Parnell to get TJ Surgery

[Lefty Specialist]

Jose Valverde, the job is yours.



Bobby Parnell will undergo Tommy John surgery

April 6th, 2014 7:40 pm
Bobby Parnell will undergo Tommy John surgery on his right ulnar collateral ligament, the team announced.

Parnell will have the surgery on Tuesday at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Mets Medical Director Dr. David Altchek will perform the procedure.

[Zvon]

Ugh shit. Shame.

[Frayed Knot]

Quite possibly the end of the line for him as a Met. Certainly not guaranteed to get a contract next season as it'll likely be mid-2015 before he's ready to return and as a 5th year player you can't get him on the cheap without cutting him loose first. Once you cut him loose of course then he's free to scout around for someone who would be willing to offer him the best shot.

All that's getting ahead of ourselves though. Certainly suxx for BP. Seemed like he was in the midst of transforming from a thrower into a pitcher.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Happens to all teams, suxx.

[Edgy MD]

Got to be looking at Jeurys in the longer term, right? Insofar as you can ever think long-term in an industry that destroys the elbows of young humans.

I mean, they don't seem to be taking Walters seriously. Maybe it's just going to be who gets left out if and when the rotation rounds out --- deGrom or Cohoon or somebibby.

[Mex17]

Kevin Gregg and Joel Hanrahan, where art thou?

[metirish]

Has Bobby said where he wants to rehab?

[A Boy Named Seo]

Shitty for Bobby. Suxxxxxxx.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

metirish wrote: Has Bobby said where he wants to rehab?

LOLOLLLOL.

Too bad for Bobby. I raised him from a pup and was very happy to see how far he'd come, and how far the Mets came once they realized that they didn't have to be the idiots who pay guys for the saves they had for other teams. It could certainly be over for him.

[batmagadanleadoff]

How come some people are quick to say that it might be over for Parnell's career, but nobody here ever said that about Harvelous?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Harvelous will still be affordable & under team control at expiration of his rehab, Parnell won't.

But I'll gladly share my skepticism that Harvey will ever be as good again. I have said as much had he not gotten surgery.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Oh. I see. So you were talking about Parnell's Mets career, instead of his baseball career?

JCL wrote: But I'll gladly share my skepticism that Harvey will ever be as good again. I have said as much had he not gotten surgery.

I'm no fortune-teller, and I wasn't necessarily expressing skepticism over their respective futures, but I'd bet on this scenario if I had to. I'd bet that both of these pitchers have thrown their last 96 MPH fast-ball.

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

So we have, what, three pitchers out now with TJ surgery?

Have we ever had this before, and are we doing something wrong?

I'm trying to think which other Mets have even had the surgery. Mejia? Did John Franco have it when he missed the season?

[Frayed Knot]

Mejia = yes; Franco = yes
Also Stephen Matz and Phlip Humber while they were still in the system working their way up.

I'm sure there are others as well.

[Centerfield]

Would it make sense to send Syndergaard and Wheeler in to get their TJ surgeries now? I'm ready to punt on 2014 if that means we'll be healthy next year.

[Edgy MD]

I'm sure the team is trying and trying and trying to find a way to do things "different" that works. Just as, if there were a sacrifice that could have been made to keep Joel Zumaya out of the operating room, the Tigers would have made it. And the Nationals with Strasburg. Or Joba Chamberlain or Brian Wilson. The White Sox had eight pitchers in their organization undergo the process last year alone. Every team in beisbol would love to have the formula that protects their dearest assets. If any have found the answer, I sure haven't heard about it.

More likely, it seems to me, is that the surgery is going to be looked at differently. While batmagadan may be correct in suggesting that neither Harvey nor Parnell ever throws as hard again, an increasing percentage (though certainly not yet the majority), of post-op pitchers come back stronger a season or so after they come back.

I've discussed it before, but I'm wondering if one day, TJ surgery may not be looked at as a surgical repair, but a surgical enhancement.

Centerfield is joking, but one day, it may indeed be seen as a beneficial thing to get out of the way early in one's career.

[Ceetar]

yes, but it's hardly bionic. We've (baseball) gotten a handful of guys having their second TJ this season.

It's still surgery and not foolproof. Plus if it ever reaches the point of pure enhancement baseball will just ban it anyway.


If anything, I wonder if the trend should be to NOT have the surgery on partial tears as things like PRP get better at recovery. (Why even try that if it's only gonna be a week btw?)

These things clearly didn't come out of nowhere. What did pitchers do 50 years ago? retire? suck? suck for a couple of years and then learn the knuckleball and win the Cy Young and get traded to Toronto?

Or did they suck and then recover? Did said partials heal over time? If Parnell took his PRP and didn't throw for a year, would it be healed?

[Frayed Knot]

Ceetar wrote: What did pitchers do 50 years ago? retire? suck?

Usually suck while pitching in pain and then retire because no one wanted them anymore. Or maybe sit around for a while hoping it would get better and then when he couldn't throw right the following spring he'd simply be cut.
At that point his bio would then read: "Blew out his arm" and left baseball to enter the insurance business. Rarely if ever was there mention of the Ulnar Collateral Ligament because it probably wasn't known what the cause of the pain and sucking was.

Or did they suck and then recover? Did said partials heal over time? If Parnell took his PRP and didn't throw for a year, would it be healed?

Healed? - no. Ligaments aren't muscles and so don't heal themselves or regrow to close up the tear. You can strengthen areas around the injury and hope that things don't get worse and/or that you can manage the pain and adjust to the diminished velocity.

Edited April 7, 2014 by Guest

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Guys who had "sore arms" and just disappeared back then. Easier for teams to bury them then, and fewer guys were big investments worth protecting.

I would say strength training and PED use has contributed: Muscles can get stronger with work but ligaments cannot.

[Edgy MD]

Ceetar wrote: These things clearly didn't come out of nowhere. What did pitchers do 50 years ago? retire? suck? suck for a couple of years and then learn the knuckleball and win the Cy Young and get traded to Toronto?

All of the above. There's a reason the record books are full of Ed Walshes and Addie Josses from 1890-1920 who threw a lot more innings but did damn-all after 30.

Even from the mid-century. Koufax retired. Score sucked. Bouton sucked and then learned the knuckler. These were pretty close to the sum total of one's options.

[Ceetar]

I thought the protocol these days inferred that you might be able to heal the tear if it wasn't too bad, hence the treatment? Or did they try for a week, see that it showed no progress and decide it wasn't working?

Did anyone mention the reason for the decision change with Parnell? I'm sure someone must have, but when 90 people report/repost the same stories, it's harder to dig for the ones that provide new information.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Ceetar wrote: These things clearly didn't come out of nowhere. What did pitchers do 50 years ago? retire? suck? suck for a couple of years and then learn the knuckleball and win the Cy Young and get traded to Toronto?

50 years ago, there were no MRI machines. So usually yeah, doneski. Or if they could still pitch at all, probably a spitball instead of a knuckleball, and no Cy Young. No fancy ulnar collateral diagnoses, just another pithcher whose arm went sore, or bad, or dead.

[Lefty Specialist]

"My arm's not sore, it's just a little stiff."

-Steve Barber, Ball Four

[Frayed Knot]

Various stuff from Martino (NYDN)

- Parnell simply thought about the surgery over the weekend and decided in favor. No new setbacks or anything else
"I want to make sure if I do have surgery I give myself the best bet to get back for next year and have the recovery time,�

- On Joel Hanrahan: One Mets official who checked in on Hanrahan recently said that the closer, who underwent Tommy John last May, was progressing fine in his rehab, but �not close� to pitching in the major leagues.

- The Mets declined an opportunity to send a scout to a January showcase for Ryan Madson -- and anyway, one executive for another club that did scout Madson said that his asking price was surprisingly high. There�s also Kevin Gregg, Octavio Dotel and others out there, and the Mets are open to everything, but more likely to proceed deliberately, and not acquire a player in direct response to the Parnell news.