SATURDAY: Strasburg says he can’t promise he’ll return for the postseason, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post tweets. Via MLB.com’s Jamal Collier (also on Twitter), Strasburg received a PRP shot yesterday.
THURSDAY 5:03pm: Strasburg will visit noted orthopedic surgeon Neal ElAttrache for a second opinion, Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post reports (Twitter links). That’s team protocol for an injury of this kind, which was deemed to have been acute (caused by one pitch) rather than from accumulated wear and tear.
3:15pm: Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg, who had an MRI today after exiting last night’s start in the third inning, has been diagnosed with a flexor mass strain, head athletic trainer Paul Lessard told reporters, including MASNsports.com’s Dan Kolko (Twitter link). On the positive side, he does not have any damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow.
While that assessment rules out Tommy John surgery, the injury is still notable, and there’s no immediate timeline for his return to action. However, the Washington Post’s Chelsea Janes notes (Twitter links) that Lessard doesn’t feel the injury will end Strasburg’s season — though he also couldn’t definitely state that the key righty would be back.
The flexor mass strain is a fairly common pitching injury, but its outlook depends quite a bit on the situation. Andrew Miller, for instance, only missed about a month earlier this year — though he likely had a shorter road back as a reliever. But more severe forms of the injury can require surgery, as was the case previously for Homer Bailey. Flexor issues more or less ended Cliff Lee’s career. And flexor mass problems can be a precursor to Tommy John surgery, as occurred this year with Carson Smith. Other pitchers who have recently had some kind of injury to the flexor tendon or muscle include Aaron Nola, Wade Davis, and George Kontos.
Clearly, the Nats will be relieved that another TJ procedure isn’t immediately on the horizon. That would have been a major blow given that the club struck earlier this year to keep Strasburg off of the market with a seven-year, $175MM extension. If Strasburg had required a second UCL replacement, odds are he’d have missed all of 2017 and possibly a bit of 2018 as well — assuming he was able to progress well.
That’s not to minimize the immediate loss. Washington obviously viewed Strasburg as a part of its postseason rotation. Though a pair of rough, recent outings inflated his ERA, the 28-year-old has been stellar for most of the season. There are plenty of candidates to take over — the D.C. depth chart shows a variety of intriguing arms — but none will hold the same promise as Strasburg. While it is still too soon to write off a return, it would be a tall order for Strasburg to heal entirely and ramp all the way back up to carry a major workload this fall.
A lot better diagnosis than everyone thought it would be. But while Lessard said it wasnt season ending, he didnt address how little season is actually left…
Major overall disaster averted but seasonal disaster still possible. Obviously hoping for the best and return for possible postseason action, but life goes on if not.
He could be done. This could be merely a crisis temporarily delayed.
I’m not crying… Not really, doesn’t need to be another fight about this. Really sucks for Stratsburg.
Saw his second game of career with my son at Cleveland. He was amazing. What could have been.
He’s still a star pitcher who’s proved himself, I don’t get it when some guy is constantly hurt they think he has like no value to the team, Strasberg was 14-0 before hitting a skid related to his injury. He still puts up numbers…
Well I bet Strasburg is really glad he signed that extension when he did. I hope he recovers well despite the fact he plays for the dreaded Expos, I mean Nationals.
Hate the Nats, but I’d rather they lose in the divisional series putting their best team on the field. Interesting thing is I believe the injury happened the same day they shut him down for the 2012 season. Deja vu?
Hello Stephen “Dreifort”.
Mets fan here. No love for the Nationals, but, I feel for you. It sucks what has happened to Strasburg. As you know, we are dealing with our share of pitching injuries: Matt Harvey’s TJ surgery in 2013 and then this season’s vascular shoulder surgery. Harvey should be ready to go come April, but what lies ahead? Steven Matz appears to be made of glass.. He dealing with soreness issues now that has him (briefly?) out of commission, in addition to pitching with bone spurs that need to be removed from his elbow come the off season. Zack Wheeler has ended up missing two full seasons after his TJ surgery and several setbacks this season. What type of pitcher is Wheeler IF he’s able to come back after not pitching since spring training 2015.? Noah Syndergaard has remained fairly healthy, but he, too, has a bone spur in his elbow. He also seems to be dealing with bouts of dead arm issues. Jason DeGrom also seems to be dealing with similar issues and now is in the same boat as Matz – dealing with soreness that has him temporarily (I hope) shut down. When does this madness end.
You are aware that Degrom and Matz have both already had TJS, correct? Most people noted this as a reason why the mets – “BIG 5” would never be.
TINSTAAPP
Hey Braves, you watching?
just shut it down come back next year and do it again
Yep, next year he can undergo TJ a month before october to dash the teams chances.
This is why I like the Dodgers plan in terms of Starting Pitchers. Depth, Depth, Depth.
With so many injuries to pitchers, what’s your opinion on having a 6 man rotation instead of 5. Also having the DH in the national league will help to assure the health of starting pitchers that are a ver expensive asset to the teams and should be considering measures like this to secure the investment
I mean if the reason why there is no DH in the NL is becuse they want Bart to bat the Mets could just let him DH. This is not for real.
There are already many crappy pitchers starting around the league (not saying I could do any better). Imagine what we’d see if their would be 20% more players in MLB rotations by going from 5 to 6 man rotations.
I get the league wants to have offense because fans want to see runs, but at some point they need to raise the pitching mound to give pitchers an edge. I have nothing to support this, but it seems as though the higher mound would lead to a need of slightly less effort by pitchers and in turn less injuries.