The possibility of Angels right-hander Garrett Richards bouncing back from an injury-shortened 2016 to return to the team’s rotation next year is gaining steam. In a move that has paid off thus far, Richards decided early in the season to undergo stem-cell therapy treatment on his elbow instead of Tommy John surgery.
Richards threw his second of three scheduled instructional league outings Saturday and told the Los Angeles Daily News via text that “everything was great. Felt even better than last time.” The 28-year-old tossed 50 pitches, up from 25 in his first showing, and will conclude with a four-inning effort Thursday. Barring any issues, Richards will then receive another stem-cell injection and stop throwing until January, at which point he’ll begin getting ready for the 2017 campaign.
Back in May, it appeared Richards and fellow Angels starter Andrew Heaney would undergo Tommy John procedures because of elbow tears. The pair chose another route, though Heaney hasn’t been as fortunate as Richards to this point. Heaney ultimately went under the knife in July, which means he won’t come back until the tail end of next season at the earliest. A significant snag in Richards’ recovery could also lead to surgery and keep him out for 2017, but he’s currently on track to return to action after missing all but one month this season.
Before his year ended on May 1, Richards logged a 2.34 ERA, 8.8 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in 34 2/3 innings. From 2014-15, Richards started 58 games and recorded a 3.18 ERA, 8.14 K/9 and 3.09 BB/9 across 376 frames. That type of production over a full season would have been a boon to this year’s Angels, who had one of the majors’ worst rotations. Going forward, penciling in Richards along with Matt Shoemaker, Ricky Nolasco and Tyler Skaggs would give Los Angeles nearly an entire rotation. Alex Meyer could grab the remaining spot, while Jered Weaver and Jhoulys Chacin are impending free agents, and Nick Tropeano won’t be available after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August.
Unless Richards experiences a setback significant enough for the Angels to non-tender him, he’ll make his third trip through arbitration during the winter and collect a negligible raise over his $6.43MM salary. Richards is under LA’s control through the 2018 campaign, after which he’s scheduled to become a free agent.
Lets hope the stem-cell treatment continues its promising results. IIRC Tanaka took the same route with great success. Wish the best for him regardless.
Yeah I was wonder if the stem cell treatment would pretty much “regrow” the ucl or would it just be a little more vulnerable than a normal elbow ligament.
let’s blow by everyone in ’17!
Unfortunately with the way this organization understands baseball, and the players that are on this team…. Blowing by anyone will be next to impossible.
Shane, help us understand why you think the current roster is so uncapable of competing given nearly the same roster missed the playoffs by a mere 1 game in 2015.
In your opinion, who is the big difference maker no longer on the roster? Aybar? Iannetta? Freese? Oh, maybe you think Joyce was the key to making this a competitive team?
I am right there with you Lazorko, haloshane says he is a fan but all he does is downgrade the angels, they had an extremely tuff year and did what they could with what they had, they need to add a few more pieces but aren’t that far off from being a competitive team, second base, left field, catcher and a bullpen piece or two and they are making a decent run.
This is the first day of the Angels 2017. Starting with good news.
I would prefer having Meyer come out the pen. Sign Hellickson to fill out a spot and bring back Weaver. Hopefully Ricky keeps up the good work and a rotation of Richards, Skaggs, Nolasco, Hellickson, and Weaver should be solid for next year.