Twins right-hander Sam Dyson underwent capsule repair surgery on his right shoulder yesterday, manager Rocco Baldelli revealed to reporters Wednesday (Twitter link via Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). It’s a brutal development for both Dyson and the organization, as the recovery period associated with that procedure could span a full 12 months. It’s not clear whether Dyson will be able to take the ball at all in 2020, which seemingly makes an offseason non-tender of the righty a necessity.
At the time of the trade that sent Dyson from San Francisco to Minnesota, the Twins looked to be acquiring one of the more effective relievers who’d been made available. Dyson posted a 2.69 ERA with 7.2 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 0.64 HR/9 and a 61.3 percent ground-ball rate in 70 1/3 innings with the 2018 Giants and had followed that up with 51 innings of 2.47 ERA ball to open the 2019 campaign. He’d improved both his strikeout and walk rates while continuing to allow fewer than one homer per nine innings pitched.
Minnesota sent three prospects — Jaylin Davis, Prelander Berroa and Kai-Wei Teng — to the Giants in order to acquire Dyson for this season and for 2020, which would be his final arbitration-eligible season. However, Dyson was shelled in his first outing as a Twin and quickly landed on the injured list. He returned and actually pitched fairly well (2.53 ERA in 10 2/3 innings) before again being shut down due to ongoing discomfort in his biceps/shoulder.
More troubling than the quick IL placement, for the Twins, was the fact that Dyson revealed to the club that he’d been dealing with some discomfort since mid-July — before he was ever traded to the Twins. Medical records at the time of the swap checked out, as Dyson had not even divulged the pain he was feeling to the Giants (and, thus, the Giants had no way of documenting said red flags).
The Twins reportedly investigated whether there was any possibility that the Giants might’ve had some inkling of Dyson’s shoulder troubles — as any team would — but there’s no evidence of any efforts to withhold information. In the end, it appears to be a simple case of miserable luck for the Twins, who almost certainly won’t commit to a raise on Dyson’s $5MM salary for the 2020 season and now seem likely to cut him loose for nothing.
If there’s any silver lining for Minnesota, it’s that the need for Dyson is less acute than it was at the time of the trade to acquire him. Tyler Duffey hasn’t allowed a run since the trade and has a 38-to-5 K/BB ratio over his past 22 2/3 scoreless innings. Closer Taylor Rogers remains an excellent weapon, and hard-throwing righty Trevor May has been largely excellent over the past two months as well. The Twins’ other deadline pickup, Sergio Romo, has been terrific since his acquisition as well. Rookies Zack Littell, Cody Stashak and Ryne Harper have emerged as solid options, and flamethrowing top prospect Brusdar Graterol is making a push for a spot on the postseason roster as well.
That’s not to downplay the loss of Dyson, of course. A healthy Dyson would give the Twins an even more formidable back of the bullpen, which has become a necessity for postseason play given the evolution of pitcher usage (particularly in short series). But the overall state of Baldelli’s relief corps is much stronger than it was even two months ago, with more questions now seemingly focused on the Twins’ sputtering rotation.
Well. I hope the guys we gave up for him don’t turn out to be anything special.
Farhan the god.
grievance to follow
He did pitch 12 games and the Twins gave up a bunch of nothing for him.
Not exactly nothing. Hallie Davis can turn into a useful hitter.
There’s no evidence…..
Whoa. I’m a Giants fan. And Something smells rotten here. . .
To say Farhan is this great guy who knew nothing. And traded him before he got hurt. I don’t know about that. They knew the arm was at least fatigued.
But then again. Dyson was always an Ahole if you ask me.
A bullpen guy doesn’t have to be a nice guy. Or any ballplayer for that matter. But he always had kind of a pushy disposition… Maybe he really was just a closed off guy who said Nothing.
A few faults here. But either way it seems the shoulder was doomed anyway.
Sucks for Twins. Hopefully this doesn’t hurt the Giants Reputation Either…
Dyson get well soon.
What??? Lol
Commas are your friend.
LOL
Ridiculous comment. Players attempt to play thru pain constantly so to assume wrongdoing by the Giants is BS.
HA. Your Right. Coaching staffs. Front office Staffs. Nobody knows anything when a player is hurt or banged up. Yeah, thats a great way to keep your job. We know nothing.
As for the other Two commenting. . . Or rather lack thereof. It’s exactly that. Too dense to make a substantial retort. Ha.
Do you also know
who killed President
Kennedy? And where
the Air Force keeps
the aliens?
I think more than anything I was impressed by your totally arbitrary assessment of Dyson’s personality, as if that had anything to do with his shoulder, or that any of us would care about your thoughts on that at all. More so, Dyson had been on the block all year, everyone knew he was a likely deadline deal, it wasn’t like Zaidi suddenly decided to trade him out of the blue.
You read it. And felt compelled enough to state your distain. Must have meant something. ?
Dyson was a tough interview. Always. Had a real thick attitude. . . Not that I hated the guy. But it definitely could factor into his closed off assessment regarding his own shoulder…
He got traded and immediately went down hurting. That would absolutely factor into the players forthright honesty… I sensed he was kind of a closed off guy in his time in SF.
Glad you like the comments.
GiantsX3,
You know this? You know this for a fact? I didn’t think so.
There should be a grevience filed against both the player and his agent. As a PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE, ethics dictate that Dyson is obligated to report ANY physical discomfort that may affect his on field performance to the management of his club (at the time he is under contract to them) and his agent. There should be legal ramifications for Dyson’s failure to do so.
I think it looks bad here for the Twins for buying damaged goods and not checking well enough beforehand.
And it looks bad for the Giants for selling damaged goods and not looking well enough at what they were selling beforehand.
And looks especially bad to me for the player for keeping quiet about it, especially during and immediately after the trade. It’s one thing to try to play through injuries and help out your current team, and maybe not knowing anything about your team trying to trade you, but it’s another to stay quiet about it once a trade has been made.
Sucks. But maybe the Twins should have made a deal for relief help long before the deadline. Everyone knew they needed help in the pen when the season started.
They checked as well as they could have. Players don’t undergo physicals when they’re traded. The teams review the medical files of all players involved in a deal, and that’s that. It’s on teams to accurately log medical information, and it’s on the players to inform their teams when something is amiss.
Dyson has suggested that he initially thought it was normal soreness that was bothering him. Players constantly pitch through pain — particularly when their team is on a hot streak like the Giants were in July. Given how well the Giants were playing, he probably didn’t even expect to be traded and wanted to push through to help his club win.
If Dyson didn’t speak up to the Giants, then there’s really no way the Twins could’ve known that he wasn’t 100 percent when he was moved.
No one looks particularly “bad” in this situation — it’s just a really rotten case of luck for the Twins and a pretty fortunate turn of events for the Giants.
I did a quick search and RosterResource shows that in 2017 there were a total of 659 trips to the disabled list. In 2018, there were 699. There might be some logistical issues but perhaps its in the best interest of everybody involved to require physicals as a condition of finalizing a trade.
Grant Brisbee did an investigative article in the Athletic on the Dyson situation. The way the Giant used him, his success, and velocity in July all indicate nothing was wrong. Bad luck for him and the Twins. He was pitching excellent heading into his highest salary arb year and now he’s getting non tendered.
Didn’t Dyson have a bit of a documented shoulder problem early in the season prior to the trade? Anyway it was a terrible deal for the Twins. Davis had been tearing up AAA and deserved a look at the next level. Had shown more promise than Lamonte Wade Jr whose been getting a ton of playing time for the Twins lately.
The Athletic’s Grant Bisbee investigates:
theathletic.com/1237287/2019/09/24/was-sam-dyson-d…
Dyson was horrible here in Texas. Why why would anyone try and trade for him?
Look at his record since leaving Texas.
…because he has been excellent since leaving Texas? And even very good in Texas, less a 16.2 inning sample size in which he was indeed awful.
The Giants are a class organization…..If his arm condition was known, they would have not traded him to anybody. Reputation and mutual respect are much more important than any player transaction.
Class organizations employ the most notorious steroid user in history for decades?