MARCH 17: Surgery has not been recommended for Valdez, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic tweets. Valdez will head back to spring training to rehab, but there’s no timeline for a return to the mound.
MARCH 6: Framber Valdez has not yet given up on pitching in 2021. He is considering avoiding surgery and rehabbing his broken ring finger with an eye on returning later this season, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). Earlier reports suggested Valdez might miss the entire season after being recommended for surgery. Clearly, a final decision has yet to be made.
Despite the signing of Jake Odorizzi to a two-year deal, the Astros would, of course, welcome a healthy Valdez back into the fold. Still, that Houston felt the need to go out and finalize a deal for Odorizzi less than a week after the Valdez injury suggests they aren’t all that optimistic, writes Jake Kaplan of the Athletic. Even if Valdez returns, however, he’s likely to miss a decent chunk of time.
One of the breakout stars of the 2020 postseason, Valdez rode his signature curveball to a 1.88 ERA in four playoff appearances while striking out 29 percent of opponents. That effort built on a quieter but no less encouraging 3.57 ERA/2.85 FIP over 70 ⅔ innings during the regular season.
I still don’t understand why the surgery would make him miss the whole season. I get that because it’s on his pitching hand it will take longer to recover from, but don’t people recover from broken limbs pretty quickly?
I’d guess there’s ligament damage and it’s not a simple broken bone
Has to be. Hard to imagine a simple fracture that’s catastrophic enough to put someone out of action for six whole months. Has to be some kind of soft tissue issue as well.
Ligament rehab is very hard for fingers. Ligaments are like rubber bands and finger bones are small. Rehab involves manually stretching that finger over and over to stretch it back out to normal after surgery. It can be very painful and usually less than 100% mobility afterwards.
Solid comment, also may be why he wants to avoid surgery, but ligaments don’t just heal on their own and fingers in general take a long time to heal due to less overall blood flow.
The reporting on this has been poor. This is the most obvious question and no reporter has published an answer.
It’s his wiping hand
I’m literally on the floor.
Perfect!
Its a medical issue and he has the right to privacy. HIPA laws prevent the release of anything he does not wish released.
Told you so.
Arrogance is not a virtue.
I repent.
A). What does later in the season mean? July? August? If that is the case, is it even worth screwing with? If it doesn’t work, he risks losing more time, potentially next year. Now if it is May, and then if it does not work, then maybe he has enough time to have the surgery, and be ready mid Feb for the opening of camp.
All they really have to do is place him on the 60 day and hope he gets better. They signed Odorizzi to a nice deal to replace his spot in the rotation and Valdez is not gonna take a spot on the 40 man. He can rehab as long as he needs to and maybe they get a late boost at the end of the year
No amount of rehab can prevent karma.
BANG ON THAT TRASH CAN!
Karma injured Framber, who was in AA when the 2017 Astros cheated, and most of said cheaters have since moved on to other teams or retirement? Karma must be drunk.
What an ignorant post.
What else would you expect from all the Houston haters out there?
not saying what hou did was right no one should have a career threatening injury over it. no amount of blood will wash away the stain they put on themselves when they didn’t need to there were good enough to win in 17 without cheating. i can also see where the cheating spiraled out of control an organization desperate for there 1st ever ws might make you do some questionable things.
Two comments because I can’t figure out where else to put them. 1) I appreciate the COVID notes. Since it potentially impacts rosters, service time, injury lists, and, occasionally has significant health implications, it’s info I want to know. 2) while I’d like to see open commenting as much as possible, if the price of getting the info is closing comments, so be it.
Agreed on both points.
We are at 537,119 this morning. Out of the countries that have populations larger than our seventh largest state, we have the third highest per capita rate. By the way, 80 countries have populations larger than our seventh largest state. That points to how bad of a job that we have done. We are leveling off but still may experience a fourth spike before all is calmed down. Truly sad.
Fortunately, the experience of baseball players with COVID has been relatively mild. Probably due to youth and good health but also could be related to the degree of exposure to the virus. Baseball has mostly done a very good job with players but needs to also protect fans. Sure, I would like to turn on a game and see cheering fans in the stands but not if it’s done without proper protocols. I actually think baseball and sports have done a better job than the general population of avoiding the politics for something that in no way shape or form is political. But then when people get stupid politics is not far behind. They’re mostly lawyers after all. What do you expect?
We are “leveling off” because we are testing less. It’s simple, basic math. Add the numbers of those who already had Covid to those who have been vaccinated to those who have passed away. Of course we are going to level off. We will also probably see another, shorter spike with all the restrictions being loosened and spring break in full swing.
Look’s like the Stro’s finally got fingered?
No, they didn’t. This seems lazy
Classic Yank!
I watched the game where he got hurt and it looked like such an innocent play. Stinks that he may miss the season because of it
Framber will be back after 6-8 weeks or so if I were to guess (based on other players TLs who had a similar injury) and Verlander will be back for the playoffs. LFG!!!
Will they be attempting to win honestly in they make it this time?
4 straight ALCS appearances, 2 WS (that went 7) and just missed a 3rd last season by a game. You’re mad about 1 season. Maybe the 5th successful season will convince you to trust. I doubt it will and I don’t care. It sucks when the team you hate is actually THAT GOOD.
Wasn’t this the plan a year ago with Verlander? I’m sure there are differences between the two but this seems like a similar song and dance.
Except one is a bone fracture in a finger and the other was ligament damage in an elbow. Totally different animal. Also, had there been no significant improvement as far as healing in that finger, Framber likely would be having surgery. Verlander was trying to salvage a season and went against medical advice, since he was facing having to have Tommy John regardless. He just pushed things until he had no choice. Framber actually has shown improvement.
Well, I hope that broken ring finger with an eye heals correctly when he returns, if that’s his plan. Ring fingers with eyes are very rare, special even.
Has it been disclosed exactly where in the finger Valdez has the injury? As in what part of the finger?