SATURDAY: Perez will have his Tommy John procedure on Monday, tweets Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
THURSDAY, 6:56pm: Perez’s agent, Felix Olivo, tells Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish that the decision to undergo Tommy John is not yet final (Twitter link). Olivo says that he and Perez will meet with Rangers GM Jon Daniels before making their ultimate decision, but the likelihood of Tommy John is very high.
5:05pm: Rangers lefty Martin Perez has decided to undergo Tommy John surgery to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow, the pitcher himself told Marcos Grunfeld of Venezuelan newspaper La Vinotinto (Twitter link, with a hat tip to the Dallas Morning News’ Gerry Fraley).
The 23-year-old Perez is the latest in a landslide of Tommy John surgeries and the second Rangers pitcher to go down to the operation this season (lefty reliever Pedro Figueroa underwent the procedure earlier this year). The news is a crushing blow to a Rangers staff that has been bombarded with injuries. Derek Holland is out through the All-Star break, Yu Darvish opened the season on the DL (though he’s healthy now) and Matt Harrison’s resurgent back injury could now be career-threatening, according to recent reports.
Among the game’s other young starters that have undergone the season-ending operation (or will undergo it) are Jose Fernandez, Jarrod Parker, Patrick Corbin, Kris Medlen, Brandon Beachy, Matt Moore, Ivan Nova, A.J. Griffin and Jameson Taillon.
