Ankiel Injury And Other News...

Derrick Goold reports this morning that Rick Ankiel may be going on the DL with a shoulder injury. Apparently he's had some soreness after taking a hard swing in Friday night's game. The Cards appear set to promote Joe Mather from AAA Memphis.

Here's a look at Mather's season thus far:

26 Games, 92 ABs, .304 AVG, 7 HR, 13 RBI, 14 BB, 14 Ks, .413 OBP, .630 SLG and 1.043 OPS

In a chat with fans last week, GM John Mozeliak hinted that Mather would be the first of the Cardinal hitting prospects to appear in a St. Louis uniform this season. Let's just hope the injury to Ankiel is not serious.

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Joe Strauss has a very interesting article in today's Post-Dispatch regarding the Cardinals' apparent pattern of "hiding" struggling players behind the mask of injury. Strauss cites Izzy's trip to the DL as only the most recent example.

This is a real source of frustration for fans, and in my opinion, not a smart strategy for the front office. Do the nice folks in the Cardinals' front office truly think they've convinced fans (and other ballclubs) that Isringhausen and Mulder are really hurt? Both players, in the midst of their recent struggles, were quoted in the media as saying they felt fine. Just days before getting shut down with "shoulder fatigue," Mulder proclaimed "...physically I feel great...I think the way I feel is exciting....I'm pleased with the way I feel...." Doesn't sound like a guy with shoulder fatigue.

From the Strauss article:

Just as the club used the Mitchell Report as a fig leaf to reduce media access during spring training (while player entourages freely roamed the premises), it now contorts a federal privacy statute to quarantine medical personnel.

The federal privacy statute to which Mr. Strauss refers is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA"). Health care privacy and confidentiality is an area of occupational expertise for me, and I have been a national speaker on issues related to HIPAA. In no way does HIPAA restrict the St. Louis Cardinals or any other sports franchise from sharing information regarding players' health conditions or the treatment of those conditions. HIPAA applies only to three types of entities:

• health care providers who bill Medicare or other federal health care programs (the Cardinals do not);
• health care plans (e.g., Blue Cross or your standard HMO/PPO); and
• health care clearinghouses.

HIPAA's health care privacy restrictions apply only to the providers and payors of health care services, NOT to professional sports franchises. I never thought I'd be writing about HIPAA in this blog, but the truth is the Cardinals obtain written authorization from all players they employ which allows the surgeons and other physicians who treat the players to share the treatment info with the Cardinals. Once the Cardinals have the info, the only restrictions that would govern player privacy and confidentiality would be contained in the MLB collective bargaining agreement (if any). No federal law restricts the Cardinals from sharing player health info with the media or general public.

Makes you wonder how soon we'll see the struggling Colby Rasmus sent to the DL, doesn't it?