Strasburg may need Tommy John surgery

vegaspuck said:
How much were his 1/1 big cards going for again? Ouch....
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Not much any more! :rolleyes:

I remember a month ago in the chat room when everyone was tooting the Strasburg horn and I said I wouldn't put that much hobby emphasis on a pitcher....citing the Mark Prior "crowning of the new big rookie, who fizzled due to arm troubles". Everyone in the chat room barked and barked at me. Man, I hate it when I'm right. :D

Everyone blasted the Twins for not being able to sign Prior and taking Joe Mauer #1 instead. Guess who was smarter there? Hint: always go with the best position player......

Anyway, unless you're a freak of nature like Nolan Ryan, anyone that young and who throws that hard is bound to have arm problems. Liriano on the Twins had Tommy John surgery, and is doing OK. Not lights out like he was before arm troubles, but doing well. Let's just hope for the Nationals sake, and Strasburg's, that the surgery helps and he can still be a good pitcher.

I just heard his rookie cards hitting the floor as coins vs. mega $$ bills.......
 
GabbyGuy said:
Not much any more! :rolleyes:

I remember a month ago in the chat room when everyone was tooting the Strasburg horn and I said I wouldn't put that much hobby emphasis on a pitcher....citing the Mark Prior "crowning of the new big rookie, who fizzled due to arm troubles". Everyone in the chat room barked and barked at me. Man, I hate it when I'm right. :D

Everyone blasted the Twins for not being able to sign Prior and taking Joe Mauer #1 instead. Guess who was smarter there? Hint: always go with the best position player......

Anyway, unless you're a freak of nature like Nolan Ryan, anyone that young and who throws that hard is bound to have arm problems. Liriano on the Twins had Tommy John surgery, and is doing OK. Not lights out like he was before arm troubles, but doing well. Let's just hope for the Nationals sake, and Strasburg's, that the surgery helps and he can still be a good pitcher.

I just heard his rookie cards hitting the floor as coins vs. mega $$ bills.......
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I'm with curt on this one. I just hand a feeling he was going to get hurt and looks like we were both right. I didn't want him to get hurt.
 
GabbyGuy said:
Not much any more! :rolleyes:

I remember a month ago in the chat room when everyone was tooting the Strasburg horn and I said I wouldn't put that much hobby emphasis on a pitcher....citing the Mark Prior "crowning of the new big rookie, who fizzled due to arm troubles". Everyone in the chat room barked and barked at me. Man, I hate it when I'm right. :D

Everyone blasted the Twins for not being able to sign Prior and taking Joe Mauer #1 instead. Guess who was smarter there? Hint: always go with the best position player......

Anyway, unless you're a freak of nature like Nolan Ryan, anyone that young and who throws that hard is bound to have arm problems. Liriano on the Twins had Tommy John surgery, and is doing OK. Not lights out like he was before arm troubles, but doing well. Let's just hope for the Nationals sake, and Strasburg's, that the surgery helps and he can still be a good pitcher.

I just heard his rookie cards hitting the floor as coins vs. mega $$ bills.......
Click to expand...

Big difference between Prior and Strasburg - Prior's shoulder is completely shredded, the elbow is not as much of a concern comparitively. And Prior's shoulder was a major red flag before he was drafted just based on the amount he pitched in high school and in college. Tommy John surgery is not the career death sentence it was even 15 years ago. The saddest part is that kids are now getting it because of overuse by coaches who care more about winning than developing them.

Liriano has been dominant in some games this year - but what doesn't help is that he can't throw the slider like he did before, since that's what caused him to blow out the UCL the first time.

Take a look at all the star pitchers that underwent Tommy John surgery playing now - Chris Carpenter, Josh Johnson, Tim Hudson, Ryan Dempster, Joakim Soria, Billy Wagner, Brian Wilson. Most of these guys have come back stronger than before - so I wouldn't necessarily write off his career just yet. But for a team that needs him as badly as any, it's just another shot to the gut.
 
Some pitchers that have made successful comebacks from TJS:

John Smoltz, Francisco Liriano, Chris Carpenter, Josh Johnson, Tim Hudson, Ryan Dempster, Joakim Soria, Billy Wagner, Brian Wilson, Shaun Marcum, Mike Gonzalez, Carl Pavano, Rafael Soriano, CJ Wilson, etc
 
DredJAw said:
Some pitchers that have made successful comebacks from TJS:

John Smoltz, Francisco Liriano, Chris Carpenter, Josh Johnson, Tim Hudson, Ryan Dempster, Joakim Soria, Billy Wagner, Brian Wilson, Shaun Marcum, Mike Gonzalez, Carl Pavano, Rafael Soriano, CJ Wilson, etc
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How many of these guys were as good as they were before the surgery? I honestly don't know, so I'm asking.
 
Jai,

Smoltz, Carpenter, Johnson, Dempster, both Wilsons, Marcum, and Soriano are arguably better than before.

There used to be a time when Tommy John surgery meant 2+ years before even making an attempt, now guys are basically ready to go in less than a year. Tim Hudson was back less than a year, and Strasburg's replacement in the Nats rotation, Jordan Zimmermann is back in the big leagues 13 months to the day he was injured. And he's been pitching since May getting ramped up for his return.

Hong Chi Kuo has had TJ surgery twice - and is now one of the most dominant relievers in the majors for the Dodgers.

Reading about Strasburg's work ethic, I imagine he'll back up and pitching in the big leagues by September of next year - and with a possiblity of being better than before with a pretty much new ligament and not one that has been pitching for 10+ years.
 
cards-gotta-go said:
How many of these guys were as good as they were before the surgery? I honestly don't know, so I'm asking.
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To be honest, I'd say all of them are at or were close to where they were at prior to the surgery. Several are even better. In many cases TJS actually ADDS 1-2-3 mph on your fastball.

Art has a good list of guys who came back better. Most of the others are at, or near what they were.

There are a lot of cases where guys lost it after TJS (Bedard, Gagne, Zambrano, Prior, etc) but I listed guys who pitched at least 90% or better from what they were.
 
Glad I moved my cards when I did...

I wish I could find the video, but there's a brilliant breakdown of Strasburg's mechanics and it shows the importance of the angle your lead foot finishes with and how much of the load it takes off of your upper body.

As a comparison, Tim Lincecum has a 130 degree finishing angle, Nolan Ryan had a 135 and Sandy Koufax had the most with a 140 degree finish. Strasburg has a 110 degree angle which put the load on his shoulders and elbow to get his power. This is the end result. Hopefully he can come back. If he does, he's going to need to work on changing his mechanics.
 
I believe the point that White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper may have been on to something when he talked about possible arm issues for Strasburg the first time he went on the DL.

White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper, speaking to MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM on Thursday, voiced a concern that some pitching gurus previously noted about Strasburg's manner of throwing a baseball. As he loads the baseball, his elbows raise higher than his shoulders -- forming what pitching coaches call an inverted W -- and the back of his shoulders pinch toward one another in the "scap loading" portion of the delivery. Such a delivery, some pitching coaches believe, puts him at greater risk of shoulder fatigue.

Cooper called it "an upside-down arm action." One major league pitching coach years ago told me about the exact same concern about Mark Prior -- before Prior broke down.

"He does something with his arm action that is difficult, in my mind, to pitch a lot of innings on," Cooper said about Strasburg.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20.../30/strasburg.trades/index.html#ixzz0yoTdiJ7U

The fact that he's having elbow issues already; with the apparent danger his pitching motion is putting on his shoulder is a very bad sign.
 

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