APRIL 28: Bumgarner will indeed not require surgery, but he’s expected to be out for quite some time, as Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News reports (Twitter links). With some “partial ligament tears” in the AC joint, it is indeed a Grade 2 sprain that will require about two months of rehabilitation followed by a three-or-four-week buildup on the mound.
APRIL 25: Initial evaluations on Madison Bumgarner, who suffered bruised ribs and a shoulder sprain last week in a dirt bike accident, are fairly positive, per Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News (Twitter links). Bumgarner’s injured shoulder won’t require surgery and has calmed down to the point where he could begin rehab work on it in the next four to five days, Baggarly adds. While that all sounds encouraging, Bumgarner’s layoff will still be considerable; Baggarly notes that he could be ready to begin throwing off a mound in about two months’ time, and he’ll of course need to then build up enough arm strength to rejoin the rotation.
All told, that timeline seems to suggest that Bumgarner won’t be back in the Giants’ rotation until at least mid-July. Of course, that timeline is dependent both on how his shoulder responds to rehab work and on how lengthy of a rehab assignment he’ll require once he returns to the mound. More clarity on Bumgarner’s timeline may soon become available, it seems, as Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets that the Giants will give an official diagnosis on Bumgarner tomorrow.
“He’s going to start some light work,” manager Bruce Bochy told reporters (link via Schulman). “It’s going to be slow at first, nothing major. Things have calmed down a little. There’ll be no surgery or anything. We’re going to rehab this.”
[Related: San Francisco Giants Depth Chart]
The Giants’ rotation without its ace still appears solid, albeit unspectacular, as nominal No. 2 starter Johnny Cueto would be the top arm in most rotations around the league. Cueto will be followed by Jeff Samardzija, Matt Moore, Matt Cain and Ty Blach for the time being, though it’s certainly possible that top Giants prospect Tyler Beede eventually forces his way into the big league rotation mix. That group faces an uphill battle in helping the Giants stay afloat in the National League West, however; San Francisco enters play tonight with just a 7-13 record, and two-plus months without one of the game’s very best pitchers clearly hampers the team’s ability to dig out of that early hole.
On a related note, it seems that the Giants got a bit of good news regarding another member of the rotation. Schulman notes that an MRI on Cain’s ailing hamstring came back clean. The veteran right-hander is expected to make his next scheduled start — a Saturday outing against the Padres.
But will he require a motorcycle license?
He was ridding on a suspended license.
“I don’t really wanna play since we’re doing so bad… how do I get out of that?”
“Dude lets go wreck dirt bikes on our suspended licenses!”
“Great idea!!”
… that rotation, beyond Cueto and minus MB, looks entirely average.
Cain has been a big surprise this season. Too bad there isn’t any offense….???
It’s still early. SF can pull it together or continue to drop like the banana splits. LA was the favorite to be the team to beat and they’re suffering the same production. Perhaps Cain will be the stuff he was a couple years ago. Or he will run out of gas. Either way, they need a game were they build their confidence back and get on track. Otherwise they’re like AZ last year when they had a ton of potential but no production.
Na fam dodgers got back to .500 last night and will be going above soon. Giants have been floundering at 6/7 games under for a while now
I remember back in the 90s when Ron Gant basically ruined his career in a dirtbike accident
Gant broke his leg before the 1994 season and missed that entire year, but came back the next season, then played for ten more. Retired age 38.
He ruined his one year, $5.5 MM contract. The Braves tore it up.
True! But he was never the “consistently good” player he was originally. He wasn’t the above average 5-tooled player with the Cardinals as he was with the Braves!!!