2:49pm: Athletics assistant GM David Forst tells reporters, including MLB.com's Jane Lee, that Kazmir's injury is very minor, and he could have pitched today (Twitter link). Slusser tweets that Kazmir may even start tomorrow.
Forst also adds that the team has no plans to look outside the organization to acquire additional pitching depth (Joe Stiglich of Comcast SportsNet reporting via Twitter).
2:38pm: The Athletics have announced, via Twitter, that right-hander Jarrod Parker will undergo Tommy John surgery for the second time in his career next week.
It's a big blow for the defending AL West champions, and though the team has more pitching depth than most clubs, they also shut right-hander A.J. Griffin down for three weeks over the weekend and will likely be without him for at least the first month of the season, per the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser (on Twitter). Beyond that, offseason signee Scott Kazmir was scratched from today's Spring Training start due to triceps stiffness.
With Parker and Griffin on the shelf, the A's would figure to open the season with Kazmir (if his triceps injury is minor), Sonny Gray, Dan Straily, Tommy Milone and one of Drew Pomeranz, Jesse Chavez or Josh Lindblom in the rotation (Slusser earlier tweeted that it would likely be Chavez). Obviously, that's a considerably weaker group than it would be with a healthy Parker and Griffin in the mix, and it's fair to wonder if the A's will pursue a trade to add further depth — perhaps an out-of-options starter from another club.
Parker, 25, has given the A's 378 1/3 innings of 3.73 ERA ball with 6.5 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 over the past two seasons, helping the club to a pair of AL West division titles. Oakland originally acquired him from the Diamondbacks along with Ryan Cook and Collin Cowgill in the trade that sent Trevor Cahill and Craig Breslow to Arizona. His first Tommy John surgery came back in October 2009 when he was still in the Diamondbacks organization.
The news is the latest in a slew of Tommy John surgeries, as Kris Medlen is all but certain to require Tommy John, while Brandon Beachy also faces that possibility and Patrick Corbin will seemingly suffer that same fate as well. Beyond that, Padres right-hander Joe Wieland is undergoing an MRI today that could reveal UCL damage and lead to his second Tommy John operation.
uve gotta be kidding me…….
The amount of injuries to pitchers this spring is pretty staggering.
It’s gotta be time to start working with pitchers – be it their conditioning, or their throwing motions. Something (other than the elbow) has got to give….
It’s the throwing motion. There’s a documentary from the ’90’s featuring former Dodger relief horse/closer Mike Marshall (pitched 106 games one year) where he discusses this very problem. MLB did not want to hear it.
Is some surgeon having a sale or something?
Think he is tying it off to only hold up for a few years now.
This is shaping up to be a bad year for elbows. Yes, every year there are lots of elbow injuries, but it seems that this year is extra bad. It is like when you have a bad flu season.
I have never seen this maeny
awesome… now i know that “elbow tightness” is a euphemism
That and forearm
Teams have to do something with all of these guys going down with TJ. This is getting really bad.
Also, with all of these second TJs happening around the same time, it makes me wonder. I know there are multiple ways to perform a TJ, and some of those ways were very recently developed, could it be that the new method has a major flaw? It would be interesting to see a spreadsheet of who had which version of the surgery and who was the surgeon.
Lindblom is starting now? Wow. If anyone can get through this it’s the A’s.
Pomeranz will probably start before Lindblom.
if this were football, we would be discussing a ban on pitching.
Thats awful. These young pitchers are dropping like flies.
Hope Parker can make a full recovery.
Baseball keeps taking hits to some key role players on what were contending teams. Pitchers have lived a nightmare this spring.
I have never seen this meany Pitchers need 2nd TJ surgeries in my life. Plus the amount of players every year that need the first one, its getting ridiculous. I think it’s time to find a new way to do the surgery, or find a new surgery. We also need to look at everything pitches do and find out what is hurting the elbow the most and change it.
Pitchers
You correct “pitchers” and not “meany”? I don’t get it….
It must be Tommy Johns season.
he has been a real Cy Young this season.
Mets give up some of their pitching to acquire Jed Lowrie?
Not happening. We have enough pitching.
Mets pitching has gotten hit with its own set of injuries this season too. Doubt they trade for a win now piece like Lowrie.
they could call Atlanta for some pitching help. Wait…
Dr. James Andrews is going to have a good year this year.
Yeah if you’re an out of work sports surgeon, your employment prospects have to be looking better.
If only we knew the future, Brett Anderson would have still been here
He still would have started like 5 games before tripping over himself and ending up on the DL.
Wow. Isn’t he another one that uses a slider a lot?
Not really, for his career FB (34.2%) 2 seam FB (29.2%) Change (21.5%) Slider (13.8%) Curve (probably sliders or changes pitchFX called curves, 0.8%)
Hudson, Luebke, Venters, Medlen, Beachy, and now Turner and Weiland (likely) are all going for their second round of TJ. After years where it seemed like a second TJ was rarely necessary, this latest wave of young starters going under the knife a second time has me very worried about Harvey.
I read a while back that a typically TJ is effective for 4-5 years. I could be off in the range of years but I found it interesting. I would now love to find this article in light of the rash of second TJ candidates.
Could also be wrong but I thought it was more like 10 years.
Parker and Medlen have been around 5 years each. Someone has mentioned a possible change In the procedure. Could be something to that, and I bet this outbreak will lead to questions.
Dr. Andrews might have to outsource some work. Hope Parker comes back and is able to pitch at a high level again.
The health of the A’s starting rotation has been a big reason for their back to back division titles. This will certainly hurt.
Another reason is the Rangers injuries to the starting rotation the past 2 years
If you want follow that route, you could say another reason is that they won more games than the other teams in the division.
Texas’ offense wasn’t very impressive last year. The A’s weren’t a fluke that got in because the Rangers’ pitchers were hurt.
Injuries certainly didn’t help.. Wait until the A’s are forced to start Josh Lindblom for a few games, then you will see what I am talking about.
And good thing the Rangers upgraded their offense. Last year, they rolled out of spring training with Lance Berkman at cleanup
Berkman at DH could’ve been great. Unfortunately he got hurt which isn’t that surprising but he wasn’t the only thing wrong with that line-up either.
Texas’ pitching situation isn’t looking that great right now. The Rangers’ offense should be able to compensate, but no Holland for a few months is not good.
Everyone in the West is looking at shaky pitching situations. No question the Texas lineup was weak last year. that’s why they replaced guys like AJ and David Murphy, with guys like Choo and Fielder. I also believe that Profar is going to step up to be a more than adequate 2B who approaches Kinsler’s production from last year. And the Rangers pitching depth is again underrated, like it has been the past 3-4 years.
Theres going to be a few teams really overpaying for average arms before the trade deadline.
Barry Zito is still available. LOLOLOL
Trade Rumors is going to need a Tommy John Tracker pretty soon.
Wow, all these teams that had starting pitching depth now are dealing with the injury bug to their pitchers. I guess Scott Kazmir isn’t going anywhere.
Where would he go? He can’t be traded until June anyway.
Any team looking for a middle of the rotation guy. If Parker never got hurt, either Milone or Kazmir seem to be the odd man out.
Kazmir was never the odd man out. He was always going to start. Milone was the odd man out(and can still can be)
Kashmir was inked to a rare Oakland type of deal. He is certainly in their rotation.
Well my opinion is, he’s inconsistent so he’s an odd man out for me. If he has a good season, trade him.
I was expecting this last year because of his overuse in 2012 after it being his first full year back from Tommy John surgery, but, after a rough start, he was pretty good, though he had a telltale dip in velocity, sitting at 91-92 instead of 95 most of the year. I really think this could have been avoided by shutting Parker down early that year, despite the probable consequences to their playoff hopes.
has there been any studies about the number of tommy john surguries?
what about turner for anthony aliotti and a lower prospect? would that trade make sense?
Depending on the lower prospect (not sure if you mean lower level or a worse prospect), A’s would jump on that in a second. That’s not very fair value for the Marlins. Allioti isn’t a very good prospect who’s crunched in the depth charts between Moss and Muncy