There are many important factors to being successful in sports. Talent. Hard work. Money. Guts. Good management. Luck.
But none of these are as relevant to a team's success as one factor. Injuries. Injuries can cripple the most elite teams and in a way help out other teams that would have otherwise not have been as successful.
These days teams in all sports are investing millions of dollars into players, sometimes over $200 million dollars for just one person. Now whether or not an athlete deserves to make that much is a fair question, but there is no debating that high paid players are the cornerstones for their teams. They're the players that the team is looking to build around and are relied on to be productive. But signing players to multi-year contracts doesn't help the team at all if they aren't able to play the game.
Each season team's spend over $500 million, which amounts to about $17 million for each team. To put that into perspective, Adrian Beltre is making about $16 million this season, and Robinson Cano is making $15 million.
Between 2002-2012, the average team had players spend 9,496 days on the DL. The Rangers players' spent a whopping 12,803 days on the disabled list. But one team rose above everyone else through one of two options; they were unbelievably lucky in fielding players that didn't get hurt, or this team has understood the importance of a top-notch training staff that will keep players on the field. I'll take the latter of those two options. This team, being the Chicago White Sox, has had players spend 4,026 days on the disabled list over the past 10 years. 3,000 days fewer than any other team in the majors. This is thanks to Herm Schneider, who has been theathletic trainer for the White Sox for the past 34 years.
"I don't know exactly how he does it," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said, the perfect mirror for Schneider himself: "I'm not sure exactly why we've had success."
"Injuries are not an act of God in baseball," Schneider said. "They're basically self-inflicted. The act of throwing a baseball is not a normal thing to do and not a thing the shoulder and elbow were meant to do. So you have to prepare for that by making deposits into your career. A lot of work. A lot of sweat labor that overprepares you for the day you have to pitch. Because when a guy is pitching, he's making withdrawals on his career."
"If you want to play and you can play, he will get you out there," White Sox reliever Matt Thornton said. "Like, if you're hurt hurt, he's going to take care of you, you're going to go on the DL, you're going to miss time. But if you're just sore and beat up and all that, he's not going to baby you or coddle you. You're going to get soreness. Your arm is going to be sore. Your body is going to be sore. Welcome to being an athlete."
So if a team is going to spend millions of dollars on a player to do well for them to be productive, it makes sense for that team to spend enough money to keep the athlete healthy. Like I said before injuries can completely cripple a team that was otherwise expected to do well. The Mets signed Johan Santana to a 6 year/$137 million contract in 2007. Since that time, Santana won more than 15 games only once. After having two surgeries, he pitched in only 21 games between 2011 and 2012, and after suffering another injury this year he has to sit out the entire 2013 season. Oh, and he's still being paid $25 million this season to not throw a single pitch. See how that may be a problem?
Modern medicine is more advanced and players are coming back from injuries faster than ever before. Yet Major League Baseball is seeing the most injuries occur than before as well. Teams are focused on spending the big bucks on talented players, which isn't a bad thing. But they should also invest a solid chunk of their budget to medicine and the training staff that keeps the team on the field. Because what's the point of over-paying for a guy if he isn't even able to produce on the field?
