Sports Illustrated sports injury guru Will Carroll has released his MLB Health Reports, and he says that the Boston Red Sox may have a few problems, but some bumps and bruises are not a major one.
Carroll preaches caution when it comes to Kevin Youkilis and the back, leg and sports hernia issues that hurt his 2011 season. Carroll warns:
“Expecting Youk to play more than 120 games is a high bar given the past couple seasons.”
He also is tentative about the abilities of pitcher Clay Buchholtz, who is still recovering from a stress fracture in his spine, an injury related to pitching motion.
Carroll does point out that the team does have high injury risk, listing 12 players under either “Yellow” or “Red Light.” Some additions to the conditioning staff (the Sox have brought in well-known strength coach Mike Boyle) and the already steady quality of the medical staff will help players with more long-term injuries recover, and should help ease some of these concerns for the 2012 Red Sox.