Ryan O'Rourke Will Have Tommy John surgery

[Seth Stohs]

News came out of Texas today that Lefty Ryan O'Rourke will have Tommy John surgery and miss at least the rest of the 2017 season. 

 

While the Twins have some good lefties in their bullpen (Taylor Rogers, Craig Breslow), they also have some waiting in the wings (Buddy Boshers, Mason Melotakis, maybe Nik Turley). 

 

That said, O'Rourke has been as good against left-handed hitters as anyone in baseball during his MLB and MiLB time, so this is unfortunate.

[yarnivek1972]

Yeah, if I am not mistaken the homerun by Granderson was the only HIT by a lefty last year. It sucks for this year, but O'Rourke will likely be fine. Loogy's last forever.

[Mike Sixel]

Sucks. Good luck to him.

[Otto von Ballpark]

A silver lining for O'Rourke is because he got injured in spring training before being optioned, he is getting MLB salary, benefits, and service time for all of 2017. I am sure he would rather be pitching, of course.

[S.]

 

good lefties. Taylor Rogers, Craig Breslow, Buddy Boshers. 

 

[a-wan]

New front office, same terrible medical staff. Mis-diagnosis.

[GCTF]

 

New front office, same terrible medical staff. Mis-diagnosis.

I'm sure they'll clean their knife and fork with a napkin before operating.

[Heezy1323]

 

New front office, same terrible medical staff. Mis-diagnosis.

What information do you have that supports this as a mis-diagnosis? There is a clear difference between a misdiagnosis and a trial of conservative treatment that fails before deciding to proceed with surgery. 

[Guest]

New front office, same terrible medical staff. Mis-diagnosis.

Well, at least they didn't question his manliness publicly, so there's that improvement.

[Thrylos]

Good luck to him, but, frankly, if he did not need to go to the 60-day DL, he was a prime DFA candidate...

 

Hope his stomach holds during the surgery.

[yarnivek1972]

Good luck to him, but, frankly, if he did not need to go to the 60-day DL, he was a prime DFA candidate...

 

Hope his stomach holds during the surgery.

Why? He was about as good a loogy as there was in mlb last year.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

New front office, same terrible medical staff. Mis-diagnosis.

How is this a misdiagnosis? O'Rourke last pitched roughly 40 days ago. That's a pretty reasonable timeline to wait out a decision to go under the knife because it doesn't matter. One month is not going to drastically change when O'Rourke pitches again.

 

This isn't a "go down with an injury in September, go under the knife in March" situation.

[Mike Sixel]

 

What information do you have that supports this as a mis-diagnosis? There is a clear difference between a misdiagnosis and a trial of conservative treatment that fails before deciding to proceed with surgery. 

 

This, these are humans. Surgery should be a LAST choice.

[DaveW]

How is this a misdiagnosis? O'Rourke last pitched roughly 40 days ago. That's a pretty reasonable timeline to wait out a decision to go under the knife because it doesn't matter. One month is not going to drastically change when O'Rourke pitches again.

 

This isn't a "go down with an injury in September, go under the knife in March" situation.

It's really hard to give the Twins the benefit of the doubt on this though after they have misdiagnosed dozedns of injuries in the recent past, when you go cheap on doctors and hire Dr Nick this is what happens all the time.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

It's really hard to give the Twins the benefit of the doubt on this though after they have misdiagnosed dozedns of injuries in the recent past, when you go cheap on doctors and hire Dr Nick this is what happens all the time.

I'm not even giving them the benefit of the doubt, simply saying that 40 days isn't a big deal either way. They could have gotten the diagnosis wrong 15 times in that 40 day span and it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

[drjim]

 

It's really hard to give the Twins the benefit of the doubt on this though after they have misdiagnosed dozedns of injuries in the recent past, when you go cheap on doctors and hire Dr Nick this is what happens all the time.

 

You have very unrealistic expectations about practicing medicine. But you are far from alone.

[Heezy1323]

It would be nice if the MRI's just showed up with a big, blinking light that indicated surgery was necessary. Alas, as with many things, it just isn't that simple. The UCL of a major league pitcher almost never looks normal on MRI. A partial tear that completely prevents one player from pitching may not even by symptomatic in another player. The decision on when to proceed with surgery is, in many cases, difficult and there are many factors involved aside from simply the MRI findings. Hindsight is always 20/20, and of course there are trials of non-surgical treatment that are unsuccessful. That's part of medicine.

 Also, for what it's worth, the vast majority of professional teams don't pay their doctors (I can't speak specifically about the Twins, though I strongly suspect they do not). In most cases, the practice pays the team for the rights to 'cover' them. 

[AZTwin]

Is it just me or does it seem like we have tommy John surgeries at an abnormally high rate? What the hell

[yarnivek1972]

Somewhat off topic, but not really.  I've often made the case for the Hall of Fame for Tommy John.  First of all, the numbers are good enough.  They are right there with Bert's, Robin Roberts, Don Sutton, all those fringe guys. 288 wins.  A lot of people (myself included) were surprised that Clemens, Johnson, Glavine and Maddux made it to 300.  Not because they weren't good enough, but because they pitched long enough and deep enough into games to get those wins.  I feel pretty confident saying there might never be a guy that gets even 250, let alone 300.  Highest active total belongs to Colon at 234.  He's 44. Maybe he gets to 250, but with Atlanta that will be tough because the team is so bad. Then CC Sabathia at 225.  He's 36. He's won 18 games his last 3 years combined. After that, all the way down to 177, 38 year old John Lackey.  Just behind at 174, is 34 year old Justin Verlander.  Verlander would have to average 15 wins for 5 more seasons including this year to get to 250.  AND stay healthy. He missed a big chunk of 2015.  The numbers say he is good enough if Bert et al are.

 

Then the surgery for which he is known.  A tear of the elbow ligament ended the career of every pitcher that had it before Tommy John. John was never a strikeout pitcher even before surgery.  But he was one of the top 5 or 6 lefties in the game when he was injured.  He took a chance, worked his butt off and made it back.  Big time.  He won 20 games THREE times AFTER the surgery.  He won 13 games in 1987 for the Yankees at age 44.  To put that in perspective, Bert won 15 for the 1987 Twins at age 36.  The guy has literally changed the game.  If that isn't what the Hall of Fame is about, I don't know what it is about.  

 

end rant, thanks for tuning in

[drjim]

I would be more inclined to enshrine the doctor who came up with the surgery than the first player to benefit from it, but that's a good argument.

[Heezy1323]

There has been a push in some circles for Dr. Andrews to be in the baseball HOF, which would be cool.