Predict an injury, save a buck

An interesting article in the New York Times today. Michael S. Schmidt (I got a good chuckle out of Mr. Schmidt here writing a baseball article. I wonder if he has a bitching mustache?) writes about LA Dodgers Head Trainer Stan Conte and his pursuit of a scientific formula that can predict what players are or will be injury prone. If such a formula can be realized, MLB clubs would end up saving a ton of money.

And Carl Pavano would never pitch again. And we would never EVER have to watch Nomar adjust his batting gloves again.

NY Times article

In theory I think it is a wonderful idea. One that could really revolutionize the free agent and draft markets in Major League Baseball (and in turn the NBA (watch out Grant Hill), NFL, and other sports). But in using Scott Proctor as an example, I feel they really degrade how ground breaking their formula is. EVERYONE knew Mr. Proctor was ready to break down. For one, that is what Joe Torre does to his relief pitchers. Secondly, anyone who watched the righty knew he put everything into every pitch. When you pitch in more than half of the games on your teams schedule, things are bound to go wrong.

What say you? You think science and math can tell you ahead of time player X is an injury risk ready to have Tommy John Surgery?

Thanks to my buddy Brian for the link to the article.