10:40am: The Rays announced that Glasnow has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain of his left oblique. The team estimates a timeline of six to eight weeks before he’s ready to return to a game setting.
9:12am: Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow is expected to miss the beginning of the regular season due to an oblique injury, manager Kevin Cash tells Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). “I would book that right now,” Cash said when asked about the likelihood of Glasnow missing time to begin the year. Glasnow underwent an MRI yesterday, though the team has not yet provided a formal diagnosis or publicly disclosed a timeline for his return.
If there’s a silver lining for the Rays, it’s that the injury is unrelated to Glasnow’s surgically repaired right elbow. The 29-year-old Glasnow underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021 and was limited to just 6 2/3 regular season frames last year — plus another five dominant innings in the ALDS. Given that minimal workload, it’s likely that the Rays would’ve kept a watchful eye on Glasnow’s innings count in 2023 anyhow. In some respects, the oblique injury provides a more organic means of keeping that workload on the more conservative side as he builds toward what the team surely hopes will be a full slate of starts in the 2024 season.
Even with Glasnow on the shelf, the rotation will remain a strong point for the Rays, who enjoyed a breakout 2022 showing from Shane McClanahan. The 25-year-old lefty made his first All-Star team and was squarely in the American League Cy Young mix for most of the season before a shoulder injury late in the year limited his innings and perhaps diminished his results over his final few outings. Now healthy, McClanahan is a safe bet to make the Rays’ Opening Day start.
Following him in the rotation will be recently extended lefty Jeffrey Springs, right-hander Drew Rasmussen and offseason acquisition Zach Eflin, who inked the largest free-agent contract the Rays have ever given out (a still-modest three years and $40MM). The fifth spot in the rotation will be somewhat up for grabs. Touted young righty Shane Baz won’t factor into that mix, as he’s expected to miss all of the 2023 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, but the Rays still have Luis Patino, Yonny Chirinos, Josh Fleming and top prospect Taj Bradley as names to consider.
Of course, since we’re talking about the Rays, there’s no guarantee they’ll even set a fifth starter. Many clubs can skip the fifth spot in the rotation early in the season due to the number of off-days baked into the calendar, and even failing that, the Rays are the team that pioneered the now-common usage of openers and bullpen games. It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Tampa Bay go back to that well. Lefty reliever Jalen Beeks, notably, “started” seven games for the Rays in 2022 but never pitched beyond two innings or faced more than ten batters in any of those appearances. He’d likely be the favorite for such a role to begin the 2023 campaign as well, should the Rays prefer to go that route.
Turning back to Glasnow, he’s earning a $5.35MM salary in the 2023 season, which would’ve been his final year of club control before free agency were it not for an extension he inked last summer. It was an odd contract that lacked precedent, as the two parties agreed to tack just one year at a premium $25MM rate, pushing back Glasnow’s arrival on the open market by one year.
Do I keep him for fantasy baseball or try to trade him so I can keep George Kirby?
Trade him. Kirby is honestly might end up being better than Glasnow even if he was healthy
Kinda was thinking that it’s a keeper league so the younger guy has more value anyways
Kirby is in no way better than glasnow. He’s got one great pitch. It’s great but it’s one pitch
Trade him if possible. He is a shell of himself now.
he’s made of glass now
…see what i did there?
LOLOL!
All the “Glassnow” posts are hilarious!
Mariners bias aside, I think Kirby will win a Cy Young in his career. A legitimate 6 pitch mix with pinpoint control and an above average K rate as a rookie is very promising, IMO. He also was a bit unlucky as his xBA and xSLG were lower for every pitch (or nearly every pitch, at least– the data isn’t in front of me). Just needs to get his spin rate up a bit.
He may break Chris Sale’s all time record of 5.35 career strikeout to walk ratio. I hope he does because records are meant to be broken. He may overtake Alcantara soon. I am very fascinated by K/BB ratios, tbh.
Glasnow has only one pitched more than 100 innings in a season, and just barely. He should good while out there, although he’s barely pitched without the sticky stuff, so he might take a hit on his rate stats too.
Does your league have an IL spot or 2? If so, draft him low and stash him there. Could be advantageous for some, as most will not draft him based on the return timeline.
So surprising
Is this injury MLB’s fault for not allowing a pitcher to break the rules too? Just asking for a friend.
An oblique reference.
At least it’s not an arm injury. Although with oblique injuries, it could be a short stint or a long one, just look at Jack Flaherty last year.
The Archer trade gets less painful for us Pirates fans everyday.
Baz?
He’s broken too
lol ok. The Rays already outperformed the Pirates in that deal–Meadows’ run (and getting Paredes for him), Baz will be back, and oh yeah…we got Arch back anyway! Even if none of these guys ever plays again, the Rays still clobbered the Pirates in this trade. But I understand as a Pirates fan you need to find some way to make yourself feel better. I kinda like the Pirates, but their fans keep looking to rationalize past mistakes.
Oh goodness no – I’m not trying to rationalize a horrible trade. I know the Rays already got far more than Archer was worth. But us Bucs fans don’t have much else to see as a silver lining. (Not that I wish injuries on them, or on anyone… just saying it takes some of the sting away.)
Clobbered?! You don’t have Meadows, Glasswow is perpetually injured, Baz too. Truth is, nobody in that deal has done squat, including admittedly Archer. Old narratives seem to never die.
I hope thé new narrative becomes Rays needing to trade good players away because they are stuck paying Glasnow $30M to NOT pitch. I hope Glasnow never makes another start for the Rays. He got his $$$, more than most of us will ever see, so I’m not sorry for one minute if he never throws another pitch. Are Rays fans sorry about Archer being a total waste? Nope. They laughed about it. So I hope Glasnow and Baz never throw another pitch for the Rays.
In my opinion any one of the three players Tampa got for arch was worth the value the pirates got on their own. Baz is young and has been good when healthy, Glasnow , while yes he is injury prone, but he has been their ace in recent seasons when healthy. And meadows gave them several above average seasons and they eventually flipped him for paredes who is now their stating 3rd baseman
Clearly yes. I think everyone would agree with that. Even just Meadows’ time with Tampa was worth more than Archer gave the Bucs. The only satisfaction I could possibly take is if Tampa winds up paying Glasnow $30 this year and next to not pitch at all, and if Baz never gives the Rays a single start. That is a LOT to hope for, and I suspect the Rays will get at least something from Glasnow and Baz. But I can root for them to both give the Rays nothing.
I guess I’m just not watching the same game as others. Glassnow has only thrown more than 88 innings once and Meadows has played more than 60 games
I guess I’m just not watching the same game as others. Glassnow has only thrown more than 88 innings once and Meadows has only played more than 60 games twice.
Sideline- It turned out to be a bad trade for the Pirates for three reasons.(1)
Archer was overrated by the Pirates(2)Archer got hurt just like the three of these have been(3) Baz should never have been included,and the Rays would still have made the trade.NH made very good trades but that one in no way shape or form met their trade model by trading young players for veterans,
I think that he was pushed to do it because they were contending at that time and needed another good starter.
But I said this in 2019 and I’ll say it again- It was never going to be the worst trade of all time,even with the 2019 year that these guys had.
It just goes to show how delicate pitchers are in this day.
I do not know how the double post happened.
So, is Tyler made of glass-now?
Seriuosly, I wish him a speedy recovery.
Tyler Glassjaw
He will be in the remake of Mike Tyson’s punchout
#getwellsoon
dangit, i made the same joke and now i see its already been made
time to see myself out
I hope this isn’t a replay of Mark Prior..
What a tragic story. Ugh.
Maybe the Pirates won the Archer trade after all
Yeah? How did Archer do with the Pirates?
Very poorly. Very, very poorly.
Um, no. That ship sailed as soon as the trade was finalized.
Irrational Pirates fans are really coming out of the woodwork this Spring.
Which ones?
You know, Steve, I ignored the insult-fest that seemed to account for 1/3rd of a 400 post reaction to the Nutting article. But since you bring it over here I just have to ask, who’s being the irrational one, anyway?
Steve-We have to be diligent with all the trolls on this site.
Please forgive us.
Another stuff who can’t handle honest comments? That is why Steve made the ignore feature.
Ah Steve you know you can’t be rational with certain Pirate Fans. They’ll defend even the lowest of the low as long as they’re from the home team. They’re pretty touchy. Which is odd because of how bad they are. You’d think they’d have a thicker skin. Oh well…..
Most Yinzers are thin-skinned pansies like me. All I hope for with Baz and Glasnow is that they give t Rays nothing while the Rays pay Glasnow $30M to rehab.
Granted, I’m a jerk, I’m thin skinned, I’m vindictive, and I’m a hundred other insults you can call me. But so what?! We are allowed to be ourselves. And this is myself.
I wonder who is he going to blame this time for his injury
The pitch clock?
I’ve never seen so many oblique injuries in the past few years. By the time they reach pro ball, batters must have swung the bat a million times. With every swing they use their obliques. Same with pitchers every time they wind up. It’s like this and last year’s injury. Crazy. Maybe some extended warm-ups would help.
If Glasnow is shot, and the Rays are on the hook for $30M+, the Archer trade will feel a little bit less ouchy. Rays should get to enjoy burning $30M for what they did to the Pirates’ GM. It was akin to swindling a child, so I hope the Rays get stuck with $30M down the drain and I hope Baz works out the same way. Even then the Pirates got shafted but at least it would give me a laugh at the Rays expense.
It took 2 to tango, and I’m pretty sure there aren’t any children GMs.
Rays knew Huntington was a moron. They took advantage of him. That’s not illegal. But I can certainly hope the Rays suffer for it. I hope they are on the hook for every penny of Glassnow’s $30M contract and I hope he never throws another pitch for them. I hope Baz never makes a start for the Rays.
You sound a little copey and seethy here Saratoga.
Yes, I know. But aren’t we all allowed to be who we are? Why shame me for being who I am?
You do you. I hope Pittsburgh has tons of health and success.
As do I. I’m not sure why I root for Pittsburgh, and I’m not sure I even understand the psychology of rooting for a sports team at all… but I keep rooting for the Pirates. And although I don’t understand the psychology of resenting others for things… I resent the Rays for that trade, and I resent the city of Tampa for trying to steal the Pirates from Pitt decades ago. So I honestly hope Glasnow and Baz never pitch another inning for the Rays. And I hope the $30M owed to Glasnow hurts the Rays’ ability to add anybody good at the trade deadline this year and next.
PEte-I am one Pirate fan who wishes the best for the AL small market teams including the Rays.
I know that they bought out a year of Glasnow’s Free agency,but what were they thinking with the $25 M?
You would have thought that he could have given them a break since he has been hurt so much.
Tyler Glassnow
:/ get well soon Tyler
I have found it funny how there are certain teams that get bashed on for being dysfunctional or for not putting a competitive team on the field. Many of the posts fit a narrative that gives comfort to the posters, but do the narratives match up with evidence?
For a quick and dirty analysis, a.k.a. back of an envelope which it was actually done on I defined being competitive as making the playoffs in any form and used the last ten years as my time frame. So how many times did a team make the playoffs? (Hope I counted correctly. Apologies if I did not.)
10 times: Dodgers, in a class by themselves sorry to say but one must give credit where credit is earned.
7 times: Astros, Cards, Yankees
6 times: Braves, Guardians/Indians
5 times A’s, Cubs, Rays, RedSox’s
That is the top third of the league. The middle is
4 times: Blue Jays, Brewers, Nationals
3 times: Giants, Mets, Pirates, Twins
The bottom
2 times: Orioles, Padres, Rangers, Reds, Rockies, Royals, Tigers, White Sox’s
Once: Angles, D-backs, Mariners, Marlins, Phillies
Remember this is only a quick and dirty way to measure competitiveness not success. The time frame is arbitrary and it was easier to make the playoffs in 2022 than in was in 2013 as there are now more wildcards. Totaling up wins and losses is a bad method as rewards mediocrity as four season of 82-80 add up better than two seasons of 101-61 and two seasons of 61-101.
Skeptical- Some posters want to bash others and be negative to feel important..
That is all that they can add to the thread in their mind.
Regarding the Pirates in hindsight it makes some sense for the bottom dropping out,but I think that it surprised Nutting how bad it has been for 3 1/2 years.
What a wuss.. jk guy can’t catch a break.
I hope he never throws another pitch for the Rays, and I hope the $31M the Rays owe him prevents the Rays from acquiring help they need at the deadline. I also hope Shane Baz never pitches an inning for the Rays. Even then, the Rays still fleeced the Pirates in the Archer trade… But I would feel better about it if both pitchers are done. And I hope the Rays regret giving Glass-now that extension.