Dodgers righty Brandon McCarthy will undergo Tommy John surgery tomorrow, the pitcher told reporters, including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). McCarthy doesn’t appear to have lost his well-known sense of humor, as he joked that he’s “taking suggestions for hobbies,” via the Register’s Pedro Moura (on Twitter).
The loss of McCarthy will further thin out a Dodgers rotation that has also been without Hyun-jin Ryu for much of the season and is also relying heavily on the equally, if not more injury-prone Brett Anderson to hold down a slot as well. Injuries within the Dodger rotation have led some to speculatively connect Los Angeles to Phillies ace Cole Hamels. (L.A.’s deep pockets and well-regarded farm system certainly add to that speculation as well.)
Though Hamels is the top name in early-season trade rumors, there’s also been speculation that both Kyle Lohse and Matt Garza could become available in the near future if the Brewers do not quickly correct their dismal start to the 2015 campaign. Significant trades at this stage of the season are rare, and the Dodgers are attempting to patch things together with Scott Baker and Carlos Frias in the near-term. Other internal options on the 40-man roster include right-handers Zach Lee and Joe Wieland, the latter of whom was acquired in this winter’s Matt Kemp blockbuster with the Padres. Ultimately, however, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if the Dodgers look outside the organization for rotation reinforcements.
McCarthy is just one month into a four-year, $48MM contract that was known to be a risk for the Dodgers, considering his injury history. However, McCarthy’s track record is one of shoulder problems — not elbow ailments — making this particular injury more unexpected. He’ll likely be sidelined through mid-2016, assuming that he has a normal recovery from the procedure. The Dodgers’ rotation could look markedly different by the time McCarthy returns, as Anderson is set to become a free agent at season’s end, and co-ace Zack Greinke can opt out of the remaining three years and $71MM on his contract as well.
$48MM will finance a lot of hobbies over the next 12 to 18 months.
Cashman dodged the bullet here; seems most fans and people in the industry said he was the number one priority/signing to make.
He was a priority for NY, but Cashman had a feeling a team was going to pay more than they were willing because of injury risk and blow other offers out of the water. It’s sad that he was right,albeit it wasn’t a shoulder issue this time, McCarthy is a good guy to have around no matter the team.
I don’t think anyone came close to the Dodgers offer.
His last 1/2 dozens starts were not all that great. This is a guy who has been an injury wreck most of his career and a teams whose pitching staff had a lot of injury risks already. Maybe if he was willing to consider 2 years the Yankees may have been interested, but he was not and the Yankees never made him an offer.
Teams know their own players best, and it may well be that in McCarthys short time there they saw something that concerned them. Players talk to the trainers and teams track what is going on with their guys (meds, treatments, etc), enough so that they know a players injury risk better than other teams.
Brandon Mccarthy is the new Jason Schmidt.
In what way?
Schmidt 3 year 47 million and was a bust.
Mccarthy 4 year 48 million. He wasn’t a top tier pitcher to begin with and giving up bombs left and right on his starts weren’t stellar either. I can only imagine how much worse he’ll be after Tommy John surgery.
Sure. Except one was the 2nd highest paid player in the NL while the other is the 80th highest paid in MLB. Also age 31-34 Schmidt was worth 12 bWAR even with a negative age 34 season. Pitchers making $12M-13M in ’15 R.A Dickey, R.Nolasco, T.Hudson, C.Bucholz, U.Jimenez, McCarthy, Jorge De La Rosa, M.Garza, R.Porcello.
Here’s to a speedy recovery!
Well, he isn’t going to pitch 200 innings in a season, might as well turn him into an overpaid reliever when he’s back. 130 innings across three years got Andrew Miller 4/36, so why the heck not?
Looks like the curse that plagued the Rangers has spread to both coasts. Oops.
But what happen to the Rangers hurt them more then what happening to the Dodgers. Since dodgers have the depth to help with all the injuries. The Rangers didn’t have that
I though zach was owed 77 million for the next three seasons?
He has an opt out after this year.
So does this mean zach lee will get a shot? Dude earn it so far this season
Joe Wieland and Mike Bolsinger at AAA have been lights out too. Lee’s looking great and getting high K’s and GB’s while limiting BB’s but he’s still so young that it might be smarter to pitch the older guys.
It seems odd to me that a team with, basically, an unlimited payroll is already pitching Mike Bolsinger and Scott Baker in April, while also carrying dozens of outfielders and infielders on its 40-man roster. Odd roster construction for a team that can literally buy anything it wants.
These are reasonable options for #5 starters, and only two of many the Dodgers have. That well is pretty deep. They will probably go shopping at some point, especially if Ryu is really still more than a month away (not what we’ve been hearing until now). What they won’t do is panic and deal away some of their key farm players, which is probably going to be the real price for Hamels or any other quality starter who becomes available at the deadline.
It just seems with so much depth everywhere else on the roster that the rotation options are incredibly thin. Baker isn’t really a major league pitcher anymore; I suppose Zack Lee is an option. Just surprising that the rotation doesn’t go 7 deep, like it does with even small-market teams.
The problem is the lack of good starting pitchers with options pretty much everywhere you look. If they aren’t coming up from within a team’s own farm system, then money is not going to buy them (though prospects might). This is why the Dodgers took a flier on Brandon Beachy.
Baker and Bolsinger have ERA’s under 1.10, K/BB ratio over 5, H/9 under 6 and neither looked overmatched for the MLB team this year. Bolsinger is a good option as a 6th starter and Wieland and Lee are better. Ride the hot player until the younger guys convince the team they’re ready. If being the org’s 5th best healthy starting pitcher was the only criteria then Julio Urias would be in McCarthy’s spot.
Pretty tiny sample sizes there, though. Bolsinger is more interesting than Baker; Baker’s been terrible for several years now. It’s not as if the lack of depth is hurting the Dodgers right now, however, so they’ll probably be fine.
I wonder if LA will set some sort of record this season for paying players not to play for them. Just off th top of my head – McCarthy, 12M, Kemp 15M, Gordon/Haren 13M, Brian Wilson 10M, Ryan Webb, 2.8M – that’s 53 million dollars right there.
Counting injuries? Yanks paid a lot of $ to guys who were hurt like Tex and CC last year. They would have been better off paying Jeter and Beltran to play somewhere else. It’s unfair to group McCarthy with the others, they don’t share much.
True, I guess take out McCarthy and they’re only paying out 41 million to guys who aren’t on the roster. That still seems like a lot.
Lohse and Garza are ok pitchers, but the Dodgers are in a win the World Series or the season is meaningless situation. Hamels clearly gives them the best chance of doing that giving the Dodgers one of the toughest, if not THE toughest 1-2-3 in baseball. Plus he’s insurance against Greinke opting out.
The Dodgers probably will make some kind of run at Hamels, but not because they need him in the top of the rotation, but more because they will have to replace McCarthy somehow (and as you say, hedge against Grienke’s opt-out). Until we hear otherwise, the Dodgers are still bringing the very tough 1-2-3 combination of Kershaw, Greinke, and Ryu.
Ryu? When is he actually going to pitch?
“Possibly May” is his official status. Second BP session tomorrow.