12:50pm: Indians head athletic trainer James Quinlan told reporters, including Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (links to Twitter) that Brantley won’t begin swinging a bat for four months. The five-month timeline refers to Brantley getting into rehab games, Hoynes adds, meaning it’s more likely to be six before Brantley can play in a Major League contest.
Bastian adds, also via Twitter, that Brantley’s injury was diagnosed as a small tear in the labrum of his right shoulder.
12:15pm: Indians outfielder Michael Brantley underwent surgery to repair a right shoulder injury today, the team announced (Twitter link). He’ll be ready for game activity in five to six months, according to the club.
Brantley appeared to suffer the injury while coming up just short of robbing Twins center fielder Aaron Hicks of a triple on Sept. 22 (video link). Brantley would take his next plate appearance but came out of the game the following inning and would go on to start just two more games over the remainder of the season. As MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets, Brantley and the club both thought he could avoid surgery following the season, but the discomfort in his shoulder lingered two weeks into his rehabilitation program, prompting the surgical procedure.
The 28-year-old Brantley has broken out as one of the game’s best all-around players over the past two seasons, hitting a combined .319/.382/.494 with 90 doubles and 35 homers across a pair of excellent seasons. Among qualified hitters, only Victor Marintez has a lower strikeout rate than Brantley’s 8.4 percent since the beginning of Opening Day 2014, and no player has a higher contact rate than Brantley’s 91.9 percent in that time.
Clearly, the five- to six-month timeline is an unfortunate one for the Indians, as it means Brantley will be sidelined for all of Spring Training and likely for the early portion of the regular season as well. Losing your best player for the beginning of the regular season isn’t the way that any club wants to begin an offseason, especially not a team like the Indians, which fancies itself a possible contender in 2016 due to its strong core of controllable pitching.
The Indians were already expected to pursue outfield upgrades on the trade and free-agent markets this winter, and the loss of Brantley, even for a potentially short period of time, only figures to increase the club’s urgency to add depth in the outfield. While outfield targets like Alex Gordon, Dexter Fowler and Colby Rasmus could prove to be too costly for Cleveland’s tastes (both in terms of dollars and draft-pick forfeiture), second-tier names like Gerardo Parra, Alejandro De Aza and Nori Aoki make sense as players that can fill the temporary Brantley void and also handle other outfield positions if necessary.
Brantley is entering the third season of a four-year, $25MM contract. He’ll earn $6.5MM next season, $7.5MM in 2017 and is under control via an $11MM club option for the 2018 season as well.
You know Indians fans are cringing. Seems like Grady Sizemore’s initial surgery was his shoulder, then came knees, shoulder again, then more knees.. You would hate to see another terrific kid like Brantley befell the chronic knife, much like happened to Sizemore.
I’m confused. Brantley’s season ended with a week remaining in the regular season — well over six weeks ago. He stopped just a couple of weeks into his rehab program because of the lingering pain and just had the surgery in the 1st/2nd week of November. Why was Brantley (apparently) sitting around for a month before starting his rehab? And if he had pain in the shoulder throughout his waiting period and into the beginning of rehab, what signs were the team looking for that he was going to need surgery? Persistent pain six weeks after an injury usually tells me something more is going on. Sounds like somebody fell asleep at the wheel somewhere along the way.
They probably prescribed a few weeks rest before starting his rehab….
Exactly as I would have expected. But if the guy says his shoulder is still hurting throughout the rest and as the rehab started, why would you start to ramp up the rehab if the pain was still there? Don’t you take another MRI before moving things forward?
Huge blow to the Indians line up. You kind of wonder if someone misdiagnosed him along the way. On the bright side, best case scenario would be for Brantley to start baseball activities in April and hopefully be back in May.
I wonder if the Indians trade for an outfielder now? There were talks about Ozuna and even Dalton Pompey before.
I think Puig and Ozuna are the most talked about. People around the tribe think it is possible we could get both. I don’t see that but it’s out there. We would have to really sell our SP depth and prospects. Even if Puig is going to be sold low, LaD would want a lot for him, as I would.
Tribe can survive for 2 months with him, Though they need to see if they can find a Cheap Bat like Cody Ashe of the Phillies.
If the Phillies and Indians could work out a deal it would be ideal for both teams!
I hope Mike Chernoff’s first move as GM of the team is to acquire Yasiel Puig. Also, yeesh, change the team name already.
Why?
1. Cleveland needs a starting outfielder (particularly after Michael Brantley’s injury) and a right-handed slugger for a reasonable average annual value. The Dodgers need a starting pitcher (particularly if Zack Greinke signs elsewhere). Puig fields Cleveland’s needs and is poised to bounce back from an injury-marred 2015 season. Danny Salazar would be a good fit for the Dodgers.
2. The team name was changed to “Indians” in 1915, when racism raged in the United States, and the team and the local sportswriters used negative stereotypes to write about/promote the team. I get it – I used to love Chief Wahoo and the team name – but it is deeply offensive to a race of people that U.S. settlers tried to wipe from existence.
(I think the “Buckeyes” would be a great name, honoring the Negro League team that once played in Cleveland. I know a lot of people would correlate it to Ohio State (not an Ohio State fan, personally), but I think people would get over it. Also fond of the Blues, Municipals, Lake Shores, and Spiders (though that could lend itself to an awful “Softball Guy” brand/identity).)
Call a plumber! I just heard Cleveland’s season getting flushed.
Great start to the off season. Good news it is his non throwing shoulder. I don’t think it changes our plans. We were going after OF bats anyways. It might put more urgency for the Indians. Just stay with the plan tribe.