen Lo has been put back on the DL, after two injury-free outings.

Durango is a 25-year old switch-hitting outfielder who has been in the Padres' system since 2003. He did spend some time with the Padres, hitting .305/.369/.305 in the admittedly small-sample 37 games (67 PAs).

In seven minor-league seasons, Durango has hit .315/.406/.366, with 73 career extra-base hits (46 2Bs, 24 3Bs, 3 HRs) in 2410 plate appearances. Encouragingly, however, he's managed to strike out just 283 times (11.7% of PAs) and draw 296 walks. Still, there's not much pop in his bat. He was hitting .243/.328/.294 in 61 games for Triple-A Tucson before getting placed on waivers.

So the question for Durango is, should we read anything into this? Bogusevic is up, leaving Shuck, DeLome, Barnes, and Locke as your OKC OFs. Is Durango better than what the Astros have at OKC now? Does it indicate that there's an expendable outfielder or two at OKC, or that J.D. Martinez won't be coming to OKC in the near future? Who knows what lurks in the mind of the Apparatus?!

Also, good for David Carpenter. Even if it's just a cup of coffee, we're happy for him, after the position change, and all. And we're happy for the Astros, who got a potentially viable bullpen piece out of the Cardinals in the Pedro Feliz trade.

Meat Wagon Updates

Alyson Footer and Steve Campbell tag-teamed some Twinker updates today:

Arias has had "a setback" in that he still has some soreness in his shoulder. He's flying back to Houston to see Dr. David Lintner.

Clint Barmes is "ahead of schedule" at the four-week mark of the breaking of his hand. He took "30-35" soft toss swings today and could begin a rehab assignment as early as this weekend.

Plenty to ponder and discuss in McTaggart's Notebook

Brian McTaggart has a lot going on in his notebook. Stuff about baserunning, Mills and Francona, Chris Johnson's sister, and Downs' first start at 3B.

But two things that should be noted involve injuries:

-Alberto Arias will throw 20-25 pitches against hitters off a mound in Kissimmee today.

-Wilton Lopez apparently won't be limited by this, but he has been diagnosed with neuritis - a nerve irritation - in his right elbow.

Arias update

Good news from Alberto Arias, his 60-pitch bullpen session was successful, and he's scheduled for another on Thursday.

Mills:
"We're going to have to go real slow with him, and try to stay away from any setbacks."

Good news about Arias

Maybe Alberto Arias will be effective! While we wait for someone - anyone - to be effective, and for the County Clerk to get off the ledge, Alberto Arias threw off a mound today.

Mills:
"I guess he looked really good. That's a neat thing to see. Everybody is hoping he can come back and throw the ball like he did in '09."

Towles' back spasms give me heartburn

So J.R. Towles is dealing with back spasms on the Monday of the week of Opening Day. Isn't this a pretty damn good summation of J.R. Towles?

Today, he took swings off a tee. Mills:
"It was good to see him do some baseball activity. He played catch and threw. He still felt it in his back, but he felt much better. To have him go out there and do some baseball activity is huge."

Other things we learn from McTaggart's notebook:

*In a complete lack of surprise, Wallace is 1B1.
*Joe Inglett led the Majors in pinch-hits last year (20).
*Alberto Arias threw a bullpen session.

Optionless Astros

MLBTR has a nice list of everyone who is out of options. This means that, if the Astros send them to the minors, then they have to clear waivers first.

Who's on this list?
Alberto Arias
Nelson Figueroa
Jeff Keppinger
Humberto Quintero
Ryan Rowland-Smith
Angel Sanchez

Of this list, the only players who run the risk of getting sent down are really Arias and Sanchez. Of those two, would they clear waivers? Sanchez might, but I'm not so sure about Arias (though his injury may scare off enough teams).

Meat Wagon Updates

Zach Levine has your injury updates:

Michaels feels better.

Arias played catch today and feels good.

Click the link for the long version.

Mills just referenced Arias' career in talking about his shoulder

Scary words from Brad Mills regarding Alberto Arias' shoulder:

"He's going to be behind, there's no doubt. This latest incident that has come up is really going to put him back there. The important thing is to get him healthy and strong and going again. In the long run, we hope that's going to happen for him.

"We haven't seen him pitch now in quite a while. We need to get him back and healthy and strong for his sake and his career, and if he can help benefit us, we're all better off."

Arias' news getting worse

Brian McTaggart continues to share bad news about Alberto Arias, as he'll have an MRI today on his shoulder.

One bullpen session, one cortisone shot

McTaggart tweeted this morning that Alberto Arias took a cortisone shot in his shoulder after being examined by the team physician.

So this isn't looking good for Arias.

Arias' shoulder now beyond rest

McTaggart has an update on Alberto Arias, whose shoulder has not loosened up after reporting tightness over last weekend.

Mills:
"He's still a little on the stiff and sore side, and we kind of want the doctor to take a look at him."

Arias was scratched from his scheduled BP session yesterday.

Meat Wagon Update!

With the arrival of Bill Hall, who is now off diaper duty until October, everyone's in camp.

With that, we get a couple of Meat Wagon updates:

-Angel Sanchez is about ready to hit him some singles. Mills:
“He’s stepping up a little bit, and we’re hoping that he can hit against live pitchers tomorrow."

-Alberto Arias might not be able to throw live BP tomorrow. Mills qualified his scheduled appearance with a "hopefully."

Astros agree with Arias

And speaking of paying the protected, the Astros have signed Alberto Arias to his requisite one-year deal for $439,500.

Astros to treat Arias like he's carrying eggs

Brian McTaggart lets everyone know the Astros are treating Arias like he's got a Johnny Damon arm after feeling some tightness in his surgically-repaired shoulder.

Mills:
"We're going to have to give him a couple of more days off and see how he comes back and how he works with that. He wasn't able to throw the ball like he really wanted to [Sunday], but we'll see how he is after a couple of days off. We're going to bring him along slower to build up that range of motion and everything else."

We also learn that Manzella is going to consider himself a Jeff Keppinger-esque player, all over the infield:
"I'm a pretty strong believer, and I think a lot of people will agree, that if you can play shortstop, a lot of the other positions -- I don't want to say easier -- but they're easier to transition to rather than if you were a second baseman who tried to switch to third or tried to learn third base, or a third baseman trying to learn second. Just from seeing the game from the shortstop's perspective, it makes those two a little bit easier to transition to."

Meat Wagon Updates

Zach Levine has a new post in which he addresses a couple of players who need the Florence Nightengale treatment (and not "Syphilis" - turns out she never had syphilis. Yet I digress.)

*Jose Vallejo, who was on the wrong end of a kitchen knife, is trying to get back to pre-sliced form (see what I did there?)

*Chia-Jen Lo is "a little behind" after a UCL injury.

*Alberto Arias should be ready for Spring Training after his shoulder cleaning.

Bourn: Started running

Hey, so Michael Bourn has started running again, but is not close to baseball activity.

Within McTaggart's notebook, we also read that Castro is going back to Stanford, and Dave Clark is looking forward to managing Licey in the Dominican Winter League, which will feature Josh Banks, Henry Villar, Anderson Hernandez, Alberto Arias, and Sammy Gervacio.

Lindstrom, Paulino doing better; Call-up notice

McTaggart tells us that both Matt Lindstrom and Felipe Paulino are doing better.

Lindstrom:
"I feel 110 percent better than I felt the last couple of days. I'm ready to go get an inning in. I've been doing a lot of stabilization exercises and stuff like that and making good progress, too. Right now I feel like I did the first half of the season. It's just kind of like a big weight off my mind. I've been dealing with this for a long time now."

And Paulino? McTaggart tells us he threw off the mound today, throwing 30 fastballs and he'll throw another mound session with breaking balls on Wednesday.

We also get an update on Alberto Arias:
Right-hander Alberto Arias, who has been out all season after undergoing rotator cuff surgery, has begun throwing off flat ground and hopes to be ready by next season.

How about those call-ups, when the rosters can expand on Wednesday?

Mills:
"I think you'll probably see a couple of guys on Wednesday and a couple of guys later on. The reason is because we can't devastate the [Round Rock] team. They need to have enough guys to finish. Of course, we're going to get Lindstrom off the DL fairly soon, if not on [Wednesday], and Keppinger will be back. We'll get those guys right away. Some of the other guys, we'll have to wait and see, depending on the schedule and so forth."