Brewers reliever Will Smith has a torn lateral collateral ligament in his right knee, and it’s unclear whether he’ll opt for rehab or surgery, Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel writes. In a freak occurrence, Smith suffered the injury while taking off his shoe in the clubhouse.
“I was standing on one leg, trying to take the shoe off and I pulled hard and it stayed on. My knee just went up and popped,” Smith says.
Whether or not Smith’s injury requires surgery, it appears he’s in for a significant stay on the Brewers’ disabled list. Smith figured to be part of the Brewers’ mix at closer, along with Jeremy Jeffress. The injury likely means that Jeffress will have the role to himself, at least for awhile.
Smith has been one of the better lefty relievers in baseball the past three seasons, and he was terrific in 2015, with a 2.70 ERA, 3.4 BB/9 and an impressive 12.9 K/9 in 63 1/3 innings working in a setup role. He figured to become a trade candidate for Brewers at some point, since an electric lefty reliever seems like a luxury for a rebuilding team, although his current injury could delay that possibility. Smith is making $1.475MM in his first year of arbitration eligibility in 2016 as a Super Two player.
Does this mean he’s still not going to the Oscars?
I know it’s Milwaukee but with the money he’s making, he certainly should have hired Jazzy Jeff to help him with his shoe strings and what not… Too much gettin’ jiggy wit it…..
Will Will Smith smith? Yes, Will Smith will smith.
That’s like not even palindromic.
Sucks for the Brewers.
They deserved it. He absolutely should have been traded this offseason, when prices for dominant relievers were at by far their highest point ever. There is not a single halfway-justifiable reason why they have not traded him yet.
Same with Lucroy, Melvin is being far too demanding in what he wants back for both. There’s no reason whatsoever for a rebuilding team to have dominant relievers unless they’re going to extend them for when the rebuild moves into contention.
First of all, Doug Melvin isn’t the GM anymore; David Stearns is the GM.
Secondly, how can we say the GM is far too demanding? What was even offered for Smith?
Finally, the Brewers still had four years of team control of Smith, and it’s at least possible that the Brewers could be contending again by 2019.
If Stearns was offered something fair for Smith, Lucroy, or whoever, he should have taken it, unless he really wants to keep that player around. But if the only teams calling about a player are only offering partial value, he should wait.
If that’s true, wouldn’t Smith have even more value being traded as a closer,rather than a set up lefty?
You could say he was a SHOE-in for the closer role before the injury
I’m not so sure. He certainly didn’t put his best foot forward this spring.
And this is why bad teams should always sell high on relievers.
I can’t stop laughing on how this injury occurred. if it was on the field it might be more respectable.
Nothing will ever top Joel Zumaya getting hurt while playing Guitar Hero.
John Smoltz burned himself while ironing his shirt while he was wearing it.
Bret Barberie rubbed chili juice in his eye.
Kevin Mitchell hurt himself while eating a cupcake.
Terry Harper separated his shoulder while waving a teammate home and subsequently high-fiving him.
Sosa strained a ligament in his lower back while sneezing……
Odibe McDowell cut himself with a butter knife. Greg Harris hurt his elbow flicking sunflower seeds in the bullpen. And my all time favorite, Juaqin Andujar pulls his hammy in batting practice, while playing in a DH league, where he’s never going to bat. Honorable mention for the Tigers, Matt Anderson effectively ending his career, by throwing an octopus during a pre-game promotion.
Didn’t Jeremy Affeldt injured himself separating burger patties not too long ago?
I’ve done plenty of stupid things in .you life, and heard of plenty. Blowing your knee out while trying to take off your shoe, though…smh
That’s what you get for not trading players who you should trade quick enough. Watch Carlos Gonzalez break his leg or something in the next two weeks to see an even more salient lesson taught to an even stupider franchise.
Brewers are a joke of a franchise. 45+ years without a championship. They’ll lose 100 games this year.
By design, yes.
They’re gunning for that #1 draft pick, so I’d hope they would lose 100.
Smith probably saw this season coming and went “I’d rather save my arm”.
If 45+ years without a championship makes a franchise a “joke”, I’d hate to hear your assessment on the Cubs…
Wow. If a well-conditioned professional athlete can injure himself like this, I think it is a clear message to this old fart that he needs to keep his buttocks on a seat while he removes his shoes and socks!
You have to judge small market teams differently. If they were in a bigger market, they might have been able to retain their stars and had ~25-30 WAR from CC Sabathia from 2009-2012……~20-25 WAR from Greinke 2012-2015……an extra ~8 WAR from 2012-15 with Prince at 1B and so on.
As to Will Smith, c’est la vie. Injuries happen. He will be fine long term and the Brewers aren’t contending for a while so I don’t understand all this negative commentary woulda-shoulda traded him.