TODAY: “Surgery is on the table” for Paddack, Dan Hayes of The Athletic tweets, though Paddack is continuing to explore all options.
MAY 8: Twins starter Chris Paddack left today’s game due to inflammation in his right elbow. Paddack pitched into the third inning, retiring the first batter and then allowing two hits before being pulled, following a mound visit from the team trainer. Acting Twins manager Jayce Tingler told reporters (including Betsy Helfand of The St. Paul Pioneer Press) that Paddack started to feel some tightness in his elbow as he started his final frame of work.
More will be known once Paddack undergoes medical testing, but as Helfand notes, this particular injury is worrisome considering Paddack’s history of elbow issues. The right-hander suffered a slight UCL sprain just last September that prematurely ended his 2021 season, and going further back, Paddack underwent a Tommy John surgery in 2016. If the injury isn’t anything more than just inflammation, the Twins could still skip Paddack’s next start for precautionary reasons, or even put him on the 10-day injured list just to ensure that everything is completely fine.
For a club that had so many questions about its rotation heading into the 2022 season, the Twins now finds itself in a situation where they actually have more than enough depth to accommodate a short-term absence for Paddack. Minnesota’s rotation has been a strength, with Paddack, Joe Ryan, Chris Archer, Sonny Gray, Bailey Ober (currently on the 10-day IL with a groin injury), and Josh Winder all pitching well to begin the year. Dylan Bundy also seems to be on the verge of returning from the COVID-IL, so Bundy could slot right into Paddack’s rotation spot if Paddack is indeed sidelined.
UPS comments aside. Pulling for Paddack and glad to see he was doing well. Injury sucks
I thought the same thing. Maybe UPS can bring him some pain meds or a splint. I do wish him the best.
They better jump on Montas .
Preller shipping out more damaged goods than a disgruntled UPS driver.
Trading with Preller is a dangerous game.
You could get a Trea Turner or a Drew Pomeranz. Hopefully Paddack makes a speedy recovery
My memory’s a little bad. Who did the Padres get for Drew Pomeranz? And how many pitches did he throw at any level the next 3 seasons?
If memory serves they got Anderson Espinosa who never really pitched either cause of injuries so I guess it’s a wash
Anderson Espinoza. He still hasn’t thrown a MLB pitch and Preller was suspended 30 days without pay for that trade for failing to disclose Pomeranz’ full medicals.
And how many starts did Pomeranz miss?
memory can be displaced rent-to-own by Preller occupying space in your head
Propoganda is obviously effective. Apparently Angels pitchers have been swimming in opiates stronger than heroin for years. Does anyone remember what Preller was suspended for? Huh? I do. It was failure to report the use of the horrific drug…TYLENOL!!!
Preller has been suspended twice by MLB and fined for a third incident. His suspension with the Padres was due to a systemic failure to update medical information.
Yea, every team has a monster opiate problem. The bigger news with teh Angels was Skaggs died.
Everyone knew that Paddack’s elbow was damaged last year. He had a PRP injection in the fall. If I knew, I think your GM knew, as well as Jayce Tingler, who was our manager. Don’t blame Preller for this.
Do you think the Twins didn’t know his injury history? I’m sure he will be back in a few starts. He went out like twice last season with the same thing..
Tingler is on their staff. They knew.
This one was pretty well known. He was shut down for a month last year then was shut down again after three starts, missing the last three weeks of the season.
Uh oh. Spaghetti oh
Guess that partially torn UCL is barking a bit.
I wonder if there’s any stats on PRP injection success rates. Seems like more often than not once the UCL has a tear the injection isn’t enough
I’d imagine not, at least not publicly available. To have accurate numbers, we’d have to know the relative tear size of each player and I doubt that is freely attainable information. Not sure if there are variations of PRP injections, but if so, that would be another privacy hindrance
Tingler addressing Paddack’s availability after another mild to moderate setback… feels like 2021 all over again!!
The bigger concern in Minnesota is Buxton’s tight right hip. They can’t afford to lose Buxton for an extended period of time but as they say, history has a way of repeating itself.
If you were to lock Tingler in a room with truth serum, I bet he’s say he’d rather lose Paddack for the entire season than lose Buxton to the 60-day IL. 2021 was an injury-riddled disaster for Minnesota; I hope they are not heading in the same direction again this year.
BTW – The Nelson Cruz trade last summer that netted Minnesota Joe Ryan might end up being one of the best trades in the Twins history. Joe Ryan has been brilliant for the Twins since they acquired him last July…especially here in 2022. Quite the return for a broken down, 41 year old DH. Plus I believe they received a second minor leaguer pitcher back for Cruz as well (Strotman)? It’s rare to see Tampa lose a trade but there’s no question that Minnesota absolutely fleeced them in this deal!
Ryan is insanely talented. That fastball is uniquely deceptive and nasty. The Rays made the mistake of thinking they were “one player away” not realizing Cruz would flop.
Even if Cruz had played well last season, it was still a horrible trade. The only thing that would have made it palatable is if Cruz led the Rays to a World Series title. Then they could at least make a case to justify it. Like you said, the one player away argument.
Reminds me of the trade the Red Sox made back in 90’s. Jeff Bagwell was traded to Houston for a mid-30’s bullpen pitcher, Larry Anderson (on an expiring contract). Anderson pitched well for the Sox and helped them make the playoffs but Boston fell short of a title. Anderson ended up re-signing with Houston in the offseason and Bagwell…well Bagwell went on to have a Hall of Fame career. It ended up being one of the worst trades in Red Sox history.
The Rays have “Joe Ryans” lined up in their organization like incoming flights over O’Hare. That’s what they’re good at: Developing surpluses in young power arms, which they trade. He’s a nice pitcher (his xFIP’s are just good not great, 3,71 this year, as he gives up a fair amount of hard hit balls), but he wouldn’t even have made last year’s Rays team.
As far as the Cruz trade goes, though, yeah, that was a major miscalculation by the Rays, who aren’t nearly as good at evaluating hitters. Cruz’s final cliff appeared already well before that trade, and the Rays didn’t see it, or didn’t want to see it.
As a Twins fan I’d prefer any two players are injured for the season if it meant Buxton would be a model of health
Surprised the Twins traded for Sheriff. They knew (and we all knew) about his elbow – flares up regularly and prevents him from ever pursuing an effective breaking ball, which limits his upside as a pitcher.
Even on MLB The Show is a gamble to trade with the Padres
Blame your GM. He had the same problem last year and got a PRP injection. And Jayce Tingler was our manager, so he had first hand knowledge
I have nothing against Paddack. I hope he is ok and returns successfully. However, I am happy he’s no longer with the Padres.
The Twins do well when trading with Tampa Bay
A few years back they stole Odorizzi and got a great year and a 1/2 out of him for Jermaine Palacios , who flopped for the Rays, and now ironically is back with St Paul for the Twins as a reserve player
Man, could AJ Preller possibly have a worse reputation for messing around with injuries? He probably didn’t know anything — probably — but you can imagine what GM’s around the league are thinking. Here we go again.
It was well known that Paddack finished last season on the IL for the same thing and got a PRP injection. So, yeah, they all knew. And Jayce Tingler was our manager, so he had fist hand knowledge.
It’s not that Preller “probably” didn’t know anything, he definitely knew because everyone, including the Twins, knew Paddack had a hurt elbow.
It was widely reported that he had a partially torn UCL last year and got a PRP injection. You can go to pretty much any fantasy baseball site and see the reporting on it from last September. It wasn’t a secret, if fantasy GMs know then the real ones do too.
Exactly! People will take shots at Preller any time something like this happens but 1. He has been on the other end of it plenty of times (most notably with Mike Clevinger) and 2. Literally everyone knew Chris Paddack had a bad elbow. Preller couldn’t have hidden that from the Twins even if he wanted to.
Preller has no reputation for messing around with injuries! It wasn’t exactly a secret that Chris Paddack had a bad elbow. If a bunch of nobodies on the internet knew about it the Twins really had no excuse.
That kinda bites. Hopefully he can come back next year stong.
Padres fans saw this coming a while ago. Luckily AJ was able to unload him when he did. Here comes TJ #2
yeesh that was quick
“Surgery is on the table”.
Not that any surgery should be funny…. but isn’t surgery usually performed on a table?
This is probably why the proposed Mets/Friars swap was nixed.
Best of luck, Mr. Paddack.
I don’t mind taking some shots at Preller, but when you trade for a pitcher that missed most of their last two months of 2021, you have to do a deep dive into the medicals.
You really think they didn’t do that?
Let’s face it, they bought low for a starting pitching option. Looks like it didn’t work out for them. Every team has had a trade like this.
Did it not work out for them? We don’t know that this injury will keep Sheriff out for too long, Brayan Medina still has plenty of upside, Brent Rooker is a 4A hitter and the Twins are probably going to bring Taylor Rogers back as a FA next offseason.
Brayan Medina has a ton of upside, and having just read up on him before this trade, I was incredulous when he was announced as PTBNL