Padres right-hander Jarred Cosart will undergo elbow surgery to “remove loose bodies,” per a team announcement. San Diego acquired Cosart in the summer trade that sent Andrew Cashner to the Marlins.
There is no indication as of yet as to whether the operation will impact his offseason timeline in any appreciable way. But this sort of procedure isn’t all that unusual; prior suggestions were that Cosart was dealing with a bone spur, which is the kind of issue that is frequently addressed at this time of year.
Regardless, there’s uncertainty any time a pitcher goes under the knife. In this case, though, it likely won’t have much of an impact on the Pads’ offseason plans. Cosart wasn’t able to reach three full years of major league service because he was optioned for part of the year, and it doesn’t appear that he’ll qualify for Super Two status after entering the season with two years and twenty days of service already in the bank. Cosart’s 2016 campaign was split roughly evenly between the big leagues and minors.
San Diego likely has already baked plenty of question marks into its assessment of Cosart anyway. The 26-year-old has always been seen as a talented pitcher, and logged excellent results for stretches earlier in his career. Though his strikeout-to-walk ratio has never impressed — it stands at 6.2 K/9 against 4.6 BB/9 for his career — Cosart generates quite a few groundballs and has successfully tamped down on home runs when at his best.
Ultimately, there still seems to be quite a lot of work to do for the Padres to get value out of Cosart, though there’s also minimal risk since the organization isn’t expected to contend in 2017 and he’ll seemingly play at the league minimum. His 57 major league frames this year weren’t terribly inspiring, as he walked more batters than he retired via strikeout and allowed an even six earned runs per nine innings. Cosart also sported a career-low 92.3 mph average fastball. On the bright side, he did top his annual best with a 60.9% groundball rate.
Cosart is another hard throwing talent thought would fill a big role in the Marlins rotation and completely lost it in Miami. Gets frustrating watching these talented types.. Of which has been so many.. Roll thru. First was Andrew Miller completely wrecked, then Nathan Eovaldi and now Cosart.
Miller was salvaged in Boston finally, hopefully Eovaldi can come back after his surgery and yes.. Understand Cosart had the vertigo issues, but he to totally lost his mechanics once coming over from Houston, just like the marlins completely trashed Miller’s, then couldn’t find anything else that would work.. ALA Dontrelle Willis. This organization has no excuse for trashing so many high calibur arms
I think you’re being a little hard on the organization. Some of those pitchers mentioned were just not that good, but could throw hard. For D-Train it didn’t take long for the league to figure him out and when he tried to adjust, he just completely imploded. Several organizations couldn’t fix him. Eovaldi is a pitcher that throws very hard, but doesn’t offer much aside from a blazing fastball. He’s not the first and won’t be the last of those types. I think the Yankees would be making a mistake by not sticking him in the bullpen and try a “Miller” experiment on him. He just can’t make it as a starter, but I still really like his potential as a relief arm. Cosart is a hard thrower, but with very little control, and that was a given since he was drafted. He has yet to harness his control and several organizations, have yet to fix that problem he has.
In addition to throwing 96+, Eovaldi has a 4 seam, sinker, cutter and split-finger that all run above average.
So are they now going to investigate the Marlins for trading us TWO guys who got injured?
Nope. It’s not about injuries. It’s about hiding medical records. No evidence the Marlins did that, plenty of evidence the Padres did. Enough evidence to suspend the team’s GM.
They need to make sure these records were completely disclosed otherwise make them take Cosart back and give us Stanton (they pay the entire contract)….seems fair 😛
That’s weird, the medical report I have says Cosart is in impeccable condition
Because Padres fans (and I am one) seem to be sensitivve to a fault now about this, here’s a primer on what happened and why Preller is suspended:
Major league teams are supposed to put all injury information into a database – injuries, treatments, medications, etc. This database can be accessed by every team. Because teams don’t do physicals on players they acquire in a trade, this is the way they get medical information on players they’re acquiring.
Preller instructed the Padres’ training staff to maintain a separate internal database which contained other medical information – stuff which was supposed to be on the league-wide server. Pomeranz’ oral anti-inflammatory medication, for example, was on the internal server but not the league database. Preller specifically told his training staff they were doing this so the Padres could have an upper hand in trades.
The Padres head trainer of 18 seasons, Todd Hutchinson, resigned after being asked to maintain this separate database.
Preller was suspended because of the Pomeranz deal, not the deal with the Marlins, although apparently there was stuff about Rea that wasn’t disclosed on the league server as well and the Marlins could have also pursued a claim against the Padres.
Two pitchers the Padres obtained from Miami did get hurt, but there’s nothing to suggest there was anything in the medicals that was dishonest; otherwise, I’m sure the Padres would pursue a claim against the Marlins.
Finally, pitchers get hurt. Even healthy pitchers sometimes get unhealthy really fast. That isn’t the issue with the Padres’ misdeeds. The issue was full disclosure required by every team, and Preller’s attempts to skirt it. Given AJ’s history of skirting the line of what is legal and not, it’s safe to say that he’s going to be on a very short leash from here on out.
I know…
Good explanation and it’s nice to see someone not get all offended, but actually look at the facts.
” Preller specifically told his training staff they were doing this so the Padres could have an upper hand in trades.” – do you have a link to this? I’d like to read about it
There is a link I can’t link to because of MLBTR rules, but you can google it quite easily.
Im glad there is one padres fan who understands this whole thing, unlike a certain someone up above in the comments who still does not get it.
Teams are supposed to put all INJURIES into that database. That is what the rules actually say. All injuries and the treatments for those injuries. Whether a treatment or medication needs to be put into that database is a gray area determined by whether or not the player was considered injured (DTD or missing a game) or just banged up, which is something every player experiences during a season. Preller got suspended because the team consistently didn’t put treatments for players that didn’t miss any playing time, treatments that fell into that gray area, into the database. He did something EVERY team does, he just got caught. It certainly won’t stop any teams from trading with him. The Red Sox tried to trade with the Padres AFTER they traded for Pomeranz and Pomeranz didn’t miss any time or pitch at a level below his career norms.
If every team does this why were the Padres the only one that got caught? Look at the evidence. 4 teams complained about him. He was suspended. There was overwhelming evidence.
Taken directly from Buster olneys report:
Any time a player goes into the training room and receives treatment — down to hot tubs, aspirin and anti-inflammatories — those details are supposed to be entered into records.
Notice it says all treatments, not just injuries as you specify.
Thank you cuban1. Not sure if I was allowed to link to Olney’s report, but that’s where I got a lot of the information on this.
Total BS!! Preller never said to hide medical records to have an upper hand on trades, that’s total crap, also that Hutchinson resigned cuz he was asked to hide medical info is crap as well. Sources or gtfo.
Most of those so called “facts” were made up by east coast media, there’s no credible source of Preller actually admitting to hiding records for trade negotiations, or that Hutchinson ran off cuz Padres told him to play along and he refused.
Preller exploited some loose rules about what information needs to be made available for other teams to review, he didn’t break any actual rules, reason why he wasn’t penalized all that harsh by MLB, He’ll have to earn back the trust of other GM’s, but that’s it.
If anything, Preller cast a light into something that needs to be more carefully monitored, with strict rules about what needs to be made available, and not just suggested information.
Buster Olneys report:
Sources: Padres hid medical info from database
In a significant deviation from standard practice within the sport, San Diego Padres officials instructed their organization’s athletic trainers to maintain two distinct files of medical information on their players — one for industry consumption and the other for the team’s internal use, multiple sources have told ESPN.
Trainers were told in meetings during spring training that the distinction was meant to better position the team for trades, according to two sources with direct knowledge of what was said.
Major League Baseball is close to concluding its investigation of the Padres’ handling of the medical information, and the organization and individuals could face discipline.
Shana Wilson, the team’s director of communications, said the Padres have been cooperating fully with Major League Baseball’s review.
“At this point, it is an ongoing review, and we will refrain from comment until the process has concluded and we receive formal notification of the outcome from MLB,” Wilson said. “That said, there was no direction or intent on our part to mislead other clubs with respect to a player’s medical information.”
According to sources familiar with the fallout from some of the Padres’ midseason deals, officials from at least three teams that made trades with San Diego — the Boston Red Sox, Miami Marlins and Chicago White Sox — were enraged by what they perceived to be strategic deception: veiling medical information that could have been pivotal in trade discussions. At least one other team reached out to the commissioner’s office with a complaint, according to sources.
All MLB teams feed medical information into a central database known as the Sutton Medical System, designed to both maintain the privacy of individual players and to be accessible to teams when needed — such as when trades are made.
Any time a player goes into the training room and receives treatment — down to hot tubs, aspirin and anti-inflammatories — those details are supposed to be entered into records.
Some teams are known to be more meticulous in note-taking than others — the trainers for the Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, for example, have a reputation for building extensive files, with all available information written down. And, in recent years, other teams found the Seattle Mariners’ notes to be less comprehensive.
When teams close in on trades, the athletic trainers usually exchange codes needed to access the medical information stored on the players in question so inquiring teams can learn about a player’s physical condition.
Todd Hutcheson had been the Padres’ athletic trainer for 18 years, but the Padres replaced him in February with a new department leader, Mark Rogow, who had previously worked with the U.S. Department of Defense. After Rogow’s hiring, there were a handful of meetings during spring training with the organization’s athletic trainers, for the major and minor leagues.
According to two sources with direct knowledge of those meetings, the staffers were instructed by front office officials to document medical details about players into two separate systems.
The athletic trainers were told to post the details of any disabled-list-related medical situations on MLB’s central system, but they also were instructed to keep the specifics about preventive treatments only on the Padres’ internal notes. One source defined the distinction in this way: If a player was treated for a sore hamstring or shoulder without being placed on the disabled list, that sort of information was to be kept in-house, for use within the organization only.
According to the two sources with direct knowledge of the meetings, the athletic trainers were told that by splitting the medical files into two categories, the Padres would benefit in trade discussions.
At the annual get-together of athletic trainers at baseball’s winter meetings in Nashville, Tennessee, in December, MLB officials had informed those in the room that they wanted more medical documentation. Months later, when the Padres’ directive to split the documentation was handed down, some Padres staffers were uncomfortable, according to sources, and some expressed that discomfort, with athletic trainers saying there would be backlash for this type of filing system.
According to sources, the Padres reached midseason with dramatically fewer medical entries on their players. An average number of entries for a given team might be in the range of 60 by the All-Star break. The Padres had fewer than 10, according to a source.
“When you don’t have any medical information available on a player,” said one evaluator who has been involved in trade discussions in the past, “that’s not normal.”
On July 14, the Red Sox traded one of their best pitching prospects, Anderson Espinoza, for San Diego’s All-Star left-hander Drew Pomeranz. Sources within the Boston organization say it wasn’t until after the deal was made that they became aware of some of the preventive measures that had been provided for Pomeranz.
On July 29, the Padres traded right-handers Colin Rea and Andrew Cashner to Miami. In the midst of Rea’s first outing for the Marlins, he told the team of elbow discomfort. It was only then, according to Miami sources, that the Marlins learned the extent of Rea’s problem and that he’d been receiving treatment for weeks. Two days later, MLB executives facilitated the return of Rea to the Padres, with San Diego returning pitcher Luis Castillo to Miami.
MLB pressed athletic trainers on both teams for details about the information that was exchanged, which evolved into debate about what was said in the swap of records. MLB expanded its investigation, with the White Sox and at least one other team expressing concern over the information provided to them by the Padres.
“The whole system has to be built on trust, to some degree,” one official familiar with the situation said. “You can’t have teams withholding medical information in a baseball trade any more than you have a car salesman not disclosing vehicle history. It can’t work. It’s about the integrity of the system.”
A.J. Preller is the Padres’ general manager and oversees baseball operations for the franchise. He previously worked for the Rangers and, when Preller was overseeing their international operations in 2010, he was suspended for violations of baseball rules regarding signings.
He was hired by San Diego in August 2014, after years of developing a reputation for being one of the sport’s best and most adept scouts. Preller has been lauded by the Padres’ ownership for his work in stocking the team’s farm system.
Shortly after Preller took over the Padres, the team was reprimanded by MLB for conducting a workout contrary to industry regulations.
Notice how it says MLB officials said they wanted more information from trainers, then actually provided less. They were exploiting loose areas of the rules, they were breaking them.
*were not exploiting
Two things to note that are different between what Coonce said above and what was actually in the reporting:
1) Hutch was gone from the organization before the meetings took place during spring training. There’s nothing in the Olney story or elsewhere that indicates Hutch resigned over a new mandate. It’s certainly possible the organization chased him out for that reason, but there had been noise for about two years prior that they may replace him because of the high number of arm injuries on their pitching staffs.
2) Olney’s reporting very specifically does NOT actually say that the order came from Preller. There’s been a decent amount of speculation that it was from someone else, though even in that unsubstantiated coverage locally, it’s not clear whether that other unnamed person was doing so at Preller’s behest or not.
Neither of these observations is meant to try to pass off what the organization did as acceptable; just trying for accuracy here.
I may be wrong about Hutchinson but the timing seems odd, right? And if the second database came from someone else in the Org why was Preller the one suspended ? Thanks to cuban1 again for posting the Olney article. MLBTR linked to it when the story broke as well.