Written by Greg Fertel
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27 June 2007
Not sure how reliable this is, but a poster on nyyfans who knows 2007 draftee Chris Carpenter asked Chris why he was pulled after 3 innings in his last outing. In his post is some good inside information about Carpenter and his health.
from nyyfans.com. Post by Fuzzy.
As for Chris Carpenter, I talked to him a day ago and he said he had some elbow strain. It had been 16 days since his start in the NCAA regional game to his first Cape appearence. He threw 105 pitches , which were more than he should have thrown. He had some soreness afterward but felt good enough to throw last Saturday, but came out due to tightness in the elbow. His last of his 7 K's in 3 innings was on a 95 mph fastball. His pain came on throwing breaking balls not FB's or Change-ups. He had some of this at KSU in Feb. but backed off for a week or so and worked back in a few innings at a time and was fine. It was just a matter of too many pitches after a lengthy layoff. He feels that with a little rest he will be fine. Don't know whether that means he will skip his next start or not. His last surgery was a year ago and only to remove scar tissue just under the skin that was putting pressure on the nerve and causing discomfort. I think he( and his surgeon) feels this current situation is no big deal, just part of the process.
While it's a little worrisome that he is having pain in his elbow, the fact that he was hitting 95 despite that is encouraging. As he has recovered from similar soreness before, this pain shouldn't be a red flag for the Yankees. However, if it persists or gets worse, it should give the Yankees reason to consider not giving him a huge bonus if they feel he may never be healthy. However, I'm not concerned at this point, and I think he is definitely worth signing.
