The Diamondbacks revealed last night that third baseman Jake Lamb is dealing with “fraying” in his left rotator cuff, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. The 27-year-old is currently weighing surgery that would end his season.
As Piecoro documents, recent signals have suggested there was some real concern with the joint, as Lamb’s case has been assessed by some of the game’s foremost surgeons. Still, the hope remains that Lamb will not have to go under the knife. If he chooses to attempt a rehabilitation approach, it’s still possible he could be back this year, though surely there are other risks and drawbacks also being weighed.
It seems the organization’s quick strike for Eduardo Escobar days before the trade deadline was motivated in no small part by the uncertainty that sprung up regarding Lamb. Though manager Torey Lovullo says there was no indication at the time the injury was this significant, GM Mike Hazen acknowledged last night that he went after Escobar before word of uncertainty on the team’s regular third baseman got out. (Via Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, on Twitter.)
While the presence of Escobar leaves the team in good shape at the hot corner, the roster would look much stronger with both him and a healthy and productive Lamb available. Of course, Lamb hasn’t been at his best thus far in 2018 prior to today’s news. Over 238 plate appearances, he’s slashing just .222/.307/.348 with six home runs. With a .126 isolated slugging mark that’s about half the ISO he produced over the past two seasons, it could well be that the shoulder problem has been a factor all along.
Looking ahead, the D-Backs will have to hope that Lamb can get back to full health over the winter, regardless of which approach he takes to addressing the injury. After all, Escobar is heading to free agency. The Snakes control Lamb for the next two seasons via arbitration. Given his struggles this year, he’ll be in line for only a light raise on his $4,275,000 salary.
Do it now instead of being forced too six months later
By the time I was playing college ball my rotator cuff was shredded, and I could barely lift my throwing arm. The good news is it healed naturally, and my velocity improved significantly thereafter. The bad news is it took 15 years to get to that point.
Post your rookie card!
good one bruh
First, notice he said college ball and 15 years later, what rookie card would be have to post? Second, while he could be full of crap, why is it so hard to believe that he could be telling the truth, there’s literally thousands of kids that play college ball every year that don’t go pro for one reason or another. Just because you weren’t one of them, doesn’t mean it’s out of any realm of possibility.
How dose sour grapes taste bruh?
lofl wonder if he can get us Dennis Quaid’s autograph.
Time heals all wounds, but not fast enough. Bummer…..
So does reality
The Dbacks need Peralta back.
This is where MIL trades 3B Mike Moustakas to ARI for SS Ildemaro Vargas.
Used to be the kiss of death injury to pitchers, long before the now dreaded UCL tear.
It still is to a degree. UCL tears are all too common these days; they’ve got TJS down to a science at this point. Jarrod Parker aside, pitchers are more likely to come back successfully after TJS than any sort of tear in the shoulder.
If it is just fraying and not a complete tear, he needs to go the stem cell route. Given his age, he should have a good outcome.
Thanks Doc
He’d be crazy to not have the surgery as soon as possible. The bigger risk is not having it surgically repaired. Is it realistic to expect it is going to heal on its own in short time and that he won’t have lingering issues with it afterwards? Probably not. And is it also a good possibility he could play himself right out of a job and MLB if it is a lingering issue and he continues to perform as he has this season? Absolutely. When you have a career that depends on your health, and your health is compromised in a way that you can’t perform your job at an adequate level and your window of opportunity is extremely limited, you would be foolish to not take extreme measures to try to get your career back on track as quickly and sustainably as possible.