AUGUST 17: Yates went for a second opinion with elbow specialist Dr. Keith Meister on Monday, and now expectations are that he’ll undergo season-ending surgery, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Yates would need six-plus weeks to recover from the procedure.
AUGUST 16: Yates’ MRI revealed bone chips in the back of his elbow, manager Jayce Tingler told reporters (including Dennis Lin of the Athletic). He’ll head for a second opinion on Monday.
AUGUST 15: The Padres have placed reliever Kirby Yates on the 10-day injured list with right elbow inflammation, the team announced. His roster spot will be taken by right-handed pitcher David Bednar, who has been recalled.
Yates is set to undergo an MRI today to clarify the injury to Yates’s elbow, which forced the 33-year-old out of last night’s game against the D-Backs. It was initially described as discomfort in “the back of his elbow.”
It had been a slow start to the season for the defending NL saves leader, who has thus far posted an uncharacteristic 12.46 ERA in 4 1/3 innings. His usual strikeout production has been there, but that’s been offset by an equally high number of walks (8 K/4 BB).
While the injury to Yates is an unquestionable blow to the San Diego bullpen, manager Jayce Tingler will have several options at his disposal to close games, including Emilio Pagan, Craig Stammen, and Drew Pomeranz. The latter two combined for just 10 career saves prior to this season, but Pomeranz has amassed four saves this year and has been the Padres’ most reliable reliever thus far. Pagan, meanwhile, was an accomplished closer for the Rays last year.
That explains his struggles
Back issues/spasms/pain is the worst. I hope Kirbs is OK long term, for his own well-being.
Umm…the pain is in the back of his elbow, not in his back. But I do agree, back pain/spasms are the worst!
Yes IL for elbow but his back is what has been bothering him. Let’s hope he is OK on both!
Does this mean Yates is headed for Tommy John surgery?
No, it means he will have the bone fragments removed via arthroscopic surgery
Pain or discomfort in one part of the body often causes a person to overcompensate and can lead to problems elsewhere. The human body is interdependent, it’s not just a collection of joints, bones and tissue.
@ larry: Not for bone spurs.
Add him to the list. I expected some pitching injuries but its really adding up more so than I thought. You can throw hitters into that as well. I know there is no simulation for real games but I figured throwing a “side session” at home or taking cuts and shagging balls would help a little bit during the shut down to mitigate the stop and start. Who knows how seriously players took it, especially with those drawn out negotiations thru the media. Maybe the mlbpa sent poor signals to players about a season at all. Again I dont know. But what ever the reason it doesn’t look like players are holding up…
Looks like a lot of injuries today
Farewell to Arms…..
Nice! The 2020 season in a nutshell so far. Injuries are in the rise, but the sun also rises. A lot of minor league guys will get a chance to play. Good opportunities for whom the bell tolls.
Indeed! This abbreviated season with games postponed has been A Tale of Two Cities…..(Miami & St. Louis). It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
So true, and it looks like the Indians were having a hard time following the rules while On The Road but they still have Great Expectations for a deep playoff run!
You an Ernest Hemmingway fan or something?
Boy I feel silly. I didn’t realize Hemmingway wrote Farewell to Arms. I got that book mixed up with Fitzgerald.
Upvote for the Hemingway stuff.
Yates throwing motion looks violent on his elbow and on top of that he throws splitters. Not good.
shouldve just traded him too be honest. as good as he is they did just adda bunch more in the offseason.
We missed our chance last season. I get he is a great guy to have in the clubhouse and he had pitch amazing but how long did we really expect this to last at his age?
Hindsight is something that never happens in sports this team right now is terrible starts from the Mgr on down.
That’s what I’ve thought for some time now. He had already established himself as an elite top-shelf closet. I understand the Padres like their guys a lot but they have an abundance of capable guys that could fill in—guys like Drew Pomeranz, Emilio Pagan, Craig Stammen, Adrian Morejon, Michael Baez and I’ve heard a ton of say that Cal Quantrill could be their closer of the future.
Regardless, they have a few holes they could plug by trading Yates, who could get a decent haul, all things considered. .
Good splitters are like good knuckleballs and changeups, they do not decline with age. Example: Trevor Hoffman.
THis team is coming apart at the seams. Tingler leaves his RP’s in too long. Besides bringing in the wrong arms and not showing much of anything on pitch hitting in crucial situations. Too many runners left on base. Right now it seems like Tingler is over his head. Feel for the guy five game skid and the team seems listless. Lamet, Paddack, Richards showing some good signs but our relief pitching is terrible. He needs to move Chronworth up in the line up move Pham down to sixth or seventh. Even with Pham Myers Yates on IL we should be showing better results than the way their playing. Btw were the only team in baseball who have two C’s who can’t hit over .150 BA. The wild card may be a thing that doesn’t happen this year and if not FIRE TINGLER.
Give Tingler 60 games then give him the boot? Wow. I am going to guess that you have never ordered a souffle and your wife has never come anywhere close to satisfaction. 30 seconds and on to the next thing for you, right? Patience is a virtue and 60 games doesn’t even come close to requiring patience.
I am tired of waiting for 20 years or so to get to a playoff game. Let’s face it the Padres are playing up to their expectations now and that’s now saying much.
We are the laughing stock of baseball year after year even the Marlins are showing better to this point. We need a C who can at least hit their weight.
Mejia a total bust thus far, pass balls and his BA is a joke. I say send Mejia down and bring up another C in our system. I don’t see Tingler making moves for a 60 game season, leaving in his RP too long, not pitch hitting, no hit n runs, etc.
So wrong. I am a Dbacks fan and you guys have an interesting team this year and the years to come. I do believe the Padres were overhyped this year so maybe you just had your mind washed up too much in the preseason but don’t become desperate.
*Deeep* breath, bro @nowheretogo.
In with the good air out with the bad.
Padres have something going on. We can *all* see it.
The Padres endured many years of bad ownership They traded away lots of good players and never really made an effort until relatively recently to improve the team. This last rebuild was an effort that started from scratch.
Those players are finally starting to all mature I personally think they are still a year or two away from serious contention, but at least they are entertaining now.
How dare you – the Pirates are the laughingstock of baseball, and don’t you forget it!
I’d happily trade organizations with you, any time.
Sincerely,
A Die-hard (is there any other kind?) Pirates Fan
@nowheretogobutup How can you have been waiting for 20 years for them to get to a playoff game when you are 12?
The issue is that he’s already shown traits that aren’t going to change and are just bad. I’ve always been the one with past managers to say “give them a bit more time” but Tingler has shown early that he just doesn’t have it. We should have gone for someone with proven experience, not taken a huge risk, and it is going to backfire.
Very few managers in any sport or job start out successful. Making the right moves consistently takes years.
I do agree that his pitching decisions have cost games.
Man right before FA too. Bone fragments getting removed is definitely a big deal. If the UCL is injured or stretched, the bone usually absorbs stress to compensate. Hopefully that isn’t the case and he does avoid surgery and bounce back next year.
Another reliever that the Padres probably held on too long to. The return for him would have been insane in 2018 or 2019. No need to fall in love with or heavily invest in relievers when you can just put anyone in that park and get decent production from relievers.
So true. Relievers come and go and countless relievers have had Yates’ career track. Having a great reliever, who kinda came out of no where, on a team that isn’t really ready to challenge to go deep into the playoffs is a luxury.
I know he hasn’t panned out yet, but look at what the Padres got for Hand (plus Cimber), a top 20 prospect at the time in Mejia. Just no point in holding onto volatile relievers when you aren’t going anywhere and every game you have them their value decreases.
I think they got caught up wanting to extend him and as a result of thinking that they could get a deal done they didn’t move him at the deadline last year when they should have. Then when the off-season rolled around they just wound up giving Pomeranz all of that money.
Yates was making $6.5M this year, probably would have signed like a Will Smith 3/$39 type deal so when they signed Pomeranz to a 4/$34, in my mind it felt like it was inevitable that they weren’t going to be able to extend Kirby and would end up slotting Pomeranz in at closer next year.
Hindsights always 20/20, but if they were going to lock up another reliever, they should have moved Yates last year. I guess the flip side is right now Pomeranz for 4/$34 looks better than having Yates locked up long term.
@CNichols assuming that the player will sign an extension and then it blowing up in his face is a recurring theme with Preller (see J. Upton, F. Galvis, calling up Tatis and Paddack early).
But in Yates’ case holding onto him made sense if you thought the team could contend, regardless of an extension. A lights-out closer makes the game 1 inning shorter for your opponents and when the sample sizes are smaller as they are this year, that’s even more valuable. People will say that bullpen arms (especially 32 year old ones) are volatile but Yates showed zero signs of slowing down in 2019. They will say that the Padres’ bullpen was deep enough to withstand losing him but if you have been watching the games this year you’d know that that’s not the case. They will say that the Padres can’t just lose him for nothing but if 2020 was anywhere close to 2017-19 for Yates he’d have been an easy QO.
You can get decent production from any reliever in Petco Park NotoriousVC? Have you even watched the Padres this year? We could trade Hand only because we had Yates. Who would have been our closer if we had traded Yates? Stammen?
Sad end to a great career. See you in Cooperstown Mr. Yates!
Cooperstown? Both you and Yates will have to pay admission to get into the HOF.
At this point, guys like David Price, Marcus Stroman, Mike Leake, and especially Michael Kopech are looking like they made the right call.
I mean look at the pitchers we’ve seen go down already with significant injuries: Shohei Ohtani, Corey Kluber, Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke, Mike Soroka, Cole Hamels, Carlos Rodon, Miles Mikolas; plus relievers like Aaron Bummer, Tommy Kahnle, Keone Kela, Reyes Moranta, Seranthony Dominguez, Roberto Osuna, etc.
At this point, I’m glad Kopech opted out.