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Anthony DeSclafani Undergoes Season-Ending Flexor Tendon Surgery

By Mark Polishuk | March 30, 2024 at 12:03pm CDT

Twins right-hander Anthony DeSclafani will miss the entire 2024 season and at least some of the 2025 season after undergoing a flexor tendon surgery, chief baseball officer Derek Falvey told The Athletic’s Dan Hayes (X link) and other reporters.  The surgery comes with an estimated recovery timeline of 13 months.

DeSclafani developed a forearm strain in Spring Training, and a long-term absence of some kind was expected after the Twins placed him on the 60-day injured list to begin the season.  While this flexor tendon procedure technically represents a better-case scenario than the 13-15 month timeline associated with recovery from a Tommy John surgery, that is probably very small consolation to DeSclafani as he enters into yet another extended injury absence.

Another right flexor strain already ended DeSclafani’s 2023 campaign last July, and he only pitched 19 innings in 2022 due to ankle surgery.  The righty also didn’t pitch at all in 2017 due to a UCL strain, though he was able to avoid surgery in that case.

All of these health woes have marred what has been a pretty solid career for DeSclafani when he has been able to actually pitch.  He has a 4.20 ERA over 942 2/3 career innings with the Marlins, Reds, and Giants over parts of nine Major League seasons, relying on strong control and a plus slider to achieve success.  A 3.17 ERA over 167 2/3 innings for the 2021 Giants represents DeSclafani’s best performance over a full season, and that nice year paid off in the form of a three-year, $36MM free agent deal to return to San Francisco.

Unfortunately, DeSclafani will end up tossing only 118 1/3 innings over the life of that contract.  The Giants moved DeSclafani and Mitch Haniger to the Mariners this offseason for Robbie Ray, and DeSclafani was then flipped again from Seattle to Minnesota as part of the Jorge Polanco trade.  The latter transaction also included $8MM in cash considerations from the Mariners in order to help cover the majority of the $12MM owed to DeSclafani in 2024.

Trading Polanco allowed the Twins to get the second baseman’s $10.5MM salary off the books, and bring two interesting prospects in Gabriel Gonzalez and Darren Bowen into the organization.  Unfortunately for Minnesota, both of the big league-ready elements of the trade package are now hurt — Justin Topa is on the 15-day IL dealing with left knee tendinitis, and DeSclafani’s time with the Twins could potentially end before he throws an official pitch for the team.  Given the circumstances, the Twins could explore signing DeSclafani to a low-cost guaranteed deal or even a minor league contract for 2025, though the club will first monitor his recovery before making any decisions.

In the more immediate term, losing DeSclafani will deprive Minnesota of some veteran rotation depth.  DeSclafani was expected to compete for the fifth starter’s job, or work as a swingman or long reliever if Louie Varland had won the final rotation job in camp.  The Twins might well seek out a seasoned starter to provide some depth amidst their more inexperienced first layer of Triple-A starters, and such a pitcher might also be used in the bullpen, as Topa is just one of several relievers beginning the year on the injured list.

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Minnesota Twins Newsstand Anthony DeSclafani

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View Comments (51)
Post a Comment

51 Comments

  1. pirateking24

    1 year ago

    Damn.

    1
    Reply
  2. Monkey’s Uncle

    1 year ago

    Ouch.

    3
    Reply
    • Bart Harley Jarvis

      1 year ago

      Zoinks!

      Reply
      • Pete'sView

        1 year ago

        Giants dodged a big one.

        1
        Reply
  3. Gwynning

    1 year ago

    Bummer news, true Panik at the Disco. Twins fans- what’s up with Paddack? How has he been received and is he throwing well? I hadn’t seen him this ST.

    5
    Reply
    • mnnorthernjuice

      1 year ago

      Paddack looks good, we like him. He’s our 5th starter. But the team is full of unproven players

      8
      Reply
      • Gwynning

        1 year ago

        Nice! Thanks Juice

        1
        Reply
    • Pete'sView

      1 year ago

      BTW, DeSclafani has said many times he “hates” the nickname “Disco.”

      1
      Reply
  4. This one belongs to the Reds

    1 year ago

    Always liked Disco. Best wishes for recovery.

    3
    Reply
  5. Neon Cop

    1 year ago

    Time to retire, bud.

    3
    Reply
    • rdiddy75

      1 year ago

      A lot of arm injuries over the course of his career. Should retire and maybe ride the Buses and work his way into an organization as a pitching coach.

      Reply
  6. TellItGoodbye

    1 year ago

    Shocking news! Disco injured? How can this be?

    2
    Reply
  7. Ignorant Son-of-a-b

    1 year ago

    How did this injury not show up anywhere during the time period he was traded? I mean let’s get the team trainer out with with his monocle and really bear down on those MRIs. Seems like he was broke from the outset.

    5
    Reply
    • foppert2

      1 year ago

      He was traded twice in short order. So he passed 2 medicals from 2 different teams of medical people. Surely that indicates he wasn’t broken from the outset.

      10
      Reply
      • Ignorant Son-of-a-b

        1 year ago

        I would hope not. But do you remember the Frankie Montas situation with Cashman or the Trevor Story situation with Chaim Bloom?? Those sort of tests weren’t even scrutinized. It is mind-boggling, but it can happen.

        Reply
        • foppert2

          1 year ago

          I don’t know the details on those two. I remember the same sort of speculation.
          Two teams missing an elbow injury in a pitcher they just traded for ? There’s a chance, but it’s got to be extremely remote.

          1
          Reply
        • stymeedone

          1 year ago

          With his history, no one took the physical lightly. He’s just fragile.

          3
          Reply
      • case

        1 year ago

        It appears the Mariners mostly wanted Haniger and the Twins got multiple prospects in the deal. It’s possible they were aware of injury issues which made him the random “throw in” at the end of each deal.

        1
        Reply
    • BPG86

      1 year ago

      Name fits. He got hurt after the 2nd trade.

      Reply
  8. pogo

    1 year ago

    Damn…. can’t get a break…. wait… bad analogy.

    4
    Reply
  9. In nurse follars

    1 year ago

    Doesn’t it seem like more pitcher fell to injuries than prior years? Or are we just hearing more about it? Seems like more than ever despite advanced measures to protect arms. How did guys like jim kaat and fergie jenkins throw so many innings for so long? What changed? Too many elbow torque balls? Not as many fastballs?

    1
    Reply
    • TalkingBaseball

      1 year ago

      I’m not 100% sure but I believe it has to do with arm movement guys use to try and add speed and movement to their pitches.

      I remember as a kid watching the A’s and Vida Blue would still be out there in the 14th inning.

      3
      Reply
    • greatgame 2

      1 year ago

      What changed? Throwing high 90’s and tons of breaking pitches for the almighty K. Why don’t teams sign guys who haven’t gotten hurt in their careers and get early contact for quick outs like Chris Volstad for example?

      1
      Reply
      • stymeedone

        1 year ago

        Start showing Jim Kaat highlights to prospects.

        Reply
    • JackStrawb

      1 year ago

      @In nurse follars Body size has something to do with it. A pitcher at 6-5, 230 lbs can develop far more whip and torque than the standard 6′-0, 180 lb specimen of 1965.

      That body size puts much more stress on an arm which can’t really develop commensurately w the rest of the larger body.

      Reply
      • In nurse follars

        1 year ago

        Maybe. Koufax was small but jenkins and kaat were both 6’5. Palmer and blylevin were big too i think. But I don’t think feller or pedro or gibson were particularly large. Dont know, but with all the modern sports medicine, sports nutrition, pitch counting etc something is off the rails. The news speaks loudly for itself.

        Reply
  10. scottn59c

    1 year ago

    Guy’s toast. Glad the Giants found a way to cut bait. Remains to be seen, though, how much they got back in Ray.

    1
    Reply
    • 5TUNT1N

      1 year ago

      Ray can mediocre also, just has to be healthier than disco was to benefit the team.

      Reply
      • bag o ballz

        1 year ago

        Actually if he is mediocre that is the best case scenario for the Giants- not good enough to opt out but not bad enough to see a reason to move him

        Reply
  11. Dennis Boyd

    1 year ago

    Giants cheated, but of course, they will get away with it.

    1
    Reply
    • Buzz Saw

      1 year ago

      So Seattle cheated too?

      3
      Reply
    • gravel

      1 year ago

      So brave! I hope you are using multiple ways to obscure your identity and location, “Dennis Boyd”. Otherwise they may find you in order to keep the secret things secret.

      1
      Reply
    • gmenfan

      1 year ago

      Anybody trading FOR Desclafani knew EXACYLY what they were getting into. 23 starts and less than 120 inning over the last two seasons combined. There was no reason to think that his injury concerns were behind him.

      3
      Reply
  12. WestVillageTiger

    1 year ago

    Great start for the “they should be favored if they can stay healthy” Twins…

    Reply
  13. Non Roster Invitee

    1 year ago

    Porcelain doll.

    Reply
  14. brat922

    1 year ago

    So sorry to hear this news for Disco!! Man.

    Reply
    • gravel

      1 year ago

      It’s too bad. I hope he has a complete recovery.

      Reply
  15. Rsox

    1 year ago

    Amazing, the Giants and Mariners both dodged the same bullet…

    3
    Reply
    • TellItGoodbye

      1 year ago

      Feel sorry for the Twins for getting stuck with the undisputed King of the IL.

      1
      Reply
    • gmenfan

      1 year ago

      It was a miracle that one team was able to unload Desclafani, much less two in the same offseason.

      3
      Reply
    • Stevil

      1 year ago

      That’s funny, but the Giants may have still gotten hit by taking on rehabbing-Robbie’s contract and possibly having given up too soon on Haniger.

      1
      Reply
  16. stymeedone

    1 year ago

    Clevinger.

    Reply
  17. case

    1 year ago

    Where’s the sign Trevor Bauer guy? Did he finally get arrested for ducking child support?

    4
    Reply
  18. Redwolves3

    1 year ago

    Feel bad for DeSclafani. Hope he has a successful recovery. Glad he’s not a Giant

    1
    Reply
  19. Rumors2godsears

    1 year ago

    Gabriel Gonzalez will even out this trade for Minnesota.

    Reply
    • Dumpster Divin Theo

      1 year ago

      Uh oh ravioli

      Reply
  20. Bart Harley Jarvis

    1 year ago

    I had this surgery a couple of years ago. Believe me, it’s no big deal. I couldn’t walk my dog for a few weeks.

    Reply
  21. drfelix

    1 year ago

    Wow Seattle dodged that bullet

    Reply
  22. C4Luke

    1 year ago

    Season over before the season started

    Reply
  23. Atamas

    1 year ago

    A 4.20 is a pretty solid career? This writer must moonlight as an agent.

    Reply
  24. Giant Willy

    1 year ago

    Wow

    Reply

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