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A trio of star pitchers are injured at the UCL, and Ronel Blanco has failed to achieve the incredible. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup!
A bad weekend for UCL
What a depressing weekend. At least two (and probably three) star pitchers will undergo Tommy John surgery. We heard from the Marlins’ Eury Pérez in Friday’s Windup, but since then two more pieces of bad news have broken out: The Guardians’ Shane Bieber and the Braves’ Spencer Strider suffered UCL damage.
Bieber will undergo Tommy John surgery, which will keep him sidelined until at least mid-2025. Until then, who knows where he will be? he enters free agency at the end of this season. It’s devastating news, both for the Guardians — who passed on trade offers for Bieber over the winter — and for the pitcher. In two starts this year, Bieber had 20 strikeouts and allowed no runs.
The days in Cleveland of “Clev, Trev and Biebs” are long gone. Zack Meisel lays it all out here, noting that more than one of the guys the Guardians rely on is dealing with nagging soreness or injuries — Triston McKenzie’s fastball, for example, is down a few mph from last season.
Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Strider is scheduled to meet with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Meister in Texas this week. If he undergoes Tommy John surgery (which seems the most likely outcome), it will be his second — he had the procedure in 2019 while at Clemson. Strider was 20-5 and led baseball with 281 strikeouts last season, and arrived in 2024 ready to climb the upper stratosphere of MLB pitchers with a new curveball. It now looks like it won’t launch again until 2025.
The trio of stars are among a slew of pitchers who have suffered serious injuries recently. As for the reasons? Given how many different theories exist, the likely answer is a combination of factors.
For more, here’s Ken.
Ken’s Notebook: Injury trend not good for the game
Excerpt from my column today on throwing injuries…
Saturday at Wrigley Field, I had a conversation with a fellow media member about throwing injuries. His summary of the problem was on point, but made me want to scream.
The hyperconcentration on speed and spin, he said, achieved the desired results. Pitchers have never been meaner than they are today, and teams win by pushing them to their physical limits.
Well, what is your definition of success?
Launchers may experience performance spikes. Their respective clubs could benefit from it. But no one can say that the current trend is good for the game.
It’s also not good for pitchers or clubs, not when you look at it with even a modicum of detachment.
Ask the Braves about their World Series aspirations without Strider, whom they signed to a six-year, $75 million contract in October 2022.
Ask the Guardians about their playoff chances without Bieber, whose $13.125 million salary represents nearly 15 percent of their payroll.
Ask the Marlins if they’re even trying to be respectable without Pérez, who is also about to join their staff ace and biggest long-term investment, Sandy Alcantara, on the seemingly endless list of pitchers who will undergo surgery elbow ligament repair.
New York Yankees reliever Jonathan Loáisiga also joined the Exploding Elbow Club this weekend, while rival executives across the sport held their breath, knowing it was almost inevitable that they would also end up receive bad news.
I don’t know the answer to the problem. I don’t know if there is an answer to the problem, given that it dates back decades. But all sports should hit the pause button.
Stop to bow to the Driveline gods and all the technology and data that makes pitchers better but not necessarily healthier. Stop to reward 120 innings of maximum effort from starting pitchers, while 180 from command control specialists might prove even more valuable.
And let’s take a break from the latest tired wrangling between the union and the league, this time over the effect of the pitch clock on pitcher injuries.
Fundamental changes must take place – changes in mindsets, changes in training methods, changes encouraged by rules, if necessary. I’m not sure baseball can wait for recommendations from a task force that hasn’t been formed yet. The best and brightest athletes need to get to work, and quickly.
“That’s the kind of pitch that wins” is not an acceptable answer. Ask the Braves, Guardians and Marlins. Have the next club fall victim to the scourge of throwing injuries. Teams don’t “win.” Sport is not “winning”. Not even close.
Ronel Blanco flirts with the record books… again
Ronel Blanco tried his luck again!
His attempt at a second straight no-hitter ended after 5 2/3 innings. #SundayNightBaseball. pic.twitter.com/KT7TWi7ygP
– MLB (@MLB) April 8, 2024
On June 15, 1938, Ebbets Field hosted its first night game. The first pitch didn’t happen until 9:45 p.m., if you can believe it History of Sports Illustratedor 9:20 p.m. if Baseball reference is accurate. Regardless, the fans who remained present witnessed a unique historic feat.
Johnny Vander Meer, who had no-hit the Boston Bees four days earlier, no-hit the Brooklyn Dodgers. This is the only time in baseball history that a pitcher has thrown no hits in consecutive starts.
But when Houston’s Ronel Blanco went more than five hitless innings against the Rangers last night, the baseball world woke up – could this be the night it finally happens again?
My question was slightly different, since Blanco finished the fifth inning with 81 pitches. If the Astros were to end up with (another) combined no-hitter, would that really count as Blanco having thrown two no-hitters in a row?
Four pitches (and two outs) later, this hypothetical question was postponed for another day; Adolis García (who else?) singled to break up the no-hitter.
Still, it was a stunning start to the season for Blanco, who struck out 44 batters before giving up a hit. By MLB’s Sarah Langsthis is (at least) an expansion era record, surpassing the 35 retired by Austin Cox of the Royals, since… last year.
Monday Mood Check
Let’s try something new: On Monday, we’ll take a closer look at a few teams (or parts of teams) that have been trending in the right (and wrong) direction over the past week.
➕ Chicago Cubs win series against Dodgers: Shota Imanaga’s impressive sophomore outing was cut short by rain, but he pitched four shutout innings against the Dodgers and even held WBC teammate Shohei Ohtani hitless in two at-bats. The Cubs won 8-1, improving to 6-3 on the year with a series victory over Los Angeles.
➕ Boston Red Sox rotation surprise: With yesterday’s 12-2 win over the Angels, Boston is 7-3, thanks in large part to its starting rotation. Before last night’s game, they were tied (with the Royals?!) for the most fWAR per starting pitcher, and their ERA per starter is first in baseball, at 1.53. This is incredible for a team whose rotation was considered fragile Before losing Lucas Giolito for the year.
The rotation is clarified, because the loss of Trevor Story (dislocation of the left shoulder) is certainly not a matter for “good week”.
➕ New York Yankees clubhouse atmosphere: Not that things were bad last year, but things are going well in New York, where even previously struggling Giancarlo Stanton has homers in his last two games. At 8-2, the Yankees are tied with the Pirates for the best record in the league.
Honorable mentions: these Pirates and the 7-2 Cleveland Guardians, whose +32 point differential is the best in the league.
➖ Baltimore Orioles: Before the season, I would have lumped the Angels, Royals and Pirates into the “not this year” category. All three surprised us early with winning records, but an Orioles team with World Series aspirations surely wanted to start better than 5-4 against this trio. Back-to-back losses to Pittsburgh bring the O’s here this week.
➖ Arizona Diamondbacks: Like the Orioles, the D-Backs entered the season with hopes for October. Instead, they look like a middle-of-the-pack team, taking three of four from the Rockies, but losing five of six to the Yankees and Braves to fall to 4-6 for the season.
➖ Miami Marlins: Pitching was supposed to be their strong suit, but they allowed more points than everyone except Colorado, and the loss of Pérez makes it even worse. They won yesterday, but 1-9 gets you here, sorry.
Honorable mention: The Houston Astros. Blanco excludes them from the official list of “bad weeks”, but 3-7? Yeah.
Handshakes and High Fives
It’s eclipse day, so of course Jayson Stark and company have put together an all-eclipse team-up filled with puns.
Kudos to the Dodgers for trying to make things right with the woman who caught Ohtani’s first home run as a Dodger.
After a pretty nasty argument that led to Stephen Strasburg’s retirement ceremony being canceled last September, the team and player came to an agreement and Strasburg officially retired.
Arte Moreno no longer appears in the Angels’ “Calling All Angels” montage before games. I’m sorry, but the reason for this move seems very funny to me.
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(Top photo of Shane Bieber: Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)