Royals reliever Josh Taylor will undergo surgery to repair a herniated disc in his lower back, tweets Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The team hasn’t provided a recovery timetable.
Taylor has been on the injured list for a month while battling a shoulder impingement. The back issue apparently arose during his rehab process. Taylor missed the entire 2022 campaign as he battled a lower back strain.
It’s obviously an unfortunate setback that makes it seem likely he’ll find himself on the 60-day injured list once the club needs a 40-man roster spot. A 60-day IL transfer could be backdated to the time of his initial placement even though he’s now dealing with a separate injury.
Kansas City acquired the southpaw over the offseason in a swap that sent Adalberto Mondesí to the Red Sox. The deal hasn’t worked for either team, as both players have battled injuries. Mondesí still hasn’t played for Boston as he works back from last year’s ACL tear. Taylor has made 17 appearances for K.C. but been tagged for 16 earned runs in 17 2/3 innings. He has struck out just under 32% of opposing hitters, an excellent clip, but nine walks and four homers contributed to the inflated ERA.
This is Taylor’s second season of arbitration eligibility. He’s making $1.025MM this year and eligible for the process twice more. An extended absence would increase the odds of Kansas City non-tendering him next offseason, though it’s unclear precisely how long he’ll be out.
Bloom haters were like WTF let’s fire him its a terrible trade
The guy we traded him for most likely will never play a single game for us. It was very much a lose-lose deal in retrospect.
Taylor has been bad this season, but, does have two more years of control remaining. That has some sort of value.
Mondesi is in his final year of arb and is pretty close to a lock to never take the field for the sox this year.
So, both sides lost in the deal, but, remember, Taylor isn’t likely to see a bump in arb salary next year. He already only makes 300k over league minimum. So his remaining 2 years have value if you think additional rehab and some coaching gets him back to usable, which, his K rate suggests is possible.
this is the second year in a row that Taylor has missed significant time due to a back injury. He also didn’t play at all in the big league last year. it stretches the definition of “some” to say that he has some value even with two years left. Barely any value at this point is a more accurate description and even that might be generous..
Further his career WHIP suggest otherwise that even with rehab and coaching he could get back to usable.
As the article states, a team like KC may non-tender him. If they do, a team will pick him up hoping hoping for at least a cheap option for 25 (if not 24).
i had ACL, MCL and Meniscus surgery in 2003, missed 8 days of work as a tower climber and was back to catching in modified fast pitch softball in 4 months. Not the same, but really? I was 38 at the time.
You’re also a ghost. Hard to compare.
God what a terrible trade from all angles
Just a gamble on both sides.
Neither player is likely to make a significant contribution in the future. Trading one injury for another.