Padres righty Carter Capps will undergo surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Twitter. He had been dealing with a blood clot, leading to the diagnosis and course of treatment.
Obviously that’s not the best news for a hurler that only recently made it back from Tommy John surgery. It’s considered possible, though, that he’ll be able to return in time to participate fully in Spring Training.
Even if Capps is ready to join in when camp opens, it remains to be seen whether he’ll do so with the Padres. If he’s tendered a contract, the 27-year-old is not going to earn much more than the $987,500 he did this year, but it’s also possible that San Diego will simply decide it does not want to dedicate a 40-man spot to Capps.
After all, the once-dominant reliever did not quite look himself upon his return this year. In 12 1/3 innings, he allowed nine earned runs with seven strikeouts and two walks. His once-blistering fastball sat at just over 93 mph. And his swinging-strike rate — which topped out at a monstrous 25.4% in his unreal 2015 season — fell all the way to a marginal 7.8%.
It’s a short sample, to be sure, but Capps clearly has a ways to go to recapture any of the immense ability he showed in that magical 2015 campaign, when he struck out 58 batters and allowed just four earned runs in 31 frames. Given his young age, though, Capps will have plenty of opportunities to make it back even if the Padres decide against it.
ReverieDays
Welp, he’s probably done for.
nmendoza44
He’s following the Matt Harvey surgery path.
outinleftfield
Which means he is done like Harvey.
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
Lol this is the guy you were saying we should extend
Matt Rox
Good. MLB was allowing him to cheat with that illegal windup. Keep him out of the league.
jdgoat
1. It’s never good somebody need gets injured or needs surgery.
2. He doesn’t cheat
ronaldreagan
you’re a bad person
TheGreatTwigog
It wasn’t cheating because it wasn’t against the rules, that’s the definition of cheating
pennantrace01
“Good” – that is always what comes to mind when I guy has surgery to address blood clots. Definitely deserves it because of a unique delivery. Hmm…
SixFlagsMagicPadres
Really, man? Celebrating a player getting a serious injury is only done by “fans” who are the lowest of the low.
As for his alleged cheating, like others already stated, he had a unique delivery and that was it.
Kslaw
So Yankee fans? 🙂
RiverCatsFilms
Wasn’t against the rules though
jdgoat
Damn. I like guys like him who are unique
mlb1225
I feel bad. He has such a different wind-up, and I’d like to see how’d he do in a full season.
davidcoonce74
Yeah, this is a bummer. He was unique. As I noted somewhere else, I wonder which pitcher TOS surgery will eventually be named after. Because so far, the success rate for pitchers who have needed it is pretty much zero.
beersy
Too bad the Padres had return Castillo to the Marlins instead of Capps last year. And before anyone jumps on me, I am saying this as a Padre fan and I know that would not have been realistic.
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
No Padres fan is complaining about getting Josh Naylor for Andrew Cashner’s last two months of control. Capps alone would have been good enough based on his upside. Could have worked out, but it didn’t.
RiverCatsFilms
Geez
Solaris601
Game over.
SixFlagsMagicPadres
From one serious injury to another. Hopefully this guy can come back next year, but TOS is a worrisome ailment.
jd396
Who invented thoracic outlet syndrome anyway? I had never even heard of it until a couple years ago. As of yet nobody has really come back from it, near as I know.
Patick L
We should all tips our Capps to have m having a successful recovery
Patick L
…Capps to him having a successful recovery