TODAY: McClanahan will begin the season on the 15-day injured list, Rays manager Kevin Cash told John Romano (multiple links) and other reporters, but tests revealed that the left-hander is suffering only from a nerve problem in his triceps area. The plan is to “calm the nerve down and then see how he progresses, get a ball back in his hand. Probably the best news we could have heard,” Cash said.
MARCH 22: The Rays suffered a major injury scare this afternoon when southpaw Shane McClanahan exited his start in the third inning due to what the Rays later announced as triceps tightness. John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times relays that the issue is not thought to be related to his recent elbow surgery and that the lefty will undergo imaging on Sunday to determine the severity of the issue.
It’s a concerning situation for any pitcher, but a serious injury would be particularly devastating for McClanahan given that he missed the final two months of the 2023 campaign and the entirety of the 2024 season while rehabbing his aforementioned Tommy John surgery. When healthy, the soon to be 28-year-old hurler is on the shortlist for the best young arms in the sport, with a career 3.02 ERA (130 ERA+) and 3.36 FIP in 404 2/3 innings of work since he made his big league debut back in 2022. The southpaw’s career 28% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate further solidify him as a clear top-of-the-rotation arm, and the Rays currently have him poised to serve as the ace of a loaded rotation that also features arms like Ryan Pepiot and Drew Rasmussen.
Those plans appear to have now been scuttled, however, depending on what’s next for McClanahan. The severity of the issue and a potential timetable for his return won’t be completely clear until McClanahan’s tests come back. Even so, it should surprise no one if the Rays decide to proceed cautiously with their prized left-hander coming off of surgery. Even if the issue proves to be relatively insignificant, it would be understandable if the club decided to play it safe and place McClanahan on the injured list to open the season. They’re reasonably well equipped to do so if they choose, with Rasmussen, Pepiot, Taj Bradley, Zack Littell, and Shane Baz all healthy and ready to contribute to the rotation. Beyond that quintet, the club also has depth options such as Joe Boyle and Joe Rock in the fold as well as non-roster veteran Connor Seabold.
Even with that depth in place to handle an absence from McClanahan, a significant injury would be a gut punch for a Rays club that will already need to exceed expectations to compete in an AL East division that figures to be dominated by the Orioles, Yankees, and Red Sox this year after big offseasons for all three clubs. Comparatively, the Rays’ offseason was somewhat modest as they added only Ha-Seong Kim and Danny Jansen to the fold while shipping out Jeffrey Springs in a deal that brought back Boyle. Strong as the club’s rotation looks on paper, the Rays figure to lean on it heavily this year after losing both Isaac Paredes and Randy Arozarena from the lineup at last year’s trade deadline, leaving extra weight on the shoulders of Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe as the only established veterans left in an otherwise young and unproven lineup.
If the injury proves serious enough that the Rays need to consider adding from outside the organization to deepen their rotation mix, a handful of viable options such as Lance Lynn and Spencer Turnbull remain available in free agency. With that being said, any big league signings could be pushing it for the perennially low-budget Rays and they might instead prefer to wait and see if a non-roster invitee like Chris Flexen or Ross Stripling returns to the open market after opting out of a minor league deal.
Been waiting for the official report. Just terrible, man.
Yeow, and another reminder that complete recovery from TJS is not a given. no matter who does the surgery and how well the rehab goes. Hopefully it’s just a blip.
Has anyone actually recovered fully from “mixed internal brace surgery” at MLB level?
I keep hearing it’s supposed to have a quicker recovery time, but where are the results and success stories?
Obviously it’s worked for Achilles tears. I’m not seeing it for UCL injuries.
Maybe Strider and Giolito will prove me wrong. Or Ohtani later this season.
Wow..how far has the art of pitching fallen when a guy with a career 3.02 is considered by at least this author and probably the analytics police as one of the best arms in the sport….Bob Gibson is turning in his grave….
You don’t know ball bro
Who is Ball Bro?
Bart – Maybe he means Lonzo, LaMelo and LiAngelo?
You sound like another geek who doesn’t fit in with the game.
You sound like another moron who knows nothing about the game.
mmmm
Once you identify the two people in the picture on the left you will understand the rest.
Two people who do not have a job in MLB.
Football slider guy and Brent Strom in the Dbacks Clubhouse May 23 2024.
I didn’t know there was physical evidence of this deep league conspiracy.
Yes he is very clever for keeping records of it.
In 2024 Pfaadt R Nelson, Cecconi, Henry and Walston saw Roger showing his strong feelings of love I believe it was genuine.
What do you do for work? Trying to figure out how foolish you might be.
Gibson didn’t pitch in an era when middle infielders hit 30+ home runs.
Gibson’s career ERA was 2.92. Wow, what a massive difference.
2.92 after 490 starts. SM has 74 starts. Just saying.
And I’ll just say that picking one of the best pitchers ever as a way to deride the modern game is at best disingenuous.
Also, I’m sorry I don’t have a time machine to assess the rest of Mclanahan’s career. I’m assuming you thought I did when you decided to compare entire careers.
You first invoked Hoot and another guy with 1/7th the number of starts, not me. Nothing disingenuous, my friend. I was not absolutely certain but I thought it was probably pretty unlikely that you were in possession of a time machine.
I think you’re focusing on the wrong piece of information there rocky. Sending good vibes to Shane McC hopefully it’s just a minor tweak that looks and feels worse than it is.
Cy Young threw 749 complete games. Bob Gibson only threw 255. I guess Bob Gibson is just soft.
I think Cy Young threw underhand for about half of those complete games and the other half he threw a 60mph eephus pitch.
Gibson had a career 2.91 ERA. 3.02 isn’t that far off.
What a moronic post. In what world is a career 3.02 ERA not excellent? Maybe in the deadball era, but that’s about it. Anyone who even halfway followed baseball over the past few years would know that McClanahan is one of the best pitchers in the game.
In what world is 402 innings a career? In what world is 402 innings a predictor of a HOF career?
TJ coming.
On a tricep. I suspect that would be new.
ok buddy lbh we’ve all seen this movie before
Forearm. Tricep. Both are standard precursors to UCL surgery.
Trapper Tricep John surgery.
Yeah, I did find it odd they said they don’t believe it’s related to his TJS…. It seems like the first thought would be that there is a correlation, given the triceps and forearm are often affected when TJ is required.
They literally just imaged the elbow and it’s fine.
They said the same of Cole though, and he’s going for TJS. His was just swelling with no structural damage too. Imaging doesn’t always capture damage. My shoulder was completely blown apart, yet the imaging showed no damage.
I understand they’re hopeful, but relying on imaging is very tricky, albeit the best evidence they’ve got.
Yeah, saw the film during the spring training game and hope for the best for the kid but it doesn’t look good.
Where’s Yonny Chirinos?
Listened to game. Announcers made it sound bad.
The video reminds me of Lackey in Boston. So yeah
Bill Lee agreed. Worse than when he was trying to punch Yankees.
Rays have problems keeping pitchers on the field with that certain slider.
Kyle Crick had many triceps issues, Lets look at routine, Are these guys skipping rocks on off days?
The injuries to the Rays pitchers are well known. They should definitely investigate it.
I believe all injures get investigated.
Well a lot of bad news on pitchers today. Hope his ACL is still intact or you’re looking at late 2026 at best.
Thank you for being a friend
The Rays’ entire system of churning out elite pitchers is quietly breaking down.
Mclanahan, Rasmussen, Springs and many others still cant see that they are teaching that certain slider incorrectly.
Roger, you sure are mad that no one will give you a job aren’t you!
Roger just got done working with Brent Strom all of 2024. Maybe he is collaborating with Brent’s replacement. I know he was at Pfaadt’s last game vs Padres. He talked to Acee good story there.
Roger has a 48 video in the Dbacks clubby demonstrating his football slider to Brent. The video offers great and valuable information while still being entertaining.
Roger is glad to see Paul not throw the cutter the last 3 games. Information gets around. Roger makes sure of it.
Neither of you have a job in MLB. How does that feel? Must be tough knowing that your only outlet is on a board like this one. Really sad for you. Maybe you should take up knitting or toy trains. Maybe you could get a job at something like that since baseball isn’t working out for you.
How can you tell if Roger has a job? Did you know he was working with Brent last year?
sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/09/29/padres-await-f…
Where does he mention you in that article Roger?
Or in this one?
sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/09/30/padres-daily-a…
Or in this one?
sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/09/29/padres-luis-ar…
Those were the 3 articles after that last game of the season.
Here is the one before that game. sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/09/29/padres-daily-p… Where does he mention you Roger?
Roger recently shared his video of himself and Brent in the Dbacks clubhouse discussing R Nelsons slider and Strom faced criticism from the front office mentioning the football slider.
Roger spent all 2024 working with Brent Strom. He doesn’t care about you or your problems.
Or If you are talking about this year’s spring training game on the 16th, where are you mentioned in this article Roger?
sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/03/16/manny-machado-…
Or this one?
sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/03/16/yu-darvish-get…
Or this one?
sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/03/17/difficult-deci…
Or even this one?
sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/03/18/it-appears-yu-…
You see Roger, we can check these things. It’s actually on the internet now days. Acee never mentioned you roger. I even listened to his appearance on Jon and Jim show that was on Iheart radio the next day after that game, as painful as that was and you know what? He never mentioned you.
You can check for yourself here – iheart.com/podcast/1248-jon-and-jim-230555892/epis…
Roger, I even checked Kevin Acee’s Twitter feed for 3/16 and 3/17 this year and he never once mentioned you there either.
Unfazed, I went back to 9/29 and 9/30 last year and amazingly enough he didn’t mention you then either.
Must not have been a very good story.
Roger, you were not working with Brent Strom. You were never on the payroll of the Diamondbacks. Brent knew he was leaving and took pity on you and allowed you one meeting. There is no mention of you on the Diamondbacks site or any articles mentioning you as working with them. None.
You see Roger, that is the thing. You are the one with a problem. You are the one who doesn’t have a job.
They talked Sunday March 16 Padres practice fields around 1130. Ask Acee about the conversation.
He posted 78 emails with Strom. Concentrating on R Nelson, Cecconi, Pfaadt Walston and was in the Dbacks Clubhouse May 23, 2024, that’s serious to me. The video clearly shows Strom didn’t know his football slider.
Roger doesn’t need validation from Acee he just notified him what was taking place. You got a problem dude! LOL Not many know about Roger assisting Brent Strom all 2024 season. That’s amazing that happened. Good for Roger. You’ll see the video soon it will blow your mind what happens in that Dbacks Clubhouse.
There is no story Roger. Not even a tweet. I talked to Mike Trout and Nolan Schanuel on March 16th around that same time at the Angels facility in Tempe with Rhett Bollinger standing right there and there are no mentions of me in the press either.
Difference is I have a job Roger. Actually a company with about 110 employees, but you get the gist.
You are an unemployed former high school pitcher who has had one mention in the press ever, an article you wrote yourself in 2020 for the South Florida Tribune.
Roger, just stop. At some point you have to realize how pathetic this all looks. Have you thought about getting professional help for your mental health issues?
Brent Strom was shocked when he got let go. You kidding me? lol
Brent Strom said to Roger, Perhaps you will have more discussion with my replacement. I have that confirmed you want me to send it you?
I told you Roger and Acee had a conversation. That doesn’t mean there’s an article. What don’t you understand about that? Ask Acee if he met Football Slider guy on Sunday March 16 and talked about his Brent Strom Dacks experience in 2024.
Why don’t you contact Roger right now on Twitter and he we send you evidence. He already sent it to all the big outlets. Stop acting like a fool.. You are simply afraid like many others.
You just said that you only spoke with Strom once, on May 23rd, 2024.
Pestering him with emails for a couple of months is not working with him.
It is certainly not being an employee of the team.
You need some serious help.
Why don’t you be a responsible reporter and contact Roger on Twitter and he will send you absolute 100% proof of his video audio and emails. Is that too hard for you? You need the help, Roger doesn’t need your help that’s for sure.
Lovullo acknowledged the Football Slider that’s on video at Maryvale March 15 2024 and the clincher is Roger tells Strom on the video to get the pitchers to move around on the rubber.
Roger will gladly show you his proof but he doesn’t need your validation for anything. Take it of leave it.
Roger pinned tweet Strom says to Roger we got your boy Glasnow last night. That’s a good one. Strom knows Roger taught Glasnow the football slider in May 2018. Why didn’t Glasnow throw it in 2017? He didn’t know it.
Focus on teaching that certain slider that’s been exposed and invest resources in hitting. The person who revealed how that certain slider pitcher threw theirs so everyone could throw it talks about it all the time.
Golden Years, gold whop whop whop.
The Rays are going to rue McClanahan getting injured during spring training. He’s traveled down the road and back again.
I heard he threw a party and invited everyone he knew to the game.
Good job
“Your heart is true,
you’re a pal and a confidant.”
And Sophia says “Hey, if you could buy a celebrity at an auction, I’d be showering every morning with Trini Lopez.”
Shane was once highly regarded as one of the Golden Girls of a proud Yampa staff. But with his assorted owies, the Ray Rays may Rue the lost time and resultant missed opportunity.
From Golden Girl to Rueing McClanahan such is the Tampa lot.
All that just caused me to Blanche.
I was going to bet ye white (white as a ghost)
Sucks for baseball
have there been an unusual amount of injuries across the league ahead of OD? everyday valuable players are going down
also noticed alotta pitchers coming back from TJ this yr are not recovering well enough to return even after 2 yrs being away. something different about recent TJ surgeries causing this?