12/22/12

Complete Injury History of Twins' Rich Harden

The newly signed by the Minnesota Twins, Rich Harden has been 10 times on the disabled list in his career and has been day to day in the majors, injured in the minors or in the training camp 14 more times, for a total of 758 days lost.  His major issues has been with his right shoulder (italicized and underlined below), which have occurred annually and until last off-season, been treated with "rest and rehab".  Some of them were severe, some of them were described as "fatigue" or "soreness".  Hopefully the shoulder surgery will help him overcome those issues.  In addition he has had a UCL Sprain that has not been treated surgically in 2006, but also with "rest and rehab".  Maybe his shoulder gave up the following years before his elbow, but his elbow will be something to watch as well (Potentially Similar situation with Joel Zumaya who came in the Twins' camp last season and blew his UCL)   Note: His Labrum Surgery in 2005 was on his left shoulder, to correct an issue that happen after a collision while covering first base in 2004.  The other issues were in his right, throwing shoulder.  His shoulder issues were reported first in 2004 when he arrived in the MLB camp, but it is hard to know his MiLB medical history...

On the other hand, a broken down Rich Harden is still a very effective pitcher, which makes me really hopeful if the surgery cleared his practically chronic elbow issue.

Here is a complete list of his injuries, chronologically:

2003;

Right angle sprain (13 days, MiLB)
Low Back Spasms (2 days, 2 games)

2004:

Right Shoulder Stiffness (50days, 0 games, training camp)
Left Shoulder Subluxation (6 days, 5 games)

2005:

Right middle finger blister (4 days, 4 games)
Left Oblique Strain (38 days, 34 games)
Right Shoulder Strain (38 days, 36 games) 
Left Labrum (shoulder) surgery (10/5/2005 - off-season no days lost)

2006:

Low back strain (38 days, 34 games)
Right Elbow Ligament (Ulnar Collateral Ligament) Sprain (104 days, 84 games)

2007:

Right Shoulder Impingement (66 days, 58 games)  
Right Shoulder Strain (84 days, 74 games)  

2008:

Right Shoulder Strain (38 days, 34 games)
Right Shoulder Soreness (6 days, 5 games)

2009:

Partial tear of Right Shoulder Labrum (50 days, January - no games)
Flu-like symptoms (5 days, training camp)
Middle Back Strain (26 days, 22 games)
Right Shoulder Fatigue (17 days, 16 games)

2010:

Left Hip Strain (49 days, 42 games)
Right Shoulder Inflammation (15 days, 13 games)

2011:

Right Shoulder Strain (101 days, 82 games)

2012:

Right Rotator Cuff capsule surgery 1/31/2012; out for the season







2 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh broken starter, we put upon you hopes and dreams of returned greatness, tempered with the probability that you will stink like the rest of the staff. Oh Rich Harden, we implore you to give us greatness, but we expect mediocrity, if not injury.

thrylos98 said...

Excellent summation!