Rays right-hander Shane Baz, who has been out since July 14 due to an elbow sprain, will not make it back to a Major League mound in 2022, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Baz has resumed throwing, but it seems there’s simply not enough time to get him built back up to the point where he’d be a viable option for Tampa Bay.
It’s a sour note on which to end an already injury-decimated season for Baz, who entered the year ranked as one of the top-ranked prospects in all of baseball. The 23-year-old righty underwent an arthroscopic procedure to remove loose bodies from his elbow back in early April — a minor surgery that was originally only expected to halt him from throwing for around three weeks. He wound up taking more than two months to return to the big league mound, however, and just one month after returning from that issue, the current elbow sprain popped up to shut him down again.
In all, Baz pitched just 27 big league innings plus another 13 while on a minor league rehab assignment from that original injury. He struggled mightily in his first and last starts of the season (combined 12 runs in 4 2/3 innings), but those served as bookends for a tantalizing run of four starts that displayed why Baz is so highly touted: three runs on 16 hits and six walks with 26 punchouts in 22 1/3 innings. Overall, Baz posted a 5.00 ERA in his 27 frames, but it’s quite possible that the elbow was an issue in his final outing, when he was hammered for seven runs.
If there’s a silver lining it’s that Baz is once again throwing, and the Rays have given no indication that any surgery is on the horizon. Sprains, by definition, involve some degree of stretching and/or tearing in a ligament, so any “elbow sprain” for a pitcher always comes with some concern regarding potential surgery (be it ligament replacement/Tommy John surgery or a less-invasive but still significant operation, such as Primary Repair).
Baz will pick up a year of service for his 2022 season, having spent the entirety of it on either the Major League injured list or the active Major League roster. He’s still controllable for another five years beyond the current campaign, however, setting the stage for him to join the likes of 2022 Cy Young candidate Shane McClanahan and late-blooming breakout hurlers Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs in the rotation for the foreseeable future. The Rays also extended Tyler Glasnow, who’s wrapping up rehab from Tommy John surgery, just last month. He’s now signed through the 2024 season.
Between that quintet and a host of other talented arms and prospects — Yonny Chirinos, Luis Patino, Josh Fleming and Taj Bradley among them — the Rays perennial pipeline of high-end pitching appears as strong as ever.
Rays gonna Ray. 60 day IL for every bump and bruise
An elbow sprain is a bump or bruise?
another pitcher the pirates gave away for an over the hill, high priced loser
Starting to look more and more like that trade was a wash. Yes, Archer flopped in Pittsburgh, but Meadows has fallen off a cliff after one good year, Baz and Glasnow while uber talented can’t seem to stay on the mound. Both teams were losers.
I can buy that the rays didn’t win by as much as the hyperbole around the trade claimed but I don’t think you can say that the rays also lost. there’s meadows 1 good year as you say and of course the pitcher’s, while oft injured, are absolutely uber talented, also by your admission. with hindsight only 1 of those teams still make that trade. don’t think Ray’s are regretting it
LOL sure. Just look at the production of all players thus far. Even if Glas and Baz never pitched again, the Rays won this trade. I realize you do not want to admit this, but yes–you still lost the trade. As someone else mentioned, it did not end up being the worst trade of all time…but there is still a lot of time left. Are you assuming Baz will never succeed? Or that Glas is never coming back? That the couple productive years of Meadows were a waste? Or that Isaac Paredes will never hit another home run? Compare all their efforts to your few years of Archer…. Jeez. Common sense. Talk to me in five years (it will still be a Rays win because of what they already received from the trade).
There’s no ‘you guys lost’ I didn’t make the trade and could truly care less. I’m just simply saying this wasn’t the heist everyone wants to make it seem like. You can consider it a Rays win, but it’s didn’t take them to the promise land. Nor the pirates.
The Rays won and they’d make that trade again in a heart beat, but let’s look at the facts here. Glasnow has never pitched 150 innings in a single season, and has never started 20 games before, heck he’s never even started 15. Meadows had a decent, albiet short 326 game stint with the Rays. He had his ups like his 2019 campaign, and his downs like his 2020 season, and his 2021 season was somewhere inbetween the two extremes. Baz has been injured for most of the last year.
The Pirates certaintly didn’t get what they wanted out of Archer. After a solid but short showing in 2018, he had a 5.19 ERA, 5.02 FIP, and 1.41 WHIP in 2019. Not to mention he pitched just under 120 innings because he faced some injuries and then was injured for the entierity of the 2020 season.
The Pirates lost the trade, and the Rays won the trade. Not a single person here will deny that. However, based on how some people view it, the Pirates out-did the Babe Ruth to NYY trade, which just isn’t true. It certaintly not a good trade for the Pirates, but I, along with many others, can name a handful of worse trades. I’m sure the A’s regret the Josh Donaldson trade and the Padres regret trading both Anthony Rizzo and Yasmani Grandal more than the Pirates regret the Archer trade.
Rays got Isaac Parades for Meadows though
That is the most stupid comment I have heard. Rays got 2 good years from meadows and traded him for Paraedes. Baz and glasnow have been very good when healthy and still have great potential. ARCHER GAVE YOU NOTHING …AND NEVER WILL
Man you seem really upset over another man’s opinion. Get a grip. Also, at 29 years old ‘potential’ can’t really be thrown around anymore. Plus, you don’t hear a comment you read it.
Baz is 23, but don’t let fact get in the way of a dumb opinion. But the comment was dumb regardless. a “wash” would suggest the rays got nothing which is what the pirates got. That is “fact”, not “opinion”
Glasnow is 29. You said Baz and Glasnow have great potential. Glasnow is what he is. Simple as that. You can feel my comment is dumb, but it did EXACTLY what it was meant to do, piss off a little fanboy like yourself.
So you admit you made a stupid comment in order to just get some attention, sad but Ok, no problem.
Sux
Baz gets injured and just 8 days later, Wander gets robbed of jewelry including a 5000 Tom and Jerry necklace. The sting rays have a clubhouse problem that would have never happened under Piniella or Madden.
Because Madden and Pinella are cranky old farts?
Managers are not meant to be friends with their players. They’re there to crack skulls and smoke cigarettes
Buttermaker for manager of the year!
And in other news, the kids are not getting a pony