The elbow injury to Reds closer Ryan Madson will require Tommy John surgery, ending the right-hander's season, according to John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer (via Twitter). The Reds do not have insurance on Madson's one-year, $8.5MM contract, Fay tweets.
The market didn't go Madson's way this winter and the Scott Boras client wound up settling for considerably less than most anticipated. The injury will not only cost the closer his 2012 season, but likely major cash on his next contract. At one point, it seemed as though Madson and the Phillies were closing in on a four-year, $44MM pact, but that never came to fruition.
Aroldis Chapman and Sean Marshall are both candidates to close now, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com.
Runtime
Well… that’s unfortunate. That 1 year contract sure looks awesome now…
rfffr
Only by length. The money is unfortunate
Jay
yeah that money still hurts the Reds. 8.5 million down the drain. I don’t get why they didn’t get insurance on the guy. That hurts chances of signing Phillips or Votto. Ug!!
soxxxxx
but the reds are all in….
nm344
Damn, that sucks. Reds fans won’t even get a chance to see him pitch.
bonds2425
Sucks for the reds
Timothy J. Franklin Williams
I thought people were nuts for being so high on him. Poor Reds though. Wonder if this effects Chapmans future.
JacksTigers
Wow. I thought that he was the best move of the offseason. Now who closes for the Reds?
TophersReds
Sean Marshall.
Kamran
Who’s the closer now?
fitz
Marshall most likely.
RhapsodyinBlue
So much for the deal of the offseason.
Rytea
Yikes, that’s not good for the Reds. So who’s up for the closer spot now, Chapman?
Ethanator99
COME. ON. This is like a really bad dream
andres8m
The Sox were really lucky not to sign him.
brandondc
You have got to be kidding me. We finally get rid of Coco and this happens…
Encarnacion's Parrot
Jays give you CoCo back for Votto. 🙂
Spencer VonHershman
So many people who have done their fantasy drafts already must be pissed.
Cobby Box
I drafted Carpenter, Soria, and Madson. Bangin’ on all cylinders.
Ethanator99
Marshall will close, Chapman will probably move to the Pen, and The Reds will in total have wasted 39 million on those 2.
Reds’ country mourns.
Jay
Even with the loss of Madson which hurts a ton… sigh… I hope they keep Chapman on track to start be it the majors or minors to start the season. The Reds have a pretty decent bullpen still even without Madison. Before it was a great bullpen now its just pretty good.
dan
Wow, that is really unfortunate for the Red’s. Might as well have just lit that money on fire.
inleylandwetrust
Being happy someone is hurt is a little strange…
nbcards
just like gomes last year celebrating wainos injury
TophersReds
That was pure specualtion and it never happened. Show me some legitiment proof that it happened and I’ll consider it, but until then..
nbcards
“McCoy, however, is not retracting the fact that he heard Gomes singing
about the unfortunate Wainwright news. He heard it. Others in the
clubhouse heard it too, including John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer.”
there you go. 2 reporters who were in the clubhouse heard it.
Lunchbox45
and reporters would never fabricate or embellish a story in order to attract attention or anything
imachainsaw
no, considering accusations such as those are grounds for a libel suit.
you really think guys that are on payroll have anything to gain by making up false stories like that? that these reporters are so insecure and starved for attention that they would do that?
Lunchbox45
yes yes and yes
imachainsaw
lol
dudemanbro
part of me kind of hopes gomes hurts his back out dancing around like a 4 year old after knocking in a run in a blow out
Andrew Steven
Unless is Pujols. Then i don’t give 2 ___
AaronKrager
Crap. There goes my best closer for my fantasy team.
CalvaryCougar
pick up marshall
discdogbob
New Closer Joel Pineiro
Matt
$8.5 Mil to get arm surgery? I’ll take it…
dan
It really is a shame that teams are stuck paying someone so much and he won’t even pitch in 1 regular season game for them. When he comes back..he should do the right thing and sign cheap for the Red’s.
Chris Bosh
He’s a Scott Boras client.
nbcards
scott boras clients dont sign for cheap
Steve
Except for Ryan Madson. He signed pretty cheap.
Will
In retrospect, did he? It seems pretty likely that the Reds didn’t do their due diligence, and signed damaged goods. Boras was smart to take whatever deal he could that would pay his client without giving him a thorough physical. $8.5mil looks like a pretty good deal to fund Madson’s rehab.
Amish_willy
well, Ryan Madson will be a good deal cheaper next season then he was this season.
User 4245925809
Curt Schilling signed with Boston for 8m in the winter of 2008, had to have surgery, missed the entire season and didn’t give Boston any discount to return and refused to play for any team the next year except Boston afterwards.. He also was not willing to take a discount to return in 2009 after the surgery and he actually had loyalty to the team, unlike the Boras client madson.
There is -0- way Madson gives cincy a discount.
blu167
and you know that Madson has no loyalty, because…?
User 4245925809
I don’t have anything against Madson. Just think of Boras clients who gave home town discounts for anything and am being serious here? Loyalty to *match* a deal? Maybe, but a discount?
I can name 1.. Varitek, sure, there might be more, but madson just signed with this team and i can’t imagine loyalty for someone who never, ever pitched 1 IP for a team.
dan
Well, coming off tommy John surgery, he wont be get a big contract, he will have to prove he is back. He wasn’t a big time proven closer anyway, that’s why he had to settle for a one year deal this year to boost his value. All I’m trying to say is, he should cut the red’s a break since he will be paid by them for nothing. He should sign a one year deal with the red’s for cheap when he is back to pay the red’s back.
User 4245925809
I understand that and really not trying to give you a hard time here as understand where you are coming from and myself think players should do what you are suggesting, but a Boras client especially? I just don’t see it.
look at Mike “Shaky” gonzalez, another ex closer and client of boras who is still coming off of surgery to some extent and a not real solid 2011, he is looking for a decent contract we can assume still and probably that lies at Boras’s feet, or he would be in camp with some team by now.
Phillies_Aces35
He should not do “the right thing and sign cheap with the Reds.” He doesn’t owe them anything.
Besides, would the Reds have given him more money if he had the best year for a closer every? Highly doubtful.
Travis White
With the Cards losing Carp at least a few months and Madson out for the season, the NL central is really looking like anyone’s race right now
CalvaryCougar
Lol heard of marshall? We are fine
TophersReds
Marshall doesn’t put a band-aid on the whole situation. This domino just caused many others to fall, mostly not favorable ones.
CalvaryCougar
What? Chapman to bullpen is not that bad either
imachainsaw
while that’s workable, the rotation & team potentially suffers from that. even if chapman does well in the ‘pen, the reds would get about a third of the innings from chapman, which could equate about a third of value to the team and quantifiable in terms of WAR. I think that’s what he means by domino effect. The only way for the Reds to move on unaffected to the team as a whole would be to add a closer or reliever of similar value without having to reorganize the roster and switching roles from pen to rotation and vice-versa.
Brian
Chapman was going to most likely start in the AAA rotation. He was not in the plan for the starting rotation to start the season to begin with.
CalvaryCougar
its wasn’t even guaranteed that chapman would do well as a starter….look at him in Louisville last year, plus he was probably gonna start the year in AAA anyway
imachainsaw
you mean those 13 innings? not much of sample size, but yeah until they tried him as a starter of course it’s a mystery. it’d be unfortunate for them not to test it.
CalvaryCougar
yeah i agree, small sample size
User 4245925809
Team(s) that have several closers may be able to help and I DON’T mean the Orioles and Kevin Gregg either…
Boston currently has Andrew Bailey, Mark melencon and eventually..Alfredo Aceves at the back of the BP and *could* have Danial Bard later moved there once again. That is a LOT of late inning,proven people. i could see them moving 1 even with Bard in the rotation if the price is right, like melencon who Cincy is familiar with and he has closing experience, cost controlled even.
Crosstownkid 2
Maybe krod
toddcoffeytime
I doubt Cincy’s looking to pick up another sizeable contract for a reliever after not having this one insured…If they were to add to the bullpen the trade market is about it. Maybe they matchup with KC for Broxton, or the Fish for Oviedo if they are still in contention near the deadline.
CalvaryCougar
yes it hurts to lose a pitcher but i fail to see how marshall doesnt fix the bullpen
TophersReds
Marshall + Madson > Marshall
Great Bullpen becomes good Bullpen.
goredsgo
no were not fine we just blew 8.5 million on a guy to sit on the bench all year
DT Flush234
Madson is a closer. You can replace his numbers.
Adam
It is still a 3 team race. Cards, Brewers, Reds. In that order.
seanb1223
Makes you wonder if he was already damaged when he signed.
Guest 4714
Ruben Amaro Jr looks like a genius right now.
MB923
Doesn’t make up for the contract for Papelbon.
discdogbob
Bummer tho for Red fans, not as big a deal as Chris Carpenter missing some time, but big, Looking forward to seeing Chapman in that role, suspect his stuff plays better as a reliever.
laffingrass
Randy Johnson made a pretty decent career out of starting.
Muggi
That sucks 🙁 He’s a good guy as well as player. Wish him the best coming back in ’13.
philliesfan136
Nicely done Phillies. That sucks for Madson and the Reds though.
Nik T.
Paplebon is good but way overpaid
philliesfan136
Yeah he is somewhat overpaid but you gotta do what you gotta do to get the best players. I’m glad they didn’t commit to that huge contract for Madson even more now. It sucks for him though, he did well here and is a good guy.
Vmmercan
Not to pick on you, but I would love to see if you felt this way about the Yankees, say, 2005ish.
Zack D
“somewhat overpaid”? paying a closer more than 10 million a year is a huge overpayment. He had his best year last year and was worth 3 wins. He’s 32 and will be 36 by the time its up. This deal will be a huge roadblock for the Phils who have an old and deteriorating team. Wouldn’t surprise me if this was their last year for contention, if they even compete this year.
Joe C.
Agreed, I dislike Papelbon.
dan
yep, Sox dodged a bullet for sure! So did the Phils.
Lefty
Now entering the game for the Cincinnati Reds #63 Kevin Gregg….
Seriously, though this is a shame and the thing of it is Madson has been healthy most of his career. So, now I wonder when he got hurt?
PS There’s got to be a better way of handling this contractually 8.5 million up in smoke doesn’t seem right. The other problem is the Reds imo have a lot of deferred contracts or they expected a lot of increased revenue in the 2012 budget and now they have a bad contract on their books.
CalvaryCougar
We have marshall
imachainsaw
and a thinner bullpen
TophersReds
Right when things are looking good for the Reds to finally make a good run. They still do have a good chance, but this hurts… a lot. I was looking forward to having Madson be the Closer. The only thing that hurts more is eating almost $9M for nothing.
Andrew Steven
It does hurt, i feel bad for the Reds right now!
Becky Lee
Big blow for the Reds, could be worse than cards losing Carp for how ever long. They were putting Chapman in the rotation and now they have to move him into the set up role.
TophersReds
Not only did they lose out on Madson, but this basically just secured Chapman’s fate a as a full-time reliever for the rest of his tenure with the Reds. This was really the last year they could let him sit in AAA for a little bit to become a starter and it still being worth it, but now it’s basically useless. So that’s $9M lost on Madson, and Chapman will never live up to the $30M he’s getting paid in the Bullpen (but the Reds really don’t have another choice).
Hopefully the Reds get the same fire under them that the Cards got last year when Wainwright went out and players step up. At least Carp is only out for a few months (even though I fully understand that is a huge blow). Seems like the Brewers are sitting pretty while the NLC is getting injured.
Nick Sossamon
Man, sucks for the Reds. Could have been a great deal if he was healthy.
jphenix2002
Bummer
BoSoxSam
That really sucks. Madson’s one-year deal looks like less of a steal now, although obviously there was no way to predict this. Terrible luck for the Reds.
FS54 2
Fantasy players can draft a roster full of players that will miss the season. What’s going on this spring training?
douger007
Something stinks here. This guy should have been in line for a fat payday and ends up signing a one-year deal for $8.5M? And the whole 4/44 mythical contract thing never seemed to go away, long after he signed w/Cincy – didn’t I just read a recent article about Madson believing the offer was made? Did Dr. Boras conduct his physical? He threw one bp session and now he needs TJ surgery? Methinks my Reds got swindeled on this one. Somebody new something was up with that elbow, but obviously, and unfortunately, it wasn’t the Reds.
start_wearing_purple
I seriously doubt there was a conspiracy here. Madson didn’t get a massive deal because Boras misread the market for closers. That’s it, Occam’s Razor.
Runtime
Right. Because all he did was throw one bullpen session.
Obviously pro athletes never go to the gym.
Joe Bilde
Wow, that sucks. Glad the Phils dodged that bullet, but it sucks for the Reds. And for Madson… I love that guy.
Todd
Dropping like flies they are
omavricko
He’ll resign next year with the reds for incentives
alashieve
I am glad I don’t own Madson in any of my roto leagues.
buckeyereds
I hope the front office keeps Chapman as a starter. Francis has been good this spring training. I would much rather see him as the other lefty in the bullpen now.
Paul Shailor
I wonder if Mike Gonzalez will sign with them now. This really is bad.
BitLocker
Welp, Ruben Armaro just got saved and made the Papelbon signing less worse then what would have happened if they re-signed Madson.
jhfdssdaf
That Marshall deal this offseason suddenly looks better. As a middle reliever, they only got market value, but if he’s successful as a closer this season, they would have had to pay alot more after the year is through.
Mikenmn
Never like to see an injury. On the business side, Madson will not get a big money contract for 2013, because no one knows whether he’s going to be able to pitch or at what level. And he will be two years older the next time he has an opportunity to cash in. But the idea that Boras knew his elbow was about to go seems very farfetched. Boras is always about the money, so he would have urged taking a multi-year contract. Whatever went on behind the scenes is irrelevant now. Having surgery and losing a year isn’t a lot of fun.
Alex
Holy unfortunate.
Nimphiusforever
Wishing the Maddog a fast and strong recovery. You pitched your heart out for the Phils. Hope you are back soon, better than ever!
Goose
My condolences to the Reds’ fans. This news really hurts.
Goose
Oh, and condolences to Madson. Hope he comes back healthy and strong.
CHendershott
To all the people saying this sucks for the Reds… yes they lost their closer during an All-In season, but they got him for below-market value on a 1 year deal. Sucks, but they’ll survive and still have a chance to win.
Meanwhile, Madson gambled on his success this season to try and get a nice payday and didn’t even have a chance to blow it or be successful. He’ll get a contract I’m sure, it’s not like no one has ever come back from Tommy John surgery before, but he lost out here, a lot more than the Reds did. He was the one taking all the risks, not them, and now the worst possible situation is playing out.
However, I can’t feel TOO sorry for someone making $8.5 mil a year…
Ferrariman
couple things…
this hurts the reds. a lot. But, its relievers. Teams have relievers come out of nowhere every year and step up big, for example Fernando Salas for the cards last year.
This, on paper, isn’t as big of a loss as losing carpenter for 1-2 months but something to keep in mind, through the entire first half of the season last year, carpenter had 4 wins and 7 losses. For the first 2 months, he had 1 win and 5 losses. I know wins/losses don’t matter when evaluating talent but in this scenario, its a good gauge on how much value the cards were getting out of carpenter’s starts, and clearly it was nothing. Think Wainwright can do better than that? I would imagine so.
CalvaryCougar
finally someone who doesnt overvalue someone who pitches the 9th inning
JoeSeadog 2
When you’ve only thrown 630 innings lifetime, have but 47 wins and 52 saves over eight years and your agent calls you and says he turned down 4 years @40+mil, you fire him and crawl back on your hands and knees.
burritolikethesun
Go Brewers.
P.J. Lowry
Suddenly giving Papelbon that 4 year contract instead doesn’t seem so crazy anymore, eh? Did the Phillies know something about Madison that we didn’t? Thank goodness the Jays didn’t offer this guys a fat contract… at least we got a good season and a half out of BJ Ryan.
Josh Bresser
Yes. It does.