White Sox right-handed reliever Jimmy Cordero underwent Tommy John surgery on Thursday, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The procedure was successful, though Cordero won’t pitch this year.
The hard-throwing Cordero, who appeared in the majors with the Nationals and Blue Jays from 2018-19, joined the White Sox as a waiver claim from the Mariners in the latter of those two seasons. He has since given the White Sox 62 2/3 innings of 4.16 ERA/3.95 SIERA pitching with a 55.1 percent groundball rate. Cordero struggled to keep runs off the board last year, when he logged a 6.07 ERA over 26 2/3 frames, but his peripherals indicated that he deserved better results.
While Cordero did lead the White Sox with 30 appearances in 2020, the 29-year-old was not a sure bet to earn a season-opening roster spot this spring, James Fegan of The Athletic notes. Chicago’s Cordero-less bullpen still boasts the likes of Liam Hendriks, Aaron Bummer, Evan Marshall, Matt Foster, Garrett Crochet, Codi Heuer and Michael Kopech.
Rack up another one. Seem to be averaging one a week. Another job opening.
@WereAllJustGuestsHere
It’s too bad he’s another in a long line of TJS recipients, but I doubt he was going to make the 26-man roster anyway.
Still, I wish him a speedy and successful recovery.
83 I agree. Unfortunately MLB doesn’t see this as a problem. Otherwise they’d test new rules in the minors to benefit pitchers. Why address the arm injuries when the league needs to make bases bigger?
And just what kind of rules would prevent this injury?
Does anyone want to join an online fantasy baseball league just for some of us MLBTR commenters? I’m setting one up and I want to play against serious owners who have real knowledge, care about their team and won’t quit. It’s an open invitation to anyone that really wants to as long as they will maintain their team. It’s totally free and no money involved. Who wants to join?
I’m down to clown
I got u secret, u know anyone else that wants to join?
I’m down
u too stp. We are gonna have to figure out how to communicate because I have to invite. I think I’m just gonna comment a burner e-mail address and you guys can e-mail me so I can invite you. It’s gonna be on ESPN’s fantasy baseball site.
If it’s espn sign my ass up
Yeah I might be interested
secretsatan, stp, downeysoft, stevep-4: gmail address: TheAtlantaBravesGuy
email me there. They don’t allow email addresses posted in the comment section of this site for some reason.
or you can post your emails or another way to reach you here. I posted my address so u don’t have to but I’m pretty sure there has to be an e-mail invite from me for anyone to join the league. I think this will be fun. I actually somehow managed to get both Mike Trout and Juan Soto in my other league and it was snake draft so I didn’t have to blow my bank to get them.
I’ll play
email me fishy. TheAtlantaBravesGuy@Gmail.com
Yeah it’s getting pretty nuts, right? Like “Ho hum, another TJ.”
Yet another victim falls to Big Arm Guard.
It’s an epidemic Nebraska. Before your time there used to be strong men who played baseball. Good to see you recognize what’s reality.
Why do you think it’s arm guards, rather than kids starting pitching from a young age, working all year around and throwing harder? To me, maybe arm guards are a very very miniscule reason. However, how many of these kids are throwing harder, all year around?
mlb kids have been throwing all year round for over a century.
The arm guards have rose to prominence since the strike. It is no coincidence the stark drop in innings, rise in TJS, rise in scoring, rise in strikeouts for hitters (it has lead to poor discipline thanks to comfort), massive rise in velocity.
More important, it’s a performance enhancer for hitters. It’s cheating and gaining an advantage. That’s enough to ban them.
I mean, not really. Up until even the 70’s, guys got jobs in the off season, like non-baseball related jobs, because pro-sport didn’t pay all that well. They weren’t throwing all year around, on training programs, etc. Sure they were staying in shape, but the difference in how often players were training in the 60’s compared to today is way different. Today, sending your kid to a baseball clinic/camp in fall/winter, or having them play in a fall league happens way more often than it did in the past.
I agree, that the drop in innings pitched, rise in strikeouts, and massive rise in velocity probably contributes to the problem, but I doubt that arm guards are a direct cause of an increase in velocity. Guys in 1920 were throwing way softer than guys in 1970, and guys in 2020 are throwing way harder than guys in 1970. Baseball, like any sport, just gets faster, more physically demanding and hader on the body as we learn how to throw harder, how to run faster, hit harder, etc. Walter Johnson topped out around 93 MPH with his four seam fastball, and he was considered the hardest thrower in baseball at the time. Today. that’s the average 4-seam fastball velocity.
Today, we have biomechanics to learn how to do all of that. I recently attended the SABR Virtual conference, and there’s a whole bunch of new technology on how to track body movements and we’re using that information today to teach guys how to use their whole body to throw, leading to harder thrown pitches. I feel that has more to do with the rise in TJ surgery rather than arm guards if we’re directly telling players how to throw harder.
Also, yes, there has been a large increase in the number of kids going to baseball camps. In 2011, just 12.6 million children were attending baseball camps. In 2017, that reached 15.64 million. The study found that the highest mark was in 2007, but has been on the rise since ’11.
The explosion of Travel Team baseball has been the greatest contributor to arm injuries. Kids are logging a lot more innings on their arms at ages as early as 9 these days. It ultimately catches up as the parts start to wear out and break.
It’s not travel baseball. At least that’s too simple.
It’s the strength training. The arm already isn’t designed to throw overhand in the first place. Added muscle and torque just places more stress on the arm.
I believe something like 20 or 25% of pro-ball pitchers have had TJS. It’s crazy.
Yeah stinks for Cordero but his soon to be 60 day IL stint opens up roster spot for Vaughn or Lucroy.
Too bad for this kid though I felt like his spot was pretty fragile. That said, it sure doesn’t surprise me. It got to the point last year where I thought of him as “every day Jimmy” – seemed like he was called in a lot, He got lit up a few times but most often gave the Sox some serviceable innings. Smells a bit like overuse to me but guys on the fringe don’t really have a choice. I hope that his surgery is successful and that he gets a chance somewhere when recovered.
Nailed it TN. Travel ball didn’t do in Cordero! Ban organizations from abusing fringe relievers or abusing relievers in walk years. Cordero was always out there. I think they even used him in both games of double headers.
Pitchers have suffered sore arms for as long as baseballs have been thrown in anger. Its just that now medical science has a diagnosis and there are surgical alternatives. Really nothing has changed but the names.
Unfortunate news for Jimmy Cordero. That said, he was a sure bet not to make the White Sox opening day roster since he had a 3-game suspension still outstanding for hitting Cubs catcher Willson Contreras during the final regular weekend series last year. Cordero also has another option year remaining making him an even greater bet to start the 2021 season at the team’s alternate site on April 1st prior to his injury.
Cordero can now be placed on the 60-day IL which will open up a 40-man roster spot for either NRI Jonathan Lucroy or Andrew Vaughn as ‘whosyourmomma’ already pointed out. The White Sox reserve roster is currently full at 40 as I post.
@Aaron Sapoznik
I forgot about his suspension.
Assuming Cease and Rodon lock down the 4th and 5th spots, the bullpen should be (in no order):
Hendriks, Bummer, Kopech, Crochet, Heuer, Foster, Marshall, and Lopez.
They should get Fry back somewhere in May, which I’m curious who will be the odd man out at that point. Of course, one of those 8 might be injured at the time Fry is ready to come back, which makes that decision much easier.
If Lopez can thrive in the pen, there might not be a weak spot in that pen. But you never know who might regress, relievers are so volatile. Still, it has the makings of a very strong pen. I guess we will see soon enough in a couple weeks. I can’t wait for OD.
I’m not sure Fry would make it back on the roster if everyone performs well.
Otherwise, I’d suspect it would be Foster if there are any signs of regression, or Kopech if they want to stretch him out in minors.
I personally would dump Lopez, as I think we have seen enough, but they may not be confident that any roomie starters could step in if Kopech not ready.
@maximumvelocity
I agree there might not be any for Fry at that point. The one thing he has going for him, which is a luxury and not a necessity, is he would give them a 3rd lefty. That might be a big deal for TLR, who knows.
I’m for giving Lopez that last chance in the pen, but have him on a pretty short leash. They can’t afford to have him blow too many games early. By the time Fry is ready, we should know if Lopez is worth keeping.
I blame Renteria for this. Ridiculous number of appearances last year.
Not sure what Renteria was supposed to do. The guys expected to help either got hurt or were ineffective, and they had no consistency out of fourth and fifth starters.
Absolutely. I also don’t get all the Rick Renteria criticism when it came to the White Sox pitching staff. If anyone is to blame why not pitching coach Don Cooper?
For most of those years that Tony LaRussa was putting together his HOF resume with the White Sox, A’s and Cardinals he leaned heavily on his pitching coach Dave Duncan who certainly had more expertise with pitchers as a former big league catcher than TL had as a reserve infielder. Renteria’s playing background was similar to that of LaRussa so it only made sense that he deferred to Cooper in much the same manner.
Good managers will generally take the bullet for a team’s fortunes but also delegate responsibility to their coaching staff. The buck may stop with the skipper but successful ones also need to lean on and trust their staffs.
Btw: The White Sox have formulated a crack coaching staff this offseason in support of their new manager including plenty of analytical inclined younger coaches. LaRussa was part of that recruitment. I don’t believe that the front office helped Renteria in quite the same manner while he was managing the team in the midst of their rebuild.
It’s a fair criticism Cubs. I don’t get why so many posters feel Renteria is above any critique? I liked him but he made mistakes like everyone else.
I wonder what the rate of Tommy John surgeries are now to early pitcher retirements in the past are. We’ve seen a huge rise in TJ sugreries over the last decade or so, but are we just getting better at detecting them and treating arm injuries rather than a true rise in arms in need of Tommy John surgery? I also think it has a bit to do with how fast news travels these days too. In the article when Blake Cederlind got hurt and placed on the 60-day DL, I said that maybe the reason it seems there are so many Tommy John surgeries anymore is because we get information on them almost immediatley. If this was like 1990, how many people would have known outside of the Chicago White Sox fanbase would have known a fringe reliever was undergoing the season-ending surgery within the hour of the details being released?
Ovbisously, there’s a lot more to it than how fast news travels and how we diagnose injuries anymore. Players are playing younger, more frequently and are throwing harder. In my area, I started facing kids pitching when I was just 8-9 years old. Some of the kids I faced then are still pitching in college. Note, I’m in my 20’s now. Not only have they been pitching for 10-12 years, but they’ve also done stuff like go to baseball camps in the winter/fall and trained all off season.
Then there’s the issue of breaking balls. Breaking balls are harder on the arm than a fastball. Slider usage has risen a fair amount, I think from like 10% in 2010 to over 13% now. Not only are they being thrown more frequently, but the velocity of sliders is also rising.
It has to do with strength training.
All sorts of ligament injuries have risen since you began to see a greater emphasis on gaining bulk. That across all spots, and even in extreme exercise.
Keep in might that in many cases, an Athlete who bulks up is still technically overweight, even if they had little BMI. And the added weight and torque produced places greater stress on the ligaments.
I will always think Jake Burger would have been fine if they hadn’t of put him on an extreme workout regimen. His body gained too much muscle too quickly.
I wonder if TJS are also up due to pitchers not having a rhythm on the mound, and not getting it and throwing it. Now its, throwing a pitch, wait to get it back, walk around the mound, play with their
#$%^ for 5 minutes, chip at the dirt in front of the rubber for 5 minutes, go through 20 signs with the catcher.. repeat. You have to wonder if more pitchers just got it and threw it that not only would the game be faster but you’d see less arm issues.(and obviously get the batter into the box faster)
@nrd1138 – It is not always the fault of the pitcher for the “getting it and throwing it”. I am sure there are many on this board who can tell you about Mike Hargrove during his playing days when he was known as the “Human Rain Delay” for his batting ritual at the plate.
I don’t mean to sound callous, but losing Cordero is an immediate upgrade for this team. I wish him well, but hood riddance.
*good riddance.
Your point is solid. But there is some value to having a rubber arm guy to eat meaningless innings to keep everyone else fresh. Although when the arm isn’t so rubber it isn’t fair to the reliever in the long run.
First, you mean to sound callous. Just own it.
Second, this is not an immediate upgrade.
Cordero was bad last season.
Reynaldo Lopez was even worse. More walks, more home runs allowed, horrendous FIP, higher WHIP, worse ERA, worse ERA+.
Cordero has also been a significantly better pitcher over the past two years.
Frankly, I’d would have much rather had Cordero doing mop-up duty than Lopez. But it looks like Cordero may have an excuse now for why he was so bad last season.
What is Lopez’s excuse?
Dude, I don’t know what Jimmy Cordero you’ve been watching “over the past two years”. The Cordero I’ve seen was a disaster for this team.
He’s the type of reliever opposing lineups love to see late in games (throws hard in the zone with no movement). All he did was blow leads.
I never said Cordero was great. Only that Lopez has been much worse.
He has been one of the worst, if not the worst, starting pitchers over the past two seasons, and he’s been bad once again in spring training.
Nobody said anything about Lopez. He’s obviously somebody’s pet project way up in the hierarchy, but he should be gone.