Two of the game’s biggest stars, Miguel Cabrera and Adam Wainwright, underwent surgery today, according to reports from MLB.com’s Jason Beck and Will Carroll of Bleacher Report (Twitter link).
Cabrera’s operation isn’t entirely surprising, but doctors also discovered a stress fracture in the navicular bone near the top of his right foot, Beck writes. That injury requires a longer rehab process and required screws to be inserted into Cabrera’s foot, according to Beck.
Cabrera will be re-evaluated in three months’ time, and GM Dave Dombrowski said the former AL MVP will be “pretty much inactive” until that point. Dombrowski wouldn’t comment on whether or not Cabrera would be ready for Spring Training, but it seems possible that he’ll be getting a late start to his 2015 campaign at this point. Dombrowski said the team would provide further updates once Cabrera is re-evaluted in January, but missing an offseason of workouts does bring his status for Opening Day in 2015 into question. Needless to say, the onset of injuries is troubling for both Tigers fans and the team itself, as Cabrera is owed an enormous sum of $240MM through the 2024 season.
Shifting to Wainwright, the team has since confirmed the news, and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch provided further details. Wainwright had some cartilage “trimmed” in the back of his elbow in order to avoid irritation in that area, an official tells Goold. The Cardinals have said Wainwright will resume a throwing program in eight weeks, and the surgery is not expected to impact his 2015 season, Goold writes.
Clearly, the eight-week timeframe for Wainwright is less troubling than Cabrera’s outlook, although it doesn’t leave a large amount of room for setbacks. That schedule would allow Wainwright to resume throwing in mid-to-late December. The right-hander is owed $78MM over the remaining four years of his five-year, $97.5MM contract.
Sad now a days that any time you here the word “surgery” with “pitcher” you immediately think its Tommy John. Glad Wainwright will be ready for 2015.
Think of the namesake of the surgey. Before Tommy John had his UCL repaired their was no fix for UCL’ s. You went home for good. Yes thank God that Adam Wainright is not having Tommy John surgery (which would be a second) but the words “Tommy John” are far from sad; they only come out when a pitcher needs that hope. It’s a long road back……..but it’s a road that didn’t exist 40 years ago.
This is the second season in a row the Tigers haven’t noticed one of their players was playing with a broken foot/ankle.
Someone really needs to be fired for this.
It wasnt broken, it was a stress fracture, big difference, and they are never easy to diagnose as in many cases the sufferer (and i know this from personal experience) doesnt even know they have one.
Do you think he can come back soon? Seems like he could miss significant time like Iglesias did.
Hard to say, all stress fractures are different in terms of severity. If its not too deep he could be ok for the start of the year, if its a bad one it could be May/June time, for all our Tigers fans sakes, lets hope its the former not the latter.
Makes re-signing V-Mart all the more important.
The team knew but didn’t tell him? How do you know that?
Omar Infante has been playing for over a month with a shoulder that will not permit him to swing properly and hit the ball hard. When the Royals asked him to have some tests during off days in the playoffs, he told him he could play, and that at this point he didn’t want to know what was wrong. He would address it after the season.
Every once in a while there is a player that is more interested in helping his team win, and will play hurt as long as he can play. I know it’s hard to believe, but sometimes a guy shows up that is concerned with helping his team win, and being a part of it. Some guys just don’t think like JD Drew.
To be fair, Infante did hit that HR the other day
Huh? The team doctors didn’t know he had a significant injury.
No doubt both of these contracts are at least partially insured again injuries. This is an aspect of baseball business that doesn’t get discussed a lot, but in reality teams don’t take total losses on money owed to injured players.
Interesting. Do you think the Tigers will spend MORE because they may be expecting insurance payments?
At this point it doesn’t look like Cabrera is going to miss a lot of playing time, so I would not think so. My point is, if the injuries became debilitating, I doubt the Tigers would forfeit all of his $240M contract.
I believe this news will prompt the Tigers to change their strategy towards signing VMART.
1. Cabrera is a Gold Glove Finalist and a +defender according to UZR/150. However, the Tigers cannot count on him to be 100% and should assume that he will need the DH slot to help him both short and long term.
2. Technically, they could put VMART at 1st, but statistically he is terrible there.
3. Similarly, Castellanos was terrible at 3rd base defensively. If he does not dramatically improve, KC will simply bunt at will against him to get hits.
Dombrowski has to be thinking about he cannot have slow, 3 DHs team with his main rival team (Royals) the complete opposite.
Let VMART walk. Get Panda to improve 3rd base defense (a +UZR/150 player and 8 years younger than Victor) and replace VMART. Trade Castellanos for a plus defender in CF (JBJ? Bourjos? … other players would have to be involved as those trades would not match the value of 22 year old Castellanos).
If they do all that they will have “Gold Glove Finalist” level defense at C, 1st (when Miggy is healthy), 2nd, SS, 3rd, and CF. That would be a dramatic positive transition to a “defense first” team.
Would you really want to spend that much on Panda? The guy is gonna cost 100 million + I would say, and the Tigers definately don’t need another albatross contract like the one Miggy and Verlander got. I’d say they’re better of going after Headley, who’s even better defensively, might be half the price, and could possibly hit averagely. And as for Castellonas, his value is not that high IMO, and trying to get JBJ or Bourjos would almost be a 1-for-1 swap, maybe a rule 5 guy included. Certainly an interesting case for the Tigers however….. I personally think they need VMART back, otherwise I think Miggy will always be pitched around, as the lineup will have somewhat a lack of power.
I really like Headley too… but if they lose VMART, they will need someone to protect him. Headley is not enough a hitter.
If they keep VMART, but all means, go after Headley and transform the IF into one of the best in baseball defensively.
I would say that JBJ and Castellanos would be an even swap, except that Castellanos has value as a DH even if cannot field well and does not ever need to see the field. However, JBJ has to bat… he cannot be a “designated fielder”. JBJ is also 2 years older than Castellanos (who is only 22).
On the surface, Castellanos may not be a fit for the Red Sox because he is a righty. However, if they want Stanton, Castellanos could be a key piece as a middle of the order line drive hitter to replace some of Stanton’s production long term.
Cabrera is not good defensively at any position, look at his career statistics. One year does not mean much.
I believe that Cabrera was forced to play out of position for a couple of years, just when he was starting to get it at 1st.
Let’s see what happens next year if/when he is 100%.
I’m not sure…..
Does this mean that his profile shows that he’s on a downward trajectory?