Red Sox reliever Carson Smith is set to undergo shoulder surgery tomorrow, the team announced to reporters (Twitter link via Rob Bradford of WEEI.com). The operation will likely put an end to the 28-year-old’s season.
It’s the latest setback in what is becoming an increasingly injury-plagued career for Smith, who missed the majority of the 2016 and 2017 seasons while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Tomorrow’s surgery will repair a subluxation in his throwing shoulder, which the right-hander reportedly incurred after angrily tossing his glove out of frustration following a poor outing last month. However, there’s additional damage in his shoulder, it seems, as head athletic trainer Brad Pearson tells reporters that Smith also has some tearing in the labrum (Twitter link via the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier).
Originally acquired by the Red Sox in the Dec. 2015 trade that sent Wade Miley and Jonathan Aro to the Mariners, Smith has spent three seasons in the organization but pitched just 20 innings at the Major League level. Obviously, the Sox had higher hopes when trading for him, as he was coming off a dominant rookie campaign in Seattle that saw him pitch 70 innings of 2.31 ERA ball with 11.8 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a hefty 64.8 percent ground-ball rate.
Smith drew some ire from Boston skipper Alex Cora last month after suggesting that heavy usage may have contributed to the wear and tear on his shoulder. Cora bluntly said that he “doesn’t agree” with Smith’s comments and spoke at length about the frequency with which the Red Sox staff checks in on its relievers to see who is and isn’t available to take the hill on a given night.
Given Smith’s ongoing injury woes and the fact that he’s arbitration-eligible for a second time this offseason, it’s possible that the Sox could move on from Smith via non-tender this offseason. But, he won’t be in line for much of a raise on this season’s $850K salary after pitching just 14 1/3 innings, so they may also opt to hang onto the affordable depth even with the health concerns.
Omg
Mine, too.
I legit hate this guy. They teach you in preschool to take responsibility for your actions. If I were the Red Sox I’d file a grievance to take back his pro-rates salary for the time he’s going to miss
I’ll avoid the taking responsibility aspect of this, but why the heck would they file a grievance? He spoke out of line it is not arguable that it merits a revocation of his contractual earnings. If they ditch him this offseason than the cost was menial and not worth fighting over (especially in a market like Boston), or if they keep him cheap in hopes of juicing some value then why PO the dude.
“ . . . but why the heck would they file a grievance?”
I strongly suspect it has to do with this part:
“Tomorrow’s surgery will repair a subluxation in his throwing shoulder, which the right-hander reportedly incurred after angrily tossing his glove out of frustration . . . “
and nothing to do with him speaking out of line.
Not arguing that they should file a grievance, nor that they will. Just what it’d be, should they choose to. Getting hit by a pitched, thrown or batted ball = injured within the scope of his employment. Losing one’s temper, throwing your glove and injuring yourself might not be.
Between the Travis Shaw trade and acquiring this waste. Boston totally blew getting the middle inning help they were looking for. Placing the blame on Cora for “over-working” him, instead of where it should go. Get rid of this ass…
Get rid of Alex Cora? The manager they just hired? If you’re waiting on him to get fired then get ready to wait a while. He has a long leash
No, get rid of Smith. Cora is awesome
No, get rid of Smith
Where should the blame go?
To Carson smiths delivery
Smith’s*
Driftcat,
It seems pretty clear to me that he was talking about getting rid of Smith not Cora.
The team for not giving proper physicals? Maybe that’s where the blame lies. Thornburg obviously had existing problems and so did Smith. Then Smith throws a child-like tantrum and ends his season. Everyone joked about Baltimore’s rejection of Grant Balfour after his physical, but maybe the Red Sox should take a page from the O’s book. They traded away good players for essentially two cripples. And they should be allowed some retribution for Smith injuring himself.in that they should not be committed to paying his entire salary.
To be fair, his inning total this season is more than double what he’s pitched in the past two seasons combined, so he may have point on being “over-worked”, lol
Psst.. what about the guy that made the trades?
Dave always doubles down on his mistakes.
Lol
I believe bosox meant to get rid of Smith, not Cora, given his lack of healthy production & placing the blame on Cora when it should have in fact been on himself, for his actions of throwing his glove and causing himself the injury.
Yep!! F…him
Thank you InTek
Red Sox just need to non-tender him this winter and move on. 20 innings pitched over 3 seasons? This guy needs to step away from the game and stay away until he gets his health AND his mind right.
It’s actually kind of amazing how Dombrowski has had just the worst luck with his bullpens
Ira funny how some people think that when a trade doesn’t work out it’s bad luck.
Maybe it’s a bad trade…
Still as recently as two months ago a Red Sox blogger opined that Boston had fleeced Seattle in the Carson Smith trade:
https://bosoxinjection.com/2018/03/16/red-sox-fleeced-mariners-in-wade-miley-trade/
Bloggers should seldom be taken seriously. If they don’t have BBWAA credentials or working for a reputable site then their opinions are more annoying than newsworthy
“More than half of Major League pitchers who underwent Tommy John surgery from 1999 to 2011 went on the Disabled List with an arm injury after returning from surgery. Another recent study from the American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI) concluded that 19% of Tommy John patients will have a subsequent elbow surgery and 25% will have shoulder surgery.” http://m.mlb.com/pitchsmart/tommy-john-faq/
But it’s all Cora’s fault, Right Carson? .SMH
Good riddance to bad rubbish
Smith is a bust!
He does realize he only pitched 14 and 1/3 innings this season right? How could he be overworked… he pitched in like 1/3 to 1/4 games when he was healthy and totaled just over 14 innings… then threw his glove and hurt himself and blamed “overuse”. Dudes got some serious head issues beyond his crippled arm…