Padres outfielder Wil Myers will undergo surgery to remove a bone spur from his left wrist tomorrow, writes Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune. It will likely be at least eight weeks before Myers is able to resume baseball activities, Lin adds, which seems to suggest that Myers could be sidelined through the end of August.
It’s been an injury plagued season for the 24-year-old Myers, who joined the Padres alongside Ryan Hanigan in a three-team trade that sent Joe Ross and Trea Turner to the Nationals while also sending Steven Souza, Burch Smith, Rene Rivera, Jake Bauers and Travis Ott to the Rays. Myers was tasked with playing center field despite not carrying a strong reputation even as a corner outfielder, and the results weren’t pretty, from a defensive standpoint (-9 DRS, -57 UZR/150 in 260 innings).
Myers, however, was acquired more for his bat than his glove, and he didn’t disappoint in that regard. In 159 plate appearances with the Padres this season, Myers has batted .277/.322/.459 with five homers, 10 doubles and a triple. When weighting that line to account for his home park, Myers has been about 22 percent above the league average (per wRC+ and OPS+).
Myers has missed significant time in both 2014 and 2015 with injuries to each of his wrists. A sprain and a fracture in his right wrist led to separate DL stints for Myers last season, and he’s been troubled by both inflammation and tendinitis in his left wrist this season — the same wrist that will now put him on the shelf for another two months or more. According to Lin, Myers has played through this bone spur since middle school, but it became increasingly problematic this year when a tendon near his pinkie finger became inflamed.
In Myers’ absence, the Padres will likely use a combination of Will Venable and Melvin Upton Jr. in center field, with Justin Upton and Matt Kemp handling corner outfield duties. The loss of Myers hurts the lineup, though it does allow interim manager Pat Murphy an avenue to insert a much-needed left-handed bat — Venable — into his lineup with regularity. Venable is hitting a strong .273/.331/.453 against righties this season and owns a lifetime .257/.322/.430 slash when holding the platoon advantage.
Myers did start five games at first base this season, so it shouldn’t be completely ruled out that hyper-aggressive GM A.J. Preller could pursue a trade for a center fielder, then use Myers at first base if he’s able to return in a timely fashion. Doing so could theoretically displace Yonder Alonso, who has enjoyed a .319/.406/.420 start to his season. Much of that is owed a to a .359 BABIP, however, as Alonso still offers little power, especially relative to his first base peers.
I was going to make a joke about their defense improving…but those replacments make me think it will be just as bad.
It seems like the rays & nationals won this trade.
Looks like the Rays traded an OF and C for an OF and C who were about as capable, but far less injury-prone.
^^^^way to early to declare a winner in the Myers deal.
Seems like ross will do good. & souza looks like rookie of the year
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he’s going to have to hit better than .212 to snare that award.
Either he’s being sarcastic or he’s really impressed by teh 13 home runs’s Souza has hit so far but that’s not enough to get him ROY honors.
ROY? Is that a joke?
If you look, it’s not a joke at all. Souza may have a low BA, but he leads AL rookies in HR and runs, 2nd in fWAR and 3rd in wRC+, SB and doubles.
Aside from ba, he’s leading AL rookies in almost every offensive category.
Might be time to put on some batting gloves Mr. Myers. And some protective gear players use for their hands and wrists while batting.
With Myers out and the Padres looking like they have given up, how long until Justin Upton is traded?
Feel bad for this guy. Rays traded him cause they felt something was off for him. He was doing real well trying to prove everyone they were wrong, and to help the Padres win. And then he has this kind of set back again.
Please surgically repair Myers first name while their at it. Will not Wil. This is baseball…we have mathematical analysis already… There is precious little room for creative writing.
If the Padres are looking to fill a void… any void, at any position… with Melvin Upton, Jr., the team, the fans and everyone involved (other than their opponents) are going to be terribly disappointed. This guy is the biggest $15+ million/year mistake that’s ever been… and there’s two more years of that mistake still left after 2015.
For Atlanta Braves fans, as hard as it was to turn loose of a great closer like Craig Kimbrell, knowing that Upton and that albatross contract of his was going too, made a bitter pill very easy to swallow. My experience with Melvin Jr. doesn’t just cover the two seasons that he tormented Atlanta fans, because I also watched him play in Tampa. His offensive numbers speak for themselves… what doesn’t show there is the fact that he’s uncoachable, and also the fact that he’s not as good on defense as the better high school outfielders. If he hits a ground ball to an infielder… he’s out, even if the infielder bobbles the ball three times, because Melvin Jr. just flat ain’t running down the baseline. No hustle whatsoever! And on defense, he WILL NOT leave his feet to make a play, it wouldn’t matter if the World Series title was on the line… not gonna happen!
So, that’s the guy that’s backing up Wil Myers in CF for the Padres… and I’m sorry!
We’ve all seen his numbers and his lackadaisical play over the years so it’s not much of a surprise to those of us that pay attention to the game. I probably speak for most Padres fans when I say that we were all scratching our heads on this addition to the trade. Luckily for us, Will Venable will be the true replacement with BJ getting mop-up duty and the starts against LHPs