MLB announced today that teams will be able to place players who suffer concussions on a seven-day disabled list this season in addition to the standard 15-day and 60-day disabled lists, with the new option being used on a “trial basis.”
According to the announcement the shorter DL option is intended “to allow concussions to clear, prevent players from returning prematurely, and give the clubs a full complement of players in one’s absence.”
Players on the seven-day DL will be transferred to the 15-day DL once they’ve been sidelined for more than seven days, but the abbreviated DL stint will hopefully make teams more willing to shut a player down once post-concussion symptoms surface. In the past some players have remained on the active roster following concussions because the team wasn’t sure they’d need to miss the full 15 days.
Also of note is that, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, the new concussion policy “also requires players to take a baseline neurological examination each spring and whenever they join a new team” and “establishes protocols for evaluating players and umpires for possible concussions and for clearing affected players and umpires to return.”
All in all, a very nice step in the right direction after concussions unfortunately sidelined numerous players last year, including knocking Justin Morneau of the Twins and Jason Bay of the Mets out for months and ending Cardinals catcher Jason LaRue’s career.
