Pictured: The WBC

If you missed the World Baseball Classic, you missed one hell of a good time. It only helps that foreign stars get a chance to shine because all the US high-caliber free agents and/or their teams are terrified of getting injured. Good news, WBC fans. According to the league, the WBC did not bust in and injure everybody.

There were 69 players on disabled lists at the start of the season Sunday, down from 106 last year and 97 in 2007. The only lower total since the major leagues expanded to 30 teams in 1998 was when there were 66 in 2006, the commissioner’s office said Monday.

Rob Manfred, MLB’s executive vice president of labor relations, said the figure counters those who say the World Baseball Classic causes more players to get hurt.

Haters gonna hate.

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Rick Vaughn espn, injuries

Not pictured: Bronson Arroyo hurting his wrist.

Must be a slow week over at the Reds’ training camp, because Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com has taken it upon himself to shed light on a often-misunderstood disease, one that doesn’t just plague the nation’s secretaries and computer nerds: carpal tunnel syndrome.

Reds starter Bronson Arroyo first developed symptoms of the disease in 2004 when he was with the Red Sox, and has battled occasional pain and numbness in his pitching wrist since then. “My fingers were weak,” he told Mayo, “like they were falling asleep. Then it went away. After I pitched the ALDS, it came back.”

Arroyo also plays the guitar, but he claims that hasn’t affected his wrist negatively.

Now that he’s on the Reds, team doctors have begun treating the disease, but there’s no telling what Dusty Baker may do to aggravate the situation.

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Joe Blancato bronson arroyo, injuries, mlb.com, reds

Zumaya will start the season on the 15-day DL.

As Spring Training winds down, early-season injuries seem to be ramping up. MLB.com today broke the story that Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya will start the season on the 15-day DL with shoulder problems.

Zumaya hasn’t been healthy since his rookie year in 2006, when he threw 83.3 innings and showcased a fastball that routinely hit the triple digits. And in the ‘06 post season, Zumaya went down with wrist soreness attributed to playing too much Guitar Hero, making that injury quite possibly the funniest of 2006. Since ‘07, Zumaya has only thrown 57 innings and has posted a combined WHIP of 1.58.

Zumaya told MLB.com reporter Jason Beck, “It’s a tough day. They’re packing everything up. My stuff’s not packed up. It really stinks. [But] I don’t want to go up there, pitch a couple innings and then [realize] my shoulder’s achy. Right now, it’s tough, man.”

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Joe Blancato injuries, joel zumaya, mlb.com, tigers