An MRI today reavealed a torn ulnar collateral ligament for Joel Zumaya, tweets Phil Mackey of 1500ESPN. Twins GM Terry Ryan confirmed to reporters, including Chris Girandola of MLB.com, that Zumaya will miss the 2012 season. According to Ryan, Zumaya will decide in the next couple of days whether or not he'll undergo Tommy John surgery.
The Twins signed the oft-injured flamethrower to a low-risk Major League deal that guaranteed Zumaya $850K if he broke camp with the team. Because of the injury, the Twins are only on the hook for $400K of that figure. Mackey writes that Ryan says the Twins will stay in-house to fill the void in their bullpen and that Zumaya is "distraught."
The 27-year-old Zumaya owns a career 3.05 ERA in 209 2/3 innings of work with a 9.0 K/9 and 4.9 BB/9. It's hard not to feel for Zumaya, who hasn't pitched since June of 2010 and was looking to revive his career as a member of the Twins.
Big surprise!
It’s a damn shame though. he was nasty when he was healthy 6 years ago. so now he’s out til the end of next year if he doesn’t retire.
haha that sucks
You stay classy
…like Oakland.
Of course the Twins will look in-house. They cannot spend the couple hundred thousand to pick up a quality arm. No one should be shocked that he already hurt himself after the early comments of him lighting it up this early on in camp.
He is a walking Injury. It all started with “excessive playing of Guitar Hero”
He is a walking Injury. It all started with “excessive playing of Guitar Hero”
Feel horrible for the guy. Can’t imagine how frustrated he is right now.
I was hoping the Tigers would have shown interest and made his comeback there.. But now? it don’t really matter..
The career that could have been..
I’d imagine he calls it a career at this point. Shame.
I’ll bet he tries Tommy John before he retires.
Maybe try it three times! It worked for Kuo (for a little)
Feel horrible for the guy. Can’t imagine how frustrated he is right now.
13 pitches was all it took , i have a feeling this guy would still tear ligaments left and right even if he was under handing it
I wish I got $400K for sitting out of work for a year
and then be forced to retire because of said injury instead of making much more money? It’s not like he’s out for the year with the flu.
True but it is hard to feel sorry for any ball player considering how much many of them have made even in a few years and how long it would take the average person reading these forums to make that much. I am guessing most of us would be willing to switch spots.
In other news, water is wet.
That’s a shame. I was really looking forward to watching him pitch this season, to see if he can get his career back on track.
He gets hurt in spring training or he gets hurt during the regular season. Either way, he gets hurt.
He once got hurt in the playoffs
I don’t believe he did.
2006 ALDS.
Didn’t think this day would come so soon. Aside from the fact he just made $400k for a week of workouts, I feel bad for the guy. I really wanted to watch him succeed with the Twins, and not just for the Twins sake. I like the guy.
“Zumaya lasted just 13 pitches in his first session of live batting practice Saturday before walking off the mound with pain in his elbow.”
Too bad, I really liked the guy. He was exciting to watch, even in times when he was not performing well. But this is pretty much a career ender; especially if he undergos TJ surgery. If he does the surgery, he’s looking at a year before he can even begin throwing again plus a year of reahbbing after that. That’s simply too long out of the game when added to what he has already missed.
Apparently his body just was never properly conditioned for the amount of stress he was putting on it throwing so hard. Pity.
Deja Vu?
Is Zumaya a Hispanic clone of Mark Prior?
Prior immediately popped into my head too, parallel story. Two guys who could have been HOF’ers, but only because of the injury bug, are instead hardly more than footnotes in baseball history.
Joel Zumaya the HOF’er out of the bullpen? Lets slow down
Zumaya is from California.
But he is still of Hispanic descent
What will it take for a US-born minority to be considered American before anything else?
What will it take for a US-born minority to be considered American before anything else?
And Arabic, if I’m not mistaken.
I’m sorry, but I kind of laughed when I saw that he exited after throwing just 13 pitches this spring, and it results in a season-ending injury. This guy doesn’t know when to hang it up, and I’ve seen this far too often with him. It’s even more painful for me to see him keep trying to come back than it is for me to see him get shut down for the year, because one always results in the other. I really hope he realizes sooner rather than later for his sanity that his arm just can’t hold together in the way that he wants to throw the baseball. This guy needs to shut it down, I think his arm will thank him later. I feel so bad for the guy, but it’s just getting way too old.
Can’t blame the guy for trying to earn some money, at least. This was it for him though, no more guaranteed contracts, at least not in the MLB. I imagine he’ll go ahead with tommy john, even if he never throws another pitch, so that his arm is fixed up enough for everyday life without pain. Man, what a bizarre injury history…
Nothing compares to when he broke his elbow during the game and you could hear it pop on the FSD broadcast.
Yes it sucks he is hurt but come on. It is easy for me to not feel sorry for him. He is earning $400,000 to recover from non life threatening injury when a lot of people are still without jobs? People who feel sorry for him have their priories out of order.
I can feel sorry for him AND also feel sorry for the people out of work, or terminally ill, etc. Human compassion is not a zero-sum game…
I never said or implied that human compasion is a “zero-sum game”. I said feeling sorry for someone with an injury that causes manageable pain and has not prevented him from providing for himself or his family is, in my opinion, misguided. People deal with similar, or worse, injuries everyday. The difference is they do not make six figures, some cannot even afford to go to a doctor. I feel for poeple like Ryan Dempster and Trevor Miller who have children that are fighting for their lives, not a 27 year old whose realistic outlook is that he might not play baseball again.
I never said or implied that human compasion is a “zero-sum game”. I said feeling sorry for someone with an injury that causes manageable pain and has not prevented him from providing for himself or his family is, in my opinion, misguided. People deal with similar, or worse, injuries everyday. The difference is they do not make six figures, some cannot even afford to go to a doctor. I feel for poeple like Ryan Dempster and Trevor Miller who have children that are fighting for their lives, not a 27 year old whose realistic outlook is that he might not play baseball again.
Feel bad for him. Great pitcher, just can’t stay healthy. Waste of 400K for the Twins. He’s still young, and Tommy John Surgery is something pitchers can return from. He’ll get an opportunity when he comes back.
I feel so bad for the guy he suffers injury after injury, I hope he gets another shot next year and stays healthy and returns to 2006 form where he was one of the best relievers in the game
Nothing new.
This guy will be fine. He’s only 27. Still time to have a lengthy career in the big leagues. He is, after all, a relief pitcher. Dime a dozen. He’ll recover and land on his feet.
Except that he’s been sidelined pretty much every year since 2007.
With all the injuries Zumaya has had, his body is like the equivalent of a 37 year olds, rather than 27.
I’ve heard that in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. It’s not happening.
Feel bad for the guy. Glad he turned the Padres down and went to Minny
Womp womp.
Can he pitch with his left arm??!!
I’m honestly surprised he still has ligaments left to tear.
Classy comments on here today for an injured pitcher. I hope he comes back (albeit given his track record a long shot) and shuts people up. Best wishes to Zumaya on a speedy recovery as a person first, and as a ball player.
When he first signed, people ripped on me because I said that he will not help in the slightest…
You got ripped because you – like the rest of us – have no special insight into what may or may not happen to a player’s career. Everyone on the MLBTR board knows that when Zumaya signed with the Twins, he had battled serious arm injuries for several seasons and that his once promising career was in real jeopardy. Everyone on this board also knows that teams sign injured players to non-guaranteed or minor league deals all the time hoping that a guy can make it back and be productive. Sometimes it pays off (Ordonez with the Tigers is a good example) and oftentimes it doesn’t. Zumaya – as well as a number of teams who considered signing him – thought he might be able to resume his career but no one knew for certain. I think it is fair to say that you hoped he wouldn’t help the Twins but we all know that you were either just guessing he would get hurt again or, as I think, just hoping he would.
And yet, I was right. Would you look that.
And I was not hoping for him to get hurt. Don’t even think about putting words like that into my mouth. It was pretty easy to figure that this would happen. People have been saying “maybe next year,” his whole career. He was hurt in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. Based on that, it was simple to figure out that he would be hurt in 2012.
“And yet, I was right. Would you look that.”
In the end, however, all you care about is that you’re right. What are you, 12?
Who said that was all I care about? You? Making stuff up, what are you? 12?
I rest my case.
Huh? I said the same thing as you. Hypocritical troll.
shh
Thank you for showering me with such a great comment.
Please stop while you’re not too far behind.
Stop what? This guy makes me out to be a jerk and I’m not allowed to defend myself? I never said that me being right is bigger than Zumaya’s injury. How about everyone gets there facts straight? Ok. I’m done.
He will probably retire. Although, it’s not like Tommy John surgery hasn’t performed some minor miracles/rejuvinations for some pitchers. He’s got age on his side, but I doubt Tommy John surgery would be a permanent solution to all the injuries he’s suffered. I say he’ll give it to age 30 and then he’ll call it a career.
Yep, he’s done.
Saw this over at the Onion News
MINNEAPOLIS—Injury-plagued fireball reliever Joel Zumaya informed reporters Monday that his new $800,000 contract with the Twins obligates him to throw one last beautifully self-destructive pitch that will finally annihilate his arm forever. “I’ve undergone dozens of surgeries and months of painstaking rehab to get my arm in good enough shape to pitch again, so that pitch is going to be absolutely incredible,” said Zumaya, whose single-pitch contract is laden with incentives for velocity, accuracy, and the horrifying sound his elbow makes when it implodes from the torque. “Bones will splinter, arteries will be spouting in all directions, ligaments will twang through the air like snapped guitar strings, and when the shock and disgust finally subside, they’ll look at the radar gun and see ‘235 mph.'” Zumaya then broke his wrist clicking a pen.
And why do so many fans take pleasure in the misfortune of this once promising, exciting kid? It’s not just here. This morning I heard a host on a sports talk show almost delighting in giving the news and saying he “was right about Zumaya”
I don’t get it. It’s not like the kid was ever a trouble maker. He didn’t get in trouble with the law or take drugs. All he did was blow out his shoulder, finger and arm over the last 5 years.
Why the hatred or at least enjoyment out of his continued problem with injuries?
It’s because we’ve become more desensitized to the human aspect of athletes. We’ve come to treat them more as commodities due to the advent of fantasy sports. There has also been a personal disconnect between fans and athletes/popular figures in society that has existed since the dawn of man.
However, times are changing with all of the social media services bringing the world together.
Or, they’re simply being jerks.
Tiger Fans will always remember Zumaya’s electric stuff!
I remember one July afternoon in ’06 when I was sitting behind the plate for a game against the White Sox. The Twins, Tigers, and ChiSox were all within about 5 games of each other for 1st place – Rogers and Contreas just dueled for 6 innings and it was 2-1 Tigers –
Voodoo Child hit the speakers and Zoom Zoom came down to start the 7th. His line that day was great! 2 IP / 1 H / 1 BB / 3 K – But more impressive was his velocity –
This was the first time I’ve seen him live and only being 10 rows or so from the plate I could barely track the ball after he released it. The White Sox looked lost up there. The scoreboard said he touched 102mph a couple times that day, and I believe it!! Amazing
Thank you Zoom Zoom for helping the Tigers win the AL Pennant in 2006! In the end your career was just like your best pitch – Electric, Incredible to watch, and it went by way too fast!