Red Sox righty Austin Maddox has undergone surgery to his right rotator cuff, the club announced today. He’s expected to be sidelined for about twelve months, putting his 2019 season in jeopardy.
Maddox, 27, missed most of the 2018 season with a right shoulder strain, so this news strikes a cruel blow to a once-promising future in the Boston bullpen.
After a methodical climb through the Red Sox system, the hard-throwing righty inserted himself into the late-inning mix for the ’17 Red Sox with a 0.52 ERA in 17.1 IP, though his modest peripherals (7.27 K/9, 26% GB) didn’t necessarily portend future dominance.
Two rehab stints this season (the first in May, the latter cut short at the end of August) both ended in disaster for the young hurler, as he allowed 15 hits and 4 homers in 5 2/3 innings for Triple-A Pawtucket and Double-A Portland, doubtless a product of the still-iffy nature of his right shoulder.
It’s taken nearly a year to diagnose the torn rotator cuff??! What in the world is going on with how the Sox doctors have handled this guy? Did they tell him before the season that he had a slight tear and could try and rehab it without surgery and see if that works?
I don’t think the Red Sox even have real doctors. Look at Carson Smith and Tyler Thornberg. Sox fans must wince every time a potential trade for a pitcher is discussed.
We gave up Travis Shaw with a two year WAR at 7.9. OUCH!!! Thornberg was very good pitcher at trade time. So DD should not be faulted too much.
Pitchers’ arms are always a gamble. Big questions what happens to Thornberg this year in Arb.? Smith is DFA meat. Too bad.
In spite of his relatively small sample size of success in 2017, Maddox was still a pretty low on the totem pole guy in the scheme of things for Sox bullpen. That said, I hope they did right by this guy and didn’t just send him to the Minute Clinic at CVS for the diagnosis.
What do with Maddox? DFA him to protect somebody else from Rule 5 draft or hope in two years?
If you were manager of a team with a Cy Young candidate and you had clinched the division but you had also given lots of time off to your whole team, would you sit some of your best players against another divsion winner and hurt your Cy Young candidates chances of winning? I know Sale is a team guy and won’t say a word about the minor league line-up he’s got behind him tonight but would you do that to a selfless guy like Sale? Cora sucks. Playing Devers at 3B has hurt Sale all year. He can play on nights when Velasquez or Johnson starts. Put a real team behind Sale. He has earned that respect Cora!!
The Sox won the game. Cora looks pretty smart right now.