The Pirates announced to reporters today (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel) that reliever Edgar Santana will go undergo Tommy John Surgery and miss the 2019 season.
Santana, 26, was mostly effective for a new-look Pirate bullpen this year, posting a 3.26 ERA with a minuscule 1.63 BB/9 over 66 1/3 innings, though his peripherals (5.79 K/9 against 2.70 BB/9 after the All-Star Break) slid precipitously in the season’s second half. Still, it’s a tough blow for a Pittsburgh bullpen in search of reliable contributors following the unit’s halcyon “Shark Tank” period, which anchored the club in its most successful run in over two decades from 2013-2015.
Since Santana has accrued just over a season’s worth of big-league service time, the Pirates will have him under club control through at least the 2024 season, assuming he returns to the mound on schedule to begin the 2020 campaign. The revamped pen, headlined by a dominant Felipe Vazquez and out-of-nowhere stalwart Richard Rodriguez, ranked middle of the pack by most available metrics this season, though it does boast plenty of upside in all corners. Offseason acquisitions Michael Feliz and Kyle Crick, both beset by command issues throughout their careers, still offer tantalizing stuff with years of cheap control remaining, and Keone Kela, a midseason pickup from the Rangers, showcased much-improved command during his short stint with the Buccos and would figure to feature prominently in the corps’ back end for at least the next two seasons.
Another one bites the dust
They are dropping like flies
TJS again, not surprising
Something needs to be done about changing mechanics of throwing or raising mound back to the old days. This is getting ridiculous as a fan of baseball.
Really? Stop having 10 year olds pitch full time. There’s your issue. Ask Brian Gordon or Adam Loewen or Mychal Givens if they’ve ever had MAJOR elbow issues.
Santana didn’t start playing baseball until he was 19 years old
Ignorant comment. Major league teams are always looking for hard throwers. Kids are pushing themselves to throw harder so they get noticed and drafted. Has nothing to do with mechanics. Natural hard throwers were a rarity (Nolan Ryan). Now they are more common because kids are pushing themselves to their biomechanical limits. Nothing will change.
Wow, that’s a shock. I knew that he was injured, but I didn’t think that it was this bad.
The Pirates seemed to be very careful to fully explain this finding to both Kuhl and Santana before notifying the public.
Otherwise it seemed to be a secret until the last minute.
Losing Santana hurts more than most would realize. He became a good 7th inning guy and a great fireman getting out of jams.
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So funny, the FAN morning show is trying to disprove Greg Brown’s assertion that the media’s narrative (team doesn’t want to win, etc.) is the main reason attendance dropped this season. The first caller repeats the narrative verbatim and then even accusing Nutting of owning things he doesn’t. The second caller explains that he just wants winning baseball (the team is over .500) but actual wins in the real world don’t matter, just the expectation of wins after the Cutch and Cole trades (AKA narrative). Finally, a texter explains that he stays away because the team “thinks the fans are stupid” and then proceeds to use 3-4 words incorrectly in the next 2 sentences alone.
They are proving Brown’s point very thoroughly for him.
It looks to me that they will need to rely on Neverauskas or Anderson to fill his spot.Maybe Schugal can come back.This also makes it easier for Burdi to make the team if he pitches well in the Spring.
I think that we can forget about Feliz.
Rodriguez replaces Santana. Neverauskas should never see a major league mound again.