Did Joe Mauer Invent an Injury?

September 3rd, 2007 by SBG


If you remember in the spring, Joe Mauer caused some hearts in Twinsville to flutter when he said that he had a "stress reaction" in his leg. I'll admit that I'd never heard of a stress reaction, but I'm no medical expert. Joe's had some injuries this season, but it does not appear that any of them were related to a stress reaction in his leg.

Top Jimmy, everyone's favorite hack took a swipe (more than one, actually) at Mauer's toughness in his latest "gem" of a column when he said the following:

In spring training [Mauer] caused a scare with what was termed a "stress reaction." I've spoken with trainers in other sports who have told me there is no such thing.

That seems to me to be a not-so-thinly veiled accusation that Mr. Mauer invented an injury. Trainers. In other sports. No such thing.

Top Jimmy apparently doesn't have access to The Google. Only recently moved from the Ditch, though, I do. I typed in "'stress reaction' bone" into The Mighty Google and my computer groaned and with a DING! it produced a link to the website of Dr. Stephen M. Pribut, D.P.M. Dr. Pribut is "a past President of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine (AAPSM), and past President of the District of Columbia Podiatric Medical Association. He served as Chair of the AAPSM Shoe Committee for 5 years. He currently serves on the American Podiatric Medical Association's Clinical Practice Advisory Committee." He's been in practice since 1980 and "specializes in Podiatric Sports Medicine". He has the following to say about stress reactions and fractures:

Chronic Repetitive Stress Injuries to Bone (stress fractures and stress reactions) often result from dramatic changes in training. Training errors of a variety of types are a major contributing factor to this type of injury. The use of the word “fracture” in many cases is a misnomer. There is in most grades of this injury no actual fracture line, although in the most significant and severe cases a fracture line is visible and seen on X-ray or more readily on an MRI scan. In a large number of these injuries it is actually a stress related injury or an over stress syndrome of a particular bone. This type of injury in the absence of x-ray signs (and sometimes in the absence of a positive bone scan or MRI scan) has, some years ago termed a pre-stress fracture, then a stress reaction of bone, all of which leads to much confusion within the terminology and among clinicians and patients.

Here's another source that discusses a stress reaction as being on the continuum of bone injuries suffered in sports related activities:

Another situation encountered in clinical practice is the painful, tender focal area of bone that demonstrates a mildly increased uptake of radioisotope, insufficient to be classified as a stress fracture. This has been termed 'stress reaction'. It would appear that there is a continuum of bone response to stress that ranges from mild (bone strain) to severe (stress fracture). The clinical features of bone strain, stress reaction and stress fractures are summarized in Table 2.5.

The authors of this page, Peter Brukner and Karim Kahn wrote a book entitled Clinical Sports Medicine.

Here's another description of a stress reaction from WEBMD's emedicine.com:

Advanced cross sectional imaging has demonstrated that bone responds to repetitive loading via a continuum of stress responses that precede the onset of clinical symptoms. In their study involving a cohort of military recruits, Kiuru et al reported that only 40% of the MRI findings suggestive of a low-grade bone stress injury correlated with clinical symptoms (Kiuru, 2005). The vast majority of the radiographically detected areas of bone stress reaction remained clinically silent despite uninterrupted training, and disappeared upon follow-up imaging at the conclusion of the 5-month training program. Therefore, under normal circumstances, bone appears able to keep up with necessary repairs without manifesting clinically significant injury as it remodels in accordance with Wolff law. However, when a bone's reparative and adaptive capacity is overwhelmed by chronic overload, damage can begin to accumulate. If allowed to progress, this multifactorial process may eventually result in a stress fracture.

But, the trainers that Top Jimmy talked to never heard of it. That's good enough for Top Jimmy. Besides, those stupid doctors have websites. Can't trust them over some trainer.


This entry was posted by SBG on Monday, September 3rd, 2007 at 8:43 pm and is filed under Local Media. It is one of 2751 entries by the author. We are no longer accepting Letters to the Editor on this post.

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E-6 replied on September 3, 2007 at 8:48:10 pm

Nice internet. ;)

 
Banjo replied on September 3, 2007 at 9:21:04 pm

I find it curious that both Tom Powers and Souhan both penned articles on moving Mauer to third on the same day. Which one of Terry Ryan's minions is trying to manipulate the opionions of the sporting public?

E-6 replied on September 3, 2007 at 9:34:42 pm

Come back, Henry Blanco. All is forgiven.

Neil replied on September 4, 2007 at 7:34:39 am

We do really miss him.

 
 
 
Whiffers replied on September 3, 2007 at 9:38:49 pm

More evidence, as if it was needed, that TJ is a complete hack.

This is another example that leaves me wondering about the editing process for columnists. Shouldn't an editor hand that POS back to him and let him know that injury does indeed exist? See FireJoeMorgan for plenty of other articles that desperately needed an editor to provide a WTF.

 
Banjo replied on September 3, 2007 at 9:56:30 pm

Given how easy it was to find (some) info on google, this would be a great letter to reader rep Kate Parry. I'd love to get Souhan's and/or the paper's response.

However, it is curious because "trainers" does suggest multiple sources. I don't have any issue with the trainer being from another sport and I would tend to rely more on a direct conversation with a medical professional as a source, if I was confortable with their credentials, than I would a random Google search.

It's easy to see how this is convienent fodder for a column and why perhaps you would not devote more column inches to the clinical aspect of the injury, but if the research was credible, I would question why a sports editor would not dispatch Christensen or LEN3 to do a more in-depth story on Mauer and the legitimacy of his injuries.

Additionally, this article reminded of an off the cuff comment from Barriero, during one of his anti-Mauer rants when he said the "sources within the organization" (and he was not referring to other players) were starting to grow tired of Mauer's inability to play through any kind of pain/injury.

It does make one wonder what might be going on behind the scenes.

SBG replied on September 3, 2007 at 10:08:24 pm

This was a small sample of the articles available on stress reactions. It's clearly a recognized medical condition and may be a precursor to a stress fracture, then again it may not. The approach to rest Mauer for a while in spring training was certainly the right approach. But, Souhan, in his quest to paint Mauer as a pussy, latched onto the comments of a few guys who clearly did not know what they were talking about. Any reporter interested in facts uses The Google as a starting point for research.

But, Top Jimmy is apparently not interested in facts. But, we knew that already.

Banjo replied on September 3, 2007 at 11:01:01 pm

latched onto the comments of a few guys who clearly did not know what they were talking about.

Yes, maybe. Or maybe not.

I see your point and I'm suspicious enough to think that the reader's rep or the Minnesota News Council might be interested in these claims. But it's by no means a given that a.) Souhan did not use a secondary research and b.) the the trainers did not have significant credentials. I'd rather hear that from him, or preferably his superiors than make the accusation.

This is a pretty bold claim and much more frontal than you would normally see - especially from a columnist who spends a lot of time around the Twin's organization. He's got a lot to lose by playing so loose with the facts. If you're right, and you might be, he, and possibly his editor should be disciplined or fired. My point is, given that someone above Souhan signed off on this, I just wonder who he (Souhan) talked too that they were willing to publish it.

Mitch Albom and a few others aside, guys with multiple mouths to feed, who make their living writing for a troubled industry, don't have much incentive to play so fast and loose these days.

It could be that you're just the blogger to call him and out and get him fired.

 
 
 
CarterHayes replied on September 3, 2007 at 10:00:37 pm

I'm not a medical expert, but if Mauer was (or still is) growing, it seems rather logical that he'd be more susceptible to injuries involving bone, particularly bones in his legs. Once the kid finally stops growing, I would imagine those leg bones will get stronger and become more resilient.

 
brianS replied on September 3, 2007 at 11:12:37 pm

Something tells me Top Jimmy's piece was NOT authorized by the Twins.

Columns suggesting Joe Mauer has to switch positions and questioning his reputation have the catcher and manager upset.

By Joe Christensen, Star Tribune

Last update: September 03, 2007 – 10:53 PM

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire awoke Monday to suggestions from the Twin Cities' two biggest newspapers that it's time to move Joe Mauer from catcher to third base.

Gardenhire has his own opinion.

He strongly disagrees.

"Do I sound fired up about it?" Gardenhire said. "That's because my guys are fired up about it. The whole team's all fired up, and Joe's a little fired up, and he's pretty disappointed, and that's sad. He's done nothing wrong. All he's done is his work and he's getting hammered. It's too bad it has to be written."

Unfortunately, Christensen failed to address the fake injury issue in any serious way.

frightwig replied on September 4, 2007 at 4:13:22 pm

Mauer's own manager and coaches used to question his drive to come back from injuries. We know that Team Leader has made both direct and veiled comments on the issue. Now, we're supposed to believe that nobody in the clubhouse thinks that Joe Mauer might miss too much time because of injuries, and the mere suggestion that it might be time to move him to a less demanding position gets Gardy and Mauer firing back at the press. Struck a nerve?

SBG replied on September 4, 2007 at 4:49:19 pm

This, of course, is a different issue from the "stress reaction" nonsense.

With Hunter pretty much out the door, the new "FOTF" has been subjected to criticism and he must be defended. I believed back in 2005 that Hunter should have been shut up and that Stelley and Gardy should never have criticized Mauer in the press. But, they did and now they have a little problem like you point out. I can't say one way or the other about Mauer. Who knows? Molitar was hurt a lot, too, early in his career and eventually, he got healthy (though the DH seemed to help him alot). The Twins opened themselves up to criticism, though, way back when. It was a stupid move and I said so at the time.

 
 
 
brianS replied on September 3, 2007 at 11:17:02 pm

Uh oh. Johan is officially pissed off.

Santana: 'We're not giving everything that we have'

The Twins ace lost to the Indians for the fifth time this season, and both the defense and the offense were lacking.

By Joe Christensen, Star Tribune

Last update: September 03, 2007 – 10:57 PM
Twins pitcher Johan Santana had some pointed comments Monday after reaching a dubious milestone.
....
"They're playing good baseball," Santana said after Cleveland pulled 10½ games ahead of the Twins. "They're comfortable. They're playing with confidence, and that's how you win games.

"If you look around, we don't have that. We're going out there, and we're not giving everything that we have."
....
"We're supposed to be one of the best teams on fundamentals; we're not making those [plays]," Santana said. "If you don't do that, you're not going to win. And everything's going to go to one pitcher, or one player? I don't think so. It's a team effort, and right now, we're not doing it."

unfortunately, Gardenhire's whipping boy (later in the article) again is Jason Bartlett. How long until we see Nicky starting at SS?

Rhubarb_Runner replied on September 4, 2007 at 6:42:00 am

Gardenhire’s whipping boy (later in the article) again is Jason Bartlett

Let's see...uh, how many unearned runs scored yesterday?

Johan is absolutely right, though, even though the wrong conclusions/scapegoats are identified.

 
 
ubelmann replied on September 4, 2007 at 2:59:46 am

Who is lazier--a player who invents an injury or a columnist who invents the invention of an injury?

For those still unwilling to believe that such a thing as a stress reaction exists, I present Will Carroll's commentary at the time that Mauer was initially reported to have a stress reaction:

If you pay attention to the NBA, you probably don't feel so bad about Joe Mauer. Chris Paul, a guard for the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, has a stress reaction in his foot and will play through it. There's little question that an NBA player's foot takes more stress than a catcher's fibula, so the ability of Joe Mauer to play through this seems likely, though the Twins will certainly be watching him closely. The natural adjustment would be less catching and more DHing, something I've been an advocate of for a while. More interestingly, there's a chance that this is related to his knee injury from a few years ago, when Mauer had cartilage removed from his left knee. It's possible that that change in his anatomy--the lack of cushioning--contributed to this stress problem.

Apparently Top Jimmy did not consult the basketball trainers that diagnosed Paul with his stress reaction.

Curt Schilling was also apparently suffering from the same delusion that Mauer had:

Schilling mentions stress reaction: In his regularly scheduled Tuesday morning session on WEEI-850 AM's Dennis and Callahan show, Sox ace Curt Schilling said that the most recent ankle injury that placed him on the 15-day disabled list is not merely a bruise. When the Sox made the announcement, the diagnosis they revealed for Schilling was a mild bone bruise.

"It wasn't a bruise, it was a stress reaction, which is a precursor to a stress fracture," Schilling told WEEI. "That's one of the considerations we're looking at. There's some differences of opinion as to exactly what it is and I'm not sure that anybody can be 100 percent sure unless ... the MRIs are not perfect. We've done what we can do test-wise, now it's up to how I feel and how they think it's coming along."

Knicks' forward David Lee:

While Lee originally was diagnosed with a high right ankle sprain, doctors in Indianapolis classified it as a "stress reaction," which, according to Supranowitz, is similar to a bone bruise.

KG's new pal Paul Pierce:

Paul Pierce may miss the next 2-3 weeks with a foot injury. According to the AP:

Pierce has a stress reaction -- a swelling of the bone and the soft tissue surrounding it, team spokesman Jeff Twiss said Thursday. Pierce will miss Friday night's game against Philadelphia and the five-game road trip that starts Tuesday in Denver.

Johnny Damon:

The Yankees continue to decline comment on the specifics of the injury while Damon keeps talking about it. I don’t know what he’s referring to when he says he broke a bone under his big toe, but maybe he could point to it in that picture. My best sources continue to say that Damon has a small stress reaction near his toe in the first metatarsal. About the only thing I can get everyone to agree on is that they think Damon should be able to play through it if the pain is managed and the injury watched closely.

Bobby Crosby, Chris Young, and Shaun Livingston:

Crosby has missed five games in the past two weeks with what was diagnosed as a sacroiliac (SI) joint strain, but according to a source, there are recent indications that the problem might be a stress reaction. Padres pitcher Chris Young recently missed a week with a stress reaction in his foot, and Clippers guard Shaun Livingston was out more than a month last year with a stress reaction in the lower back.

I'm supposed to believe a couple of Jimmy's unnamed buddies over a huge pile of evidence that suggests they are wrong?

One can make a case for moving Mauer away from catcher at this point, though I still don't buy it. (There's no guarantee whatsoever that he would be a good third baseman, and the Twins don't have a catcher to replace Mauer with anyway.) What you don't need to do to make that case is bend the truth. Souhan's ignorant implication that stress reactions don't exist undermines his point, rather than strengthening it.

And honestly, if the Twins' staff is diagnosing Mauer with injuries that don't exist, shouldn't we be talking about whether or not the trainers need to find new jobs?

SBG replied on September 4, 2007 at 3:31:34 am

Souhan’s ignorant implication that stress reactions don’t exist undermines his point, rather than strengthening it.

And that is the point of this post as I'm sure you are aware. I could have cited many more examples of clinical discussions of stress reactions. Your list of other players that have stress reactions further reinforces the point. This was an irresponsible and inflammatory line, not to mention true only if a couple of knuckleheads said those things. It's certainly not true that the injury doesn't exist.

Top Jimmy is a hack. This was a pathetic line that should never have been included in a column.

brianS replied on September 4, 2007 at 8:55:33 am

No doubt his reaction would be to focus on all the cites ubes has where the player is supposed to be able to "play through the pain" and, thus, be able to call Mauer a pussy.

Whiffers replied on September 4, 2007 at 9:19:08 am

For some reason, I bet Chris Paul would be held out of preseason games.

This is a time I miss A.J. though, remember when he went off on the Common Man after they won the playoff series against the A's? I bet he could put something entertaining together for Top Jimmy.

 
 
 
 
GreekHouse replied on September 4, 2007 at 12:15:08 pm

Everybody knows that if you're going to make up an injury, you say you have a "strained quadricep". You don't go and make up an injury. Come on, if you actually made up a medical condition, it wouldn't take long for people to figure that out. If you are going to fake an injury, you go with something that obviously exists but isn't something that people are going to question and isn't something for which they would want to do a lot of tests. You don't want something that would make people say "Wow, I've never heard of that", because that is the kind of thinking that is going to make people do research.

If Mauer had made up a condition, I guarantee that Top Jimmy wouldn't be the one to break the story.

Rhubarb_Runner replied on September 4, 2007 at 12:39:10 pm

Remember when "plantar faciitis" was such a huge mystery to the local writers (a la Marty Cordova)? Somehow, they managed to figure that one out.

GreekHouse replied on September 4, 2007 at 3:55:10 pm

Yeah, this thing kinda reminded me of Rush Limbaugh's comments about Michael J. Fox's symptoms during the last election. It's sort of a "I've never seen this before, therefore it can't possibly be real" mentality.

Rhubarb_Runner replied on September 5, 2007 at 6:19:06 am

Okay, I'm hating you for getting me to stick up for Rush here.

Rush never said he'd never seen that before; he was alleging that MJF intentionally did not take his L-Dopa in order to appear even more incapacitated that normal, to help sway the sympathies of the voters. My grandfather had Parkinson's Disease, and there are times when the uncontrolled spasming is worse than others. Whether MJF allowed his symptoms to exacerbate or not really wasn't an issue until Rush made a big deal about it.

SBG replied on September 5, 2007 at 7:14:25 am

Considering all the misinformation that Rush spread throughout the years, it is only a quest for truth that should motivate anyone to defend that fat, lying drug addict.

Rhubarb_Runner replied on September 5, 2007 at 8:09:35 am

Thanks, but I'm still going to take a long shower...

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brianS replied on September 5, 2007 at 9:38:42 am

I hope it was one of those Vincent Freeman, scrub-yourself-raw-with-stones, sort of cleanings.

 
 
 
frightwig replied on September 5, 2007 at 11:28:40 am

Even on that point, Rush was wrong. The jerking tremors (dyskinesia) commonly associated with Parkinson's are actually side effects of the L-dopa medication. MJF shook because he was faithfully taking his prescription.

Rush also did a cruel imitation of Fox's spasms to mock him; you can see the video if that in the C&L archives. And, contrary to what some claimed, Rush never acknowledged he was wrong, nor did he apologize.

SBG replied on September 5, 2007 at 12:55:36 pm

I've seen the video... he was/is a complete jackass. I'm glad he did it, though. I think he really swayed people, just not the way he intended.

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SDfan replied on September 6, 2007 at 10:07:54 am

I was listening to Rush's show that day and in the following weeks during the whole controversy. He was not "mocking" MJF; he was incredulous as to why MJF's tremors were so much more pronounced than in other recent appearances, and was speculating that MJF was either off his medication or was intentionally exaggerating his tremors. He never once mocked MJF, as anyone who actually listens to the show could tell you. Since MJF later admitted that he had stopped taking his medication prior to filming that spot, to greater emphasize the debilitating effects of Parkinsons, I don't see why Rush should have either admitted he was wrong or apologized. To me, the one who should have apologized is Clair McCaskell (sp?), who was seeking to exploit MJF's Parkinsons for the sake of a few votes.

I really dislike talking politices on a blog ostensibly devoted to the Twins. But this whole episode was so distasteful to me that I can't just stand by silently and see it once more misrepresented.

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SBG replied on September 6, 2007 at 11:27:44 am

MJF says here that he was not off his medication.

 
frightwig replied on September 6, 2007 at 12:48:44 pm

The Crooks & Liars site has the video of Rush doing his impression of MJF's symptoms. It might also be on YouTube. Take a look before judging whether it was cruel or meant to mock him.

Rush should apologize, if for nothing else, because his charge against Fox was baseless and wrong. In fact, at advanced stages of Parkinson's, a patient off his drugs may even be catatonic. If Rush had real integrity, he would have apologized for that. If he had any class, he'd also say he regrets doing his impression of Fox's symptoms.

Stem cell research is an important political issue to a lot of people. As a citizen with a vested interest in the issue, Fox has a right to endorse candidates who support stem cell research. All the time, you see the President and other politicians bring "snowflake babies" on stage as props to influence people to support their policies on that issue. Has Rush or his listeners in general ever had a problem with that? In fact, MJF made an ad to support the Republican Arlen Specter in his last re-election campaign, because he also favors an expansion of stem cell research. Who ever said it was inappropriate and exploitive of MJF or Specter to do that, then?

It seems to me that the controversy wasn't really about exploiting a celebrity or his medical condition for political gain. After all, if we all agreed that abortion is a private health issue that has no place in politics, the Republicans would lose a key issue to get out their voters. And if actors can't get involved in politics, maybe Rush should tell Ah-nold and Fred Thompson. Rush just tried to gin up a controversy because MJF was helping a Democrat in a close Senate race, which had the potential of swinging the balance of power in Congress. It was pure partisan shilling, that's all.

 
Algonad replied on September 6, 2007 at 4:40:44 pm

It still cracks me up that Rush called Donovan McNabb overrated and said that the media paid more attention to him because he was black the same week that Jake Plummer was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The timing couldn't have been better.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Moss replied on September 4, 2007 at 5:13:20 pm

Torii's got a strained uvula.

Punto's saddled with a touch of bunter ineptitis.

Gardenhire's suffering from chronic cranio-rectal inversion.

ubelmann replied on September 4, 2007 at 5:16:47 pm

+10 for the cranio-rectal inversion crack

Moss replied on September 4, 2007 at 8:00:02 pm

Sadly, that's the one that's not made-up. He really has that malady.

 
 
 
brianS replied on September 6, 2007 at 1:44:50 am

At some point, Christensen updated the Mauer/pussy story. Here's a tidbit:

Gardenhire took issue with the Star Tribune's examples of other major leaguers who had thrived as hitters after moving from the catching position: Mike Sweeney, Phil Nevin, Craig Biggio, Todd Zeile and Dale Murphy.

"Was Sweeney a good catcher, an All-Star catcher? No," Gardenhire said. "Were any of those guys All-Star catchers who controlled the running game and stopped the running game?

"None of them were Joe Mauer. This guy's a stud catcher."

Hey, I'm on the right side of this one. But, umm, well, Craig Biggio was an all-star catcher. Maybe he wasn't Joe Mauer behind the plate, but still. One all-star appearance (age 25) and one Silver Slugger (age 23) as a catcher. Made the switch at age 26. and he's very plausibly gonna be in the the HOF.

somebody said Mauer isn't very quick. I was shocked by that claim. Dude was, what, national POY as a h.s. football qb; two-time all-state in hoops. I'm thinking that he's plenty quick and has excellent feet. And obviously, he has great quickness with his hands, which is kinda what you want/need from a third baseman.

so, while I wouldn't want to be painted with the boob brush, I humbly suggest we should probably be just a bit easier on the whole Mauer-to-third-base meme (I include myself there, as I've done my share of WTF'ing).

ubelmann replied on September 6, 2007 at 2:24:55 am

Mauer was a football recruit what, six years ago now? He's not Matt LeCroy by any means, but he's not as quick as, say, Nick Punto. Punto doesn't get great reads on the ball at third base, but can make up a bit for it with his speed. (Though his speed helps him more at 2B than at 3B.) Mauer wouldn't really have that advantage.

One of my big hang-ups with the idea is that being a good athlete doesn't necessarily translate into being a good defensive third baseman. There's a lot of reaction involved, and Mauer has zero professional innings at first, second, third, or short. Mauer could turn out to be great at it, he could be turn out to be awful--we just don't know. He could also still get injured playing third base (ask Corey Koskie, Scott Rolen, etc.)

One example I saw brought up was A-Rod. He was an above average fielding shortstop, but it still took him at least half a season to adjust to fielding at third base. I would posit that catcher to third base would be an even more difficult challenge, even for a superb athlete.

I guess I just haven't seen a very convincing case for the probable decrease in injury risk offsetting the unknown of how Mauer will field and the decreased value of his bat at third base.

brianS replied on September 6, 2007 at 9:23:20 am

I guess I just haven’t seen a very convincing case for the probable decrease in injury risk offsetting the unknown of how Mauer will field and the decreased value of his bat at third base.

on that, we are in complete agreement.

He’s not Matt LeCroy by any means, but he’s not as quick as, say, Nick Punto.

quick and fast are not the same thing. Matty was both slow and not quick.

Third base is about quickness & instincts, technique, footwork and arm strength. Mauer has a history of excellent footwork. I presume he's considered to have excellent technique behind the plate and good instincts. And he's got a great arm. All those bode well for success elsewhere on the field.

Mauer is certainly fast for a catcher. I might even go so far as to say he's got at least average speed for a ML player. I don't actually see very many Twins games, so it's harder for me to argue with you on Mauer's quickness. But from the few games I've seen, he's seemed plenty quick behind the plate.

A probably easier transition than 3b would be to CF. Why don't we start THAT thread? Mauer to replace Face in both team status and position?!

 
 
 

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