Article: It's Official: Sano to have Tommy John Surgery

[Tibs]

No.

[Willihammer]

The timing really stinks.

 

Question: should the Twins give Sano the option to postpone the surgery and tryout for DH for the big club, and perform the surgery only if/after they play themselves out of contention, or Sano proves unequal to the task (whichever comes first)?

[Shane Wahl]

Deibinson Romero gets a chance!

[Thrylos]

The timing really stinks.

 

Question: should the Twins give Sano the option to postpone the surgery and tryout for DH for the big club, and perform the surgery only if/after they play themselves out of contention, or Sano proves unequal to the task (whichever comes first)?

 

No

 

Really. He will be able to DH in September. If they are contending then and need a bat, that's an option

[Heezy1323]

From Rhett Bollinger: "The MRI found a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in Sano's right elbow. He didn't re-injure it. It just didn't get better."

 

..I promise I'll stop playing armchair doctor soon.

 

But...did they not do periodic MRIs to make sure it was healing? Did they give him an MRI before he started throwing again? If not, I don't get it.

 

 

They likely did do serial mris. The issue is not interpretation of the MRI, it comes down to the player's ability to play with what he has. Nearly all elbow mri's done on baseball players show some abnormality, even if they are symptom-free. So unless the MRI shows progression of a tear to a full thickness tear (most do not) the decision on when to operate is difficult. In most cases, the player is allowed to attempt to return to play after a period of rest, rehab and potentially PRP. If they can play pain-free, great. If not, depending on a multitude of factors, surgery is considered. Hope that helps explain the thought process.

[Willihammer]

Is there any reason not to do PRP? Do we know if the Twins did it with Sano?

[Tibs]

The timing really stinks.

 

Question: should the Twins give Sano the option to postpone the surgery and tryout for DH for the big club, and perform the surgery only if/after they play themselves out of contention, or Sano proves unequal to the task (whichever comes first)?

I'm not sure if I read it from Mike Berardino or heard it from Rob Antony during the broadcast today, but they said they aren't interested in having him DH because they want him to be a 3B, not a DH.

[Willihammer]

I'm not sure if I read it from Mike Berardino or heard it from Rob Antony during the broadcast today, but they said they aren't interested in having him DH because they want him to be a 3B, not a DH.

So would we all, but he's not going to be doing any 3B duty this summer either way.

 

Put it another way: why rehab during the season if he can rehab during the winter instead?

[Tibs]

So would we all, but he's not going to be doing any 3B duty this summer either way.

 

Put it another way: why rehab during the season if he can rehab during the winter instead?

 

Yeah I'm not disagreeing with you. I would like to see him hit this season.

[kab21]

FWIW - Pujols has had some sort of partial tear for most of his career. He's a 1Bman but rest and rehab has worked.

[Willihammer]

Yeah I had the Antony interview in mind. He said he hoped to do the surgery in the "next 2-3 weeks." I guess I don't understand wasting all these games where he might contribute, if we don't need to.

[Seth Stohs]

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/travistalks2014/2014/03/02/talkin-twins

 

If you're interested, I participated in a podcast tonight with Travis and Fanatic Jack... Primarily talked about the Sano injury and timing and rest-n-rehab and all kinds of topics.

[Boom Boom]

No

 

Really. He will be able to DH in September. If they are contending then and need a bat, that's an option

 

He might be physically capable of that, but no way the Twins use Sano as a DH in September. He'll have built up 6 months of rust at that point and they've got tons of DHs already.

[Jdosen]

I agree that it's far-fetched that Sano will see any time in real games at all this year. It's frustrating to me that it took this long for surgery as I was hearing whispers about his shoulder last fall. As as position player, TJ is not the end of the world for him, but he will miss another year of development and a pretty likely graduation to the majors at some point. Instead I see them moving him along pretty slowly and conservatively in his rehab and reintegration back into games next year. I'd be surprised if we now saw him at Target Field any earlier than June 2015 now.

 

Should be interesting from a Plouffe standpoint as he now has another chance to prove himself without any legitimate push from anyone. Hopefully he can have a bit of a breakout a la Dozier last year and build a little value--enough for the Twins to want to keep him around as a utility man/bat (think a worse defensive, poor man's Zobrist playing 3B 1B and corner OF at times) or as a trade piece to make way for Sano. If not, we should get a look at the often overlooked Debinson Romero at a time later this summer.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I'm not sure if I read it from Mike Berardino or heard it from Rob Antony during the broadcast today, but they said they aren't interested in having him DH because they want him to be a 3B, not a DH.

 

I guess I don't see the big deal with him DHing. He had some pretty significant contact issues in AA (though he seemed to figure things out towards then end of the season). Unless having him DH is going to put some sort of strain on the elbow preventing him from being a 3B, I see no reason why he cannot start DHing when he rehab has progressed adequately. He can switch back to 3B in Rochester in 2015 for what would hopefully be a short stint.

[Major League Ready]

I have not read all seven pages so someone may have already mentioned starting his service clock. That makes no sense he still could use further development in the minors based on last year. It also does not makes sense for a team that could use that spot this year to take a longer look at Parmelle or use it for Willingham until he can be moved. It would also mean he is accumulating service time while rehabbing.

[chuchadoro]

Anyway, few doctors will talk about their patients and fewer will talk to journalists. Requesting information from the horse's mouth is silly.

 

Dr. Andrews happens to be one of those "few doctors". Perhaps he learned a lesson from the Washington Pro Football Team/RG3 Gong Show, though.

 

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/09/26/dr-james-andrews-finally-clams-up-on-rgiii-sort-of/

[Obie]

I'm not sure if I read it from Mike Berardino or heard it from Rob Antony during the broadcast today, but they said they aren't interested in having him DH because they want him to be a 3B, not a DH.

 

Anthony was asked whether the Twins would see this as reason to move to 1B, and the response was 3B only. DH was not mentioned in that context. DH was mentioned in the context of getting him some ABs later this year before returning to 3B. Anthony indicated that was a possibility for minor leagues but would be decided later.

[chuchadoro]

The notion that Sano's injury is a blessing in disguise is laughable. Should we hope for all Twins prospects with 2014-15 ETAs to get injured in order to delay their service time?

 

The Twins were not going to be a competitive team in 2014, with or without Sano. The only things I was looking forward to this year was the development of the top prospects and a starting rotation that is not as terrible as the previous couple of years. Hopefully we see Meyer, May, Hicks and others get their feet wet in the majors this year. I'm still excited about Arcia. But I can't help but feel that a lost season just got...more lost?

[jimbo92107]

Phooey. This felt inevitable. Too bad it wasn't just a little more apparent to the docs last fall.

This has to be so frustrating for a ball player on the verge.

Can't wait 'til he's back!

 

Seems like the worst case scenario for an elbow is a slight tear of the ulnar. Will it heal, or should they repair it? So they opt for a few months of see what happens, and usually what happens is that the pain goes away...if you don't use the elbow. Unfortunately, Sano is a pro baseball player, so not only will he use the elbow again, but he'll be putting max stress on the ulnar, which is how he originally injured it.

 

Besides getting the elbow fixed, Miguel Sano should use this time to go to school. Learn better English, learn enough math to do his own taxes, learn to drive a car, etc. I hope he gets a Volvo. Boxy, but nice.

[ashbury]

Besides getting the elbow fixed, Miguel Sano should use this time to go to school. Learn better English, learn enough math to do his own taxes, learn to drive a car, etc. I hope he gets a Volvo. Boxy, but nice.

 

Kyle Gibson used his rehab time wisely. He memorized the entire works of Dr Seuss, became a brown-belt yodeler, and reconditioned several vintage Duesenbergs.

[cmathewson]

Question: How common is it for partial tears to heal? I'm not aware of a case. Anybody?

[thetank]

Question: How common is it for partial tears to heal? I'm not aware of a case. Anybody?

Albert Pujols has had a partial tear in his elbow since 2003. He has had bone spurs removed and nerve transposition in his elbow but not TJ surgery.

[JB_Iowa]

This is a portion of a post by Heezy1323 in the "Ligaments Are Stuipid" thread. Heezy is an orthopedist who has actually taken training under Dr. James Andrews (given the quality of his/her posts and previous posts, I believe that he/she is telling the truth about that):

 

Most guys that have UCL reconstruction don't have a completely torn ligament on MRI. The vast majority (probably 80% or more) have a partial tear. Some can play with a partial tear... some can't. Many variables in play including mechanics, degree of partial tear, condition of shoulder/elbow musculature, etc. Many lay people (as well as many baseball people) assume the success rate of UCL reconstruction is 100%. Not true. It is a highly successful operation, but most literature puts success rate around 85-90%. So that means one out of ten is unable to return to the same level of play. This is the main reason for trying conservative treatment (rest, rehab, PRP) prior to proceeding with surgery. It is true some position players can play without an intact UCL, but these are usually not players at positions requiring hard throws (3B, RF).

 

 

I reposted the info here because I think it gives some really good info. To me, it looks like the question isn't really whether the torn UCL would "heal" in the sense of repair itself (like most of us would anticipate) but that it would "improve"/"stabilize" in such a way that the player could continue to play even though the tear remains.

[Brock Beauchamp]

The Twins were not going to be a competitive team in 2014, with or without Sano. The only things I was looking forward to this year was the development of the top prospects and a starting rotation that is not as terrible as the previous couple of years. Hopefully we see Meyer, May, Hicks and others get their feet wet in the majors this year. I'm still excited about Arcia. But I can't help but feel that a lost season just got...more lost?

 

There are still a ton of guys to watch this season. Arcia, Hicks, Gibson, and Meyer for starters.

 

It sucks that Sano went down but he's not the only interesting story this year.

[Mike Sixel]

Assuming, of course, that any of those guys are here the first half of the year, Brock.

[kab21]

The notion that Sano's injury is a blessing in disguise is laughable. Should we hope for all Twins prospects with 2014-15 ETAs to get injured in order to delay their service time?

 

The Twins were not going to be a competitive team in 2014, with or without Sano. The only things I was looking forward to this year was the development of the top prospects and a starting rotation that is not as terrible as the previous couple of years. Hopefully we see Meyer, May, Hicks and others get their feet wet in the majors this year. I'm still excited about Arcia. But I can't help but feel that a lost season just got...more lost?

 

I don't think the service time is the big issue here although it does guarantee the Twins more of Sano's prime. the big thing that I see is that it gives a really young prospect a little time to adjust and learn about baseball. His raw skill has pushed him faster than most prospects in any org but he is still 20 years old. I really hope that Sano uses his time better than Liriano though.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Assuming, of course, that any of those guys are here the first half of the year, Brock.

 

Well, it was incredibly unlikely that Sano was going to be in Minnesota for the first half of the season so that really changes nothing.

[Mike Sixel]

That was clearly about Hicks, Arcia, Pinto, Gibson, Meyer, at least I thought that was clear.

[jokin]

There are still a ton of guys to watch this season. Arcia, Hicks, Gibson, and Meyer for starters.

 

It sucks that Sano went down but he's not the only interesting story this year.

 

And a possible opening for Santana if Florimon starts out on the DL?