MLB injury question please?
Question:What goes into throwing a "simulated game"? Im interested in all the front office activities too, such as how many "options" does a player have and what can be done and not done with them? Also, what kinds of terms are typically written into a standard player contract?
Thanks ahead of time!
Answers:
When will Barry Bonds hit the record breaking homerun?
If a player is injured they cannot be on the active roster and cannot play in a game with the Major League team. The player may practice and even play with the minor league affiliated teams.A 'simulated' game is an informal scrimmage that allows an injured pitcher to test his arm. Simulated games take place at the stadium, with two or three hitters taking turns in live at-bats against a pair of pitchers. (It may happen that both pitchers are recovering from injuries, but most of the time a healthy teammate or coach is recruited for the exercise.) There are rarely any players out in the field, and there's no umpire behind home plate. Either the bullpen catcher or the pitching coach will call balls and strikes and determine what "happens" when one of the hitters puts the ball in play. If it's a hard line drive, they might say it's a "hit"; a weak grounder would be deemed an "out."
Will the Yankees make the playoffs in 2007? As a wild card or as a pennant winner?
That's not necessarily an injury question, although throwing in a simulated game can be a part of evaluating the progress of someone who is almost ready to come off of the DL. It's also a way to keep sharp if it's been or will be along time between appearances. It simply has a pitcher throwing from a mound, with or without some in either batter's box, to a catcher. If there is someone in the box, he just stands there in his normal stance, but does not swing a bat. A coach will act as umpire to call balls and strikes and based on his years of experience in baseball, how a given hitter might have struck the ball and the play that would have been made.Options work differently now than they did a few years ago. More to the point, there are various types of options, one of which works differently now that it did a few years ago. But options and the rules around them are complex, to the point that even most general managers don't necessarily fully understand them. That's why each organization will have one person high in the front office whose job it is to understand everything that there is to know about options, and to have the GM's back in such cases.
All types of terms can be written into any given player's contract. Most contracts though, will have some type of clause about specific other sports or sporting activities in which a player may not participate. For example, Paul Quantrill lived in a relatively urban area in the off-season, and had a clause in his contract with the Blue Jays that didn't allow him to go snowmobiling. He did, and that's how he broke his femure (thighbone). They didn't consider that he broke his contract. Carney Lansford had no such clause, because his offseason home was a ranch in eastern Oregon, and using a snowmobile was not recreational but basic winter transportation. But one day with the A's, he misjudged his property line and dove off his snowmobile to avoid being killed by hitting the fence. He injured a shoulder and a knee, but the knee was so badly injured that he lost a season of play. George Brett once had a clause in his contract that forbad him from downhill skiing except within a specific distance of Kansas City, a distance that had no mountains for skiing.
Contracts can also have clauses regarding payment schedules, various perks on the road, etc. Contracts for some first year free agent players might include clauses in which the team that signs them owns them money for college tuition when the want to go to school or back to school. Stricly speakng, the Mets still owe Nolan Ryan tuition funds.
However, most of your question is best asked of individuals who work for major league organizations. Most people are thrilled to be asked about their job and what it entails. If you are asking because you're thinking in terms of a career in the field, arrange an appointment to speak with one of them.
What do baseball players say to each other?
As far as a simulated game a pitcher will throw to different hitters just like in game and after a certain amount of time pitcher will sit just like in a game and then he will pitch again. Options for players are for there first three years they are in the pro's say a guy guest called up to the pro's he can be sent down and brought back up as many times as needed for that year. The next year if he is not in the pro's he still has 2 options left. Once out of options players must clear waivers to be sent down to the minorsMore Questions & Answers...