Reds reliever Tejay Antone announced (on Twitter) that he will undergo Tommy John surgery tomorrow. It’ll be the second time of the right-hander’s career, as Antone previously underwent the procedure in 2017.
It’s a disappointing, if not especially surprising, development. Antone spent most of the past few months on the injured list with forearm troubles. He was activated from the IL on Tuesday but pulled himself from that night’s game just five pitches amidst obvious discomfort. Cincinnati placed him back on the IL yesterday with what the team termed a forearm strain.
While no timetable has been announced, it seems likely Antone will miss the entire 2022 season. Tommy John procedures often require fourteen-plus months of recovery time, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the team is particularly cautious with Antone’s rehab given that he’s already undergone the procedure once before.
It’s a notable blow for the Reds, as Antone has been the club’s best reliever. The 27-year-old worked 33 2/3 innings across 23 appearances as a high-leverage weapon, pitching to a 2.14 ERA. Antone punched out hitters at a massive 32.8% clip on the back of an above-average 12.9% swinging strike rate. It’s the second consecutive high-end season to begin Antone’s MLB career, as he broke into the big leagues with 35 1/3 frames of 2.80 ERA ball in 2020.
Despite Antone’s contributions, the bullpen has been a problem for the Reds for much of the year. Cincinnati relievers have a 5.27 ERA that ranks 28th in the league, while they’re closer to middle-of-the-pack in SIERA (4.07) and strikeout/walk rate differential (14.3 percentage points). They’ve been marginally better since remaking their bullpen the week of the trade deadline — when they acquired Luis Cessa, Justin Wilson and Mychal Givens — but Reds’ relievers still have an even 5.00 ERA over the past thirty days. Antone has been on the injured list for almost all of that time already, but holding late leads will be all the more difficult with no possibility of him making it back at this point. At 69-59, the Reds hold a one-game advantage over the Padres in the NL Wild Card race.
Antone will likely be placed on the 60-day injured list whenever the Reds need a spot on the 40-man roster. He’ll need to return to the 40-man over the offseason but can go back on the 60-day IL for the entirety of next season. Antone will continue to accrue service time on the IL and is scheduled to reach arbitration eligibility for the first time after the 2022 campaign.
Well, at least he accrues major league service time…
Get better Tejay!
He accrues service time IF the Reds choose to keep him. It is possible that after the second TJ surgery, they might non-tender him this offseason. It might seem heartless, but it’s the right thing to do roster-wise if you have any doubt about his ability to come back.
Of course, another team could always sign him and stash him on the 60 day IL in which case he would still get service time. Might make more sense for a club without a Rule 5 jam up to use a roster spot. The Reds might be smarter to use the spot to protect a prospect instead.
Reds have plenty of pending FAs and fringe players to create openings for their Rule 5 needs. They’d have to be pretty convinced that Antone’s done to not stash him at the close-to-league-minimum salary they’d be paying.
More talented guys have been non-tendered for worse reasons than a second TJ surgery. I could see NT-ing him and re-signing him to a minor league deal so he can rehab. But to pay him half a million to not help and lose an entire year of his relatively cheap service is just not a smart way to run a team.
Definitely no guarantee he’ll successfully recover enough to merit the relatively minor investment. But the Reds would almost certainly lose Antone to another team if they try to non-tender him.
Probably, but you also have to factor in that he was basically a non-prospect as well. Guys like Antone are all over the minors. Minor league starters that aren’t good enough to be big league starters but could be perfect as big league relievers. It’s possible to get burned by non-tendering him, but it’s also possible to get burned by non-tendering anyone. A small market team like the Reds that is trying to win just can’t afford to pay someone to sit while trying to win. A team like the Dodgers can.
@hiflew, Antone had elite stuff this year. No way you non-tender him given his ML minimum salary with several years of control left. And it has no impact on rule 5, contrary to your post, since he’ll be on 60 day and not taking up a 40 man spot.
@jbryant, Totally agree with the first part of your comment. But after the season ends everyone gets activated from the IL. All players are counted on the 40-man when the Rule 5 draft is conducted. In any case, like I said above, the Reds will still have plenty of room to carry Antone.
This sucks. Hopefully he comes back strong in 2023. Time for the Reds to call up Hunter Greene. They should send Amir Garrett to AAA while they’re at it.
His name entices it
ha
could be worse, his brothers are named “torn acl” and “flexor strain”
dang, that sucks
I agree on Hunter Greene. Solid again yesterday.
Bummer!
sad, love watching this guy pitch. Electric stuff when he is right. Get well soon
Man I feel bad for the guy, hoping for the best for him and looking forward to seeing him pitch again, his stuff is wicked.
BMI = 28.0
And so it goes
Yup.
Reds should have gone to arbitration with Archie Bradley and paid him. .Then left Antone in the 2021 rotation.. This may not have been necessary.
So you think pitching as a reliever caused his elbow problems? Seems to me that pitching more innings likely could have cause his elbow problems earlier. Plus, the Reds wouldn’t have had the good rookie season as a starter from Vlad Gutierrez.
They shouldn’t have traded Iglesias for a half eaten bag of big league chew.
Finally a comment I can agree with lol
There are not many pitchers who are successful after two Tommy John surgeries. The odds of him returning (and being a capable major league pitcher) are very low.
That’s a statistical fact and why CIN is likely to nontender him this winter. He might be ready to start rehab by ST ‘23. Most unfortunate.
Quite frankly, everyone posting on this thread is embarrassing at the moment. I get on here to read insightful comments after working a 24 hour day, this is horrible.
It’s mainly just that AD37 person, not most people commenting on this article.
Maybe you should sleep instead. You might be in a better mood.
Why can’t the Reds bullpen have nice things?
Probably because the incompetent front office got rid of two of their top relievers to save a few dollars and tried replacing the with bargain bin finds at a local garage sale. I would feel a lot more comfortable bringing in Iglesias in the 7th inning than Garret