Michael Pineda Diagnosed With Torn Labrum
According to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, Michael Pineda has been diagnosed with an “anterior labral tear”, and surgery is set for May 1st. Compared to elbow surgery, which has become almost routine at this point, recoveries from shoulder problems have not gone nearly as well. Since we don’t know the extent of the tear, it is impossible to say that this is the worst case scenario for the Yankees, but it’s certainly not the news the team was hoping for.
Given that he’s having shoulder surgery next week, it’s probably safe to say that Pineda is done for the season. Even a minor procedure is going to put him on the shelf for months, and it’s not clear that there would be enough time left in the minor league season for him to build his arm strength back up to get back to where he would need to be to pitch in the Major Leagues. And, of course, this might not be a minor procedure.
Given that the Yankees parted with prized prospect Jesus Montero and an interesting young arm in Hector Noesi, this is definitely a setback for the franchise, but it’s worth noting that Jose Campos – the other arm received in the deal – has been extremely impressive for class-A Charleston and offers significant value to the franchise himself.
Pitchers are always a risky investment, and any time you pay a significant price for a young arm, you know that it could blow up on any given pitch. However, the consensus at the time of the deal is that it was a smart move for the Yankees to make, and an organization can’t entirely avoid acquiring pitchers simply due to a preference for risk avoidance. If you want a good pitching staff, you’re going to have to take some gambles on some young arms. The Yankees did, and in this case, it didn’t work. That doesn’t make it a bad idea, or a move that the Yankees front office should be criticized for making.
Dave is the Managing Editor of FanGraphs.
Mariners win this round. Montero may be off to a bad start, but he’s still young and at least he’s playing in the majors.
No. This trade has half a decade to play out, no need to preemptively declare “winners” and “losers.”
If Will Carroll is to be believed, his career is probably over.
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2004/05/labrum_it_nearly_killed_him.html
It’s an older article though, so maybe there’s a new treatment option.
No, Ray, he’s toast. Labrum = kiss of death.
Keywords: “this round”
The Blue Jays are still waiting for Mike Sirotka to come back from his torn labrum. This is horrible news.
Good comparison seeing that he had both a torn labrum and torn rotator cuff.
While this is a serious injury and his return to form is a crapshoot, the rotator cuff was clean and there was no shoulder capsule tear.
When people draw comparisons to other torn labrum injuries, maybe they should see if they are actually the same; often the injury involves other damage in the shoulder.
Roger Clemens had labral surgery in 1985. Curt Schilling had labral surgery in 1995. Chris Carpenter had labral surgery in 2002. They did pretty well.
It’s a crappy diagnosis for Pineda and the Yanks. But to predict that this will end his career is premature.
Chris Carpenter, and Casey Jannssen also aong the few pitchers who have returned to form after labrum tears.
That’s right, Greg. And also Chris Carpenter.
Little known fact: Chris Carpenter has successfully returned to form from labrum surgery
bottom line… The list of recoveries is thin, and includes some pretty special pitchers… It’s not unreasonable to jump the gun in saying that he could be lost, because if he does recover and reclaim most of his ability, he would be beating some tremendous odds.
I read somewhere that after recovery about 70% of these guys make it back to the majors for at least a year of service time and less than a third make it to 3 or more years of service time.
Gotta give Jack Z credit. He knew he had to ship Pineda ASAP and got a great haul for him. Maybe not the most ethical move, but gotta appreciate the killer instinct.
Obvious Jack Z fanboy is obvious. Noesi is completely crapping the bed and Montero can barely play the catcher position.
Let’s see how great his haul was when Jose Campos debuts for NY in a few years.
Yes you at least have to wonder: did the Mariners smell something, and that was why they did the deal?
I guess no one will ever know. As a side note, it would hurt the M’s reputation (and ability to do deals) in the long run if people think they’re unloading injuries.