THE BIG HURT: The effects of a delayed start on injured players

With the major-league season pushed back a minimum of eight weeks (a very fluid mark), players with injuries or illnesses obviously have more time to get healthy. While this benefits all players, there are some who might see more benefit than others. For example, if we assume that we will miss the first six weeks of the season, a player due back in mid-May might go from 75% of the season to 100%, while a player due back in early July would only go from 50% to 60%. At the same time, there are players whose injuries are more complicated than just the time needed to heal—if a player’s injury is one that could recur or get worse over time, the extra time off doesn’t change that risk profile much.

In general, the stop-and-start nature of the...

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