Tigers lefty Joey Wentz has undergone Tommy John surgery, according to a team announcement. He’s expected to be sidelined for 14 to 16 months, the team provides.
Wentz was the 40th overall pick of the 2016 draft. He came to the Detroit organization last summer, along with outfielder Travis Demeritte, in the deal that sent reliever Shane Greene to the Braves.
This decision didn’t exactly come out of nowhere, as Wentz had dealt with forearm issues this spring. But the 22-year-old had gone back on the mound recently in hopes of moving past the health problems and preparing for the season.
Just what precipitated the decision on a surgical approach isn’t know. It’s certainly possible that Wentz suffered a setback or that the decision tipped towards an invasive procedure given the delay of the 2020 campaign.
Regardless, it’s now clear that Wentz won’t take the mound again for competitive action until the middle of the 2021 season. The Tigers won’t have any 40-man roster issues to worry about for the 2020 season, as Wentz wasn’t yet on it. But he would be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this coming winter if he isn’t protected.
It’s unfortunate timing for Wentz, who trended up after last summer’s swap. In his five Double-A outings with the Tigers organization, he spun 25 2/3 innings of 2.10 ERA ball while racking up an impressive 37:4 K/BB ratio.
yikes
old Al Avila is just batting 1.000, ain’t he?
I mean its not like Shane Greene is doing so good either.
They still have tons of good pitching in that system
So Avila deserves praise for dealing an asset (that had value at the time), for garbage? That’s quite the loser’s mentality.
Yeah it’s his fault the guy had TJ.
Wentz wasn’t garbage. He was a pretty highly regarded pitching prospect in the braves system, which is saying something cause the braves have one of the best systems in terms of pitching talent.
Pitching is volatile in the sense that they’re most likely to get injured.
It’s Tommy John surgery not thoratic outlet surgery. Wentz should make a nice recovery.
Also, Greene may have been pitching well but his salary being off the books was a win for the tigers.
Let’s all just pretend this is the only instance of Avila being one of the most inept GM in all of baseball. Avila has dealt numerous assets of value away from the Tigers organization, and what does he have to show for it? Excuses? That’s all he has to show for his trades so far. Excuses. Wentz was, and is garbage, and now he is injured garbage. Beyond that, Avila has signed Jordan Zimmerman and Justin Upton. I’m sure you’ll invoke the excuse practice here again though and blame that on Mr .Illitch. Avila traded JD Martinez for garbage. Traded Verlander for garbage. Failed to move Fulmer when all signs pointed to a prime opportunity to do so, and didn’t learn his lesson, refusing to trade Boyd in a very similar scenario. (Probably for the best though, right? – since he’d likely have traded them for garbage as well). Castellanos dealt for garbage. Example after failed example, after failure, after inept, moronic trade and signing. Old Al is batting 1.000, just as I said. But go ahead and defend with excuses, die on that hill taking the bullet for a historically awful GM.
Nailed that guy’s reputation and track record.
The Late Al Avila was put in charge after the owner’s temper tantrum at the prior GM. The owner’s son leaving him there was very Millenesque for a fan base who have suffered through the likes of Clueless Al in past forms.
Wake them up when this farm system drafts and develops a position player of note at the MLB level. It has been a long slumber.
Still would love to hear how Wentz is garbage. TJ is not the end of the world and more than likely will have more life on his fastball with a successful surgery.
There was next to zero market at the time for both JD and JV.
This is a fact. Been saying this for a long time. The White Sox went through a period of training veterans for blue chippers, and the White Sox are about to explode on the scene. The Tigers traded, as you say, Verlander, Martinez, et al, and came away with nothing. Joker of a GM.
1. Nobody said Al Avila was a good gm. What we did say was Wentz was a great get for trading Greene and his 9+ mill salary away.
2. Verlander and Martinez had no value. Verlander was in decline and his contract was atrocious. The fact they got out from under that money was nice. Martinez was a DH in final year of his contract. If traded his new team could not issue a qualifying offer to recoup value which hurt his value even more.
3. Castellanos was in the same boat as Martinez. A DH hitter in final year of his contract. Nobody was gonna give up much for hitter they can’t place in the field.
Demeritte has 4 HRs this spring in 16 ABs…..
Wentz wasn’t going to help the Tigers win a world series this season or even next., it’s pathetic and stupid to blame Al for this injury; the rebuild doesn’t change with this TJS.
Sale, Quintana, Eaton, and Sieman were young talent, at low salaries, signed to long term extensions. That’s hardly the same as trading Verlander at $25MM per year, or half a season of JDM or Castellanos. If the White Sox had built around that core, instead of trading it away, they would have likely win a division title by now. Instead, they are hoping to break .500.
There’s a lot more to a team than Sale, Quintana, and Eaton. Cleveland was also pretty darn good too. You know a rotation of Kluber,Carrasco, Bauer, and Salazar was pretty good. Then you had Clevinger and Bieber fill in when some of those guys had dropped off. Jose Ramirez was an MVP candidate and Frankie Lindor could play some baseball….
Semien was not very good when Chicago traded him. The player he became this year in Oakland was not expected. And it’s only really been a 1 year breakout. Eaton misses about half the baseball games in a season on average. I’d say they’re in a much better place having Lucas Giolito.
No one likes a rebuild but the Sox did pretty good.
Tigers can’t catch a break.
Welp. Looks like the Braves got the value we needed in this trade. Obviously he can come back a very good pitcher, don’t get me wrong. His ceiling just lowered a little. I’ll be the first to admit it… I hated getting rid of Wentz. Barring an injury, I thought he was at worse a really good #3-4 pitcher.
Tarik Skubal would beg to differ
Wasn’t the saving from drafting Ian Anderson underslot spent on Wentz, taken #40 overall in the same 2016 Draft? Thankfully, Anderson has looked like a coup so far.
Yea him and Muller. I’ll say this, that draft appears to have been really well done to this point. Lot of guys on that list competing for mlb jobs and performing in the minors. Lot more than other teams can say. Don’t get me wrong… couple bust but still really well done
John Hart once said that if you want 2 average starting pitchers, you need 10 prospects.
Yep…….man makes sense when he talks.
I am assuming those 10 prospects were signed to inflated verbal agreements as packaged deals that violate MLB international signee restrictions and won’t be acknowledged by Hart, before he is quietly demoted upon leaving the organization to take a cushy studio analyst job for MLB that 3 months prior suspended the GM under his watch for life.
But I am only assuming.
I feel bad for a young guy with a dream, but he will get past this and make it to the bigs. He’ll lose his age 22 season, come back at age 23, and probably make it to MLB at age 24. Not the end of the world.
Of course that is not the end of the world. We are already at the end of the world. But I feel fine.
Well, as we know it.
This is exactly why you don’t rebuild around young pitching…….
This is a great time to get Tommy John surgery, if you like seeing traces of silver linings on very dark clouds.
He might not miss an inning.
Jeez some negative people here. I always liked this guy’s talent in the Braves system. If he comes back at 23-24 it shouldn’t be a big deal
The way things are being delayed, Fulmer might be ready to go on opening day.
Not sure that’s a good thing. I’ve seen him pitch.
Sounds like you watched him pitch with a sore arm. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him win a Cy Young award sometime. Hopefully with the Tigers.
Sucks to see another young arm with promise forced to go under the knife. But there is still time for Wentz to get back, reach the bigs and be a good pitcher for the Tigers.
The TJS will continue to pile up, unfortunately.
I hope Chris Sale is not on deck…
ugh. Come on.
Joey Wentz was a top 10 prospect in a highly rated Braves farm system.
He is rated as a top or mid rotation starter.
Or, he could be an excellent bullpen piece …
He will be 23 or 24 with a rebuilt TJ arm better than New.
Joey Wentz finished last season at Double-A Erie. In five starts with the SeaWolves, he was 2-0 with a 2.10 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 37 strikeouts in 25.2 innings pitched.
Wentz’s crazy stint in AA with the Tigers coincides with a horrifying 20% groundball rate
Unfortunate. But if there was a time to have it done, it is this year.
Unfortunate that so many look to this as a reason to run him or the team and its GM down. Injuries like this are just not under the control of the team or the GM. Heal quickly Joey, look forward to you coming back in 2021.
Totally agree doc, also saying Avila made terrible trades with Martinez, Castellanos or Verlander is pretty idiotic. No one wanted them at the time.
Avila has made some dumb moves, but talking about the return on those trades and comparing them to the Sale return is stupid.
Farm finally beginning to look strong, we should be back soon if we are willing to spend once this pitching is ready.