The former third baseman

A poster over at BTF was asking about Troy Glaus, whether there was "any chronic stuff" on the injury front that wasn't showing up in games missed in '06 and '07. My response:

Yeah, there's lots of chronic stuff. Glaus was permanently hurt in Toronto, after the first half of '06, with a variety of lower-body stuff. He's very gritty, and he plays well when hurt (unlike a lot of guys who will play hurt but will play poorly when doing so) but the most worrying thing about him for his future is that his most recent serious injuries are to his feet - and big guys NEVER do well after foot injuries (NBA players, for example, have an absolutely horrible record at recovery from foot injuries). And it's not one problem, either - he has a heel problem (bone spurs), and he has plantar fasciitis as well.

The problems started in his knees, and were probably exacerbated by having him play at short during June of '06. The knee gave him trouble for the whole rest of that year, it never really healed (he just played through the discomfort). Then in spring last year, he had the bone spurs in his heel giving him trouble - having surgery to shave them down wasn't an option, so he basically had to rest it completely to try to get it to heal. When he came back, he was very, very slow - he was never fast but now he was noticeably slower when running the bases. But he was playing marvelously - he was hitting a ton and playing very well at third - his range problem just made him play deeper and use his arm more.

But that changed running style ended up giving him hamstring trouble in the early part of the '07 season, so he was back missing games again. Again, he came back - playing through the pain - but this time the hammy was causing him to shorten his stride and slow his hip turn, and he was batting gamely but generating no power. He took a few games off here and there and got some rest, and he started to hit with authority again. But he's slowed down even more, and his feet were giving him even more trouble, and finally at the all-star break they figured out he had plantar fasciitis. For which the only real remedy is complete and utter rest - don't walk on it at all. And he came back eventually, after taking some time off around the break, and again he was in a lot of pain, but his hamstring had gotten truly better after the rest, and he started hitting all over the place.

And from there on in, the plantar fasciitis just kept giving him more and more trouble. He was competent from there on in, again playing well through the pain. He continued to play extremely well on defence as well, despite the injuries - again, that rocket arm of his can really bail him out of trouble. But given his age, his size, and the fact that the problems are in his feet, I seriously doubt that Glaus will ever again have a healthy season. He might well play 140-150 games, but he will not be playing them in perfect health. That doesn't matter as much for him as it does with someone with a less power-based playing style (power arm and bat) but it still matters. When Glaus first came to Toronto I fully expected him to hit 50 homers, or damn near to it. I'd say to expect about half that many this season.