Fat Strat wrote:Explain something to me. How in the world is moving from field turf to a hard dirt infield going to help Glaus' foot situation?
Reporters keep bringing this up, but I don't get it. I've played on field turf. It's nice stuff. Soft. Not really all that hard on the feet. I've played on dirt infields (though not MLB quality ones). They're not as forgiving as field turf, imo.
It's not like he's moving to the OF or anything. In fact, he'll pretty much never touch the grass at StL, except for the occassional pop up, and jogging to and from the dugout.
As far as pure running goes, most problems with the feet (including plantar fasciitis) usually stem from repetitive stresses. On an unvarying surface, your body is subjected to exactly the same forces with every strike of the foot. Not only is the stress of an impact exaggerated by any hard surface (and by the increased mass size of the runner), but it is also repeated excessively because the mechanics of every step are exactly the same.
In theory, a switch to dirt *might* only help if it was loose enough that running/stepping/planting differed with each step. Think of running in sand for an extreme example of what I'm talking about. I've never touched MLB quality dirt either, but I can't imagine that it's going to make a tremendous difference. Infields are specifically designed to be as regular a surface as possible, which means you're not going to see much variance and softness. That, in turn, means that you shouldn't be expecting any miracles for Glaus' feet simply by switching stadiums.
One can even view Pujols and his lingering condition as circumstantial evidence that supports that theory.
