Tiger Tracks: Bonderman, Rodney, etc.

Three things I never thought I'd see:

• Jeremy Bonderman (Mr. Bonderman) being featured in the Wall Street Journal.
  

• Jim Leyland getting quoted in the Wall Street Journal.
  

• One of Samara's pictures getting mentioned in the Wall Street Journal. Congratulations Miss Pearlstein!

Mr Ferris followed up the WSJ article by examining their theory that the umpires are the reason for Mr. Bonderman's first inning problems. Billfer's results are admittedly inconclusive but still very interesting and well worth reading.

Will Carroll has an alarming note about Fernando Rodney in his latest Under The Knife column at Baseball Prospectus:

The Tigers are shutting down Fernando Rodney pending some medical tests. Things don't look good, and one observer described him as "toast" last week.

This comes on the heels of another article last week where Carroll assesed the injury risks of all the Tigers. It's premium content but I will tell you that he considers Carlos Guillen, Jeremy Bonderman, Gary Sheffield and Kenny Rogers to be very high injury risks.

Sheffield and Rogers are no surprise with their age and recent health issues. Carroll says that Guillen's switch to first base will not make him less susceptible to injury as he thinks the body movements of a first baseman are no easier on the the knees than those of a shortstop. The Bonderman rating is not too surprising but a little disconcerting especially when you read another piece by Chris O'Leary on Bonderman's mechanics:

Fugly. That's the word that pops into my mind when I look at this picture. First, you've got significant Hyperabduction which is preceded and/or facilitated by Inverted W (which you don't see in this photo). Second, he's scap loading, but his PAS elbow is well above and behind his shoulders. Third, he's showing the ball to Center Field more than I like. He's got good hip/shoulder separation, and lower body action, but that's just increasing the load on his shoulder (and elbow). Pity.

I can't say I understand all that but it doesn't sound good.