Jimmy Nelson

The shoulder procedure performed today on Brewers righty Jimmy Nelson ended up being somewhat more extensive than had been hoped. While there was optimism that surgeons would not find a need to repair Nelson’s labrum, they did end up needing to do some tissue work, GM David Stearns told reporters including MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy (via Twitter).

As a result, it is now expected that Nelson will miss “a chunk” of the 2018 season, per Stearns. Just how long the key righty will be sidelined isn’t yet known and will surely depend upon his rehab progress. Regardless, Milwaukee will need to plan on alternatives to fill the rotation to start the year.

Losing Nelson for any chunk of time constitutes a blow for the Brewers, putting a damper on an otherwise exciting season. The club has plenty of intriguing young pitchers, and could still decide to retain Matt Garza for depth, but Nelson had emerged as a force and can’t realistically be replaced. It’s possible that the Brewers will still mostly look to internal options to fill out the staff early next season, though it’s also conceivable that the injury could spur Stearns to look into ways to bolster the rotation over the offseason.

Unfortunately, the news also clouds Nelson’s long-term outlook. Labrum tears are among the most worrying injuries that a pitcher can suffer, as we discussed recently with regard to Angels right-hander Alex Meyer — who is expected to miss a full year of action. There is perhaps some added optimism here, McCalvy notes on Twitter, because the injury occurred to a different area of the labrum than is typically the case for tears caused by throwing.

Despite the unfortunate news, Nelson should take home a significant first-time arbitration salary after topping 170 innings in each of the past three seasons — and carrying a 3.49 ERA with 199 strikeouts in 2017. Of course, time missed in the season to come will reduce his ability to earn in the future, though at this point the focus will be on simply getting the 28-year-old back to full health.

It was already known that Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson would miss the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury, representing a big loss. What wasn’t clear, though, was whether he’d require surgery. Now, it’s clear that Nelson will indeed go under the knife, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports (Twitter links).

It won’t be known just how serious the injury is — and what kind of repair work is needed — until the surgeons access the joint. That said, it seems Nelson has received at least some cause for optimism; the right-hander suggested he has been told that his labrum may not be in need of significant work.

Clearly, we don’t yet know what to expect coming out of the surgery and won’t until it’s already over. In all likelihood, though, the less that’s done to the labrum, the less recovery time Nelson will need — and the less cause for concern there’ll be for his long-term outlook.

Needless to say, both Nelson and the team will be hoping for the best when he heads in for the procedure next Tuesday. The 28-year-old had elevated his game quite a bit in 2017, emerging along with Chase Anderson to form a solid top-of-the-rotation duo. Through 175 1/3 innings before his injury, Nelson posted a 3.49 ERA with 10.2 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 along with a 50.3% groundball rate.

Fortunately for Nelson, he was able to put up those numbers before the unfortunate injury, which occurred on the basepaths. With that excellent recent work and over 600 total MLB innings on his ledger, Nelson should be handsomely rewarded in his first trip through the arbitration process.