MASH Report (5/11/15)

• Alex Cobb is going to need Tommy John surgery and will be out until late 2016.

Cobb expects to have the surgery performed by Dr. James Andrews on Thursday. Based on that date and the normal recovery from Tommy John surgery — 14 to 15 months — the Rays are hopeful he can be back by around September 2016.

The general public thinks a year in the normal time to return from TJS, but recently, the time table has been pushed back to a 14-month timetable. It may be a little less for relief pitchers. Of the fourteen major league pitchers who had the operation before 5/11/14, only Luke Hochevar is back and his operation was on 3/18/14.

• Drew Smyly may be out for the rest of the season with a torn labrum in his shoulder. More information with be available soon, but he may be droppable in re-draft leagues at this point.

• Kevin Gausman will miss some time with shoulder tendinitis. A better understanding of the exact nature of the injury will be available in a day or two as he has some tests performed.

• I was a little surprised Michael Saunders made it back from the DL so quickly after having most of his meniscus removed from one knee. Now he is back on the DL with pain in the same knee. This knee could bother him for the rest of his career.

• Yonder Alonso has a deep bruise in his shoulder which will keep him out of action for at least a couple of weeks.

• Any chance of Jarrod Parker pitching in the majors may be over with a facture to this elbow which he recently had Tommy John surgery on. Right now there are more questions than answers about his future.

• Dillon Gee went on the DL with a groin strain. I am not sure what to make of this comment by Sandy Alderson on Gee’s injury.

Given the uncertainty of the groin, we decided to retroactively put him on the DL from Monday

Uncertain groins?

• The Royals placed Jason Vargas on the DL with a flexor strain. He is expected to only miss the required 15 days.

• The Yankees Chris Martin in on the DL with elbow tendinitis.

• Expect a drop in production from Hanley Ramirez as he plays through a shoulder injury.

Velocity Readings

• Joe Wieland’s average fastball velocity seems fine.

• Greg Holland’s velocity is no longer dropping, but still not up to his 2014 levels

• Justin Grimm’s velocity looks fine.

• Tom Wilhelmsen’s speed is near last year’s values

• Luke Hochevar is not up to his 2013 velocity highs

• Henderson Alvarez’s velocity is up from earlier this season as he heads off to make some minor league starts. He averaged 93.5 mph in ’14 and 90 mph in ’15 so he is between the two values right now.

“Henderson threw 50 pitches and everything went well,” Miami manager Mike Redmond said Thursday afternoon. “They said his velocity was 91-92 [mph]. He got through it, and everything went well.”

Players on the DL in 2015

The Red players have had updates since the last report. Click on the “Date” for a link to go to the latest article on the player.