Stephen Strasburg underwent surgery to alleviate carpal tunnel syndrome in his right hand earlier today, Nationals manager Dave Martinez tells reporters (Twitter link via Todd Dybas of NBC Sports Washington). Surgery was already known to be in store for Strasburg, who was placed on the 45-day injured list over the weekend. He’ll be out for the remainder of the 2020 season. The team has yet to provide a timeline for his recovery, though the hope is that he’ll be ready to go in 2021.
The 32-year-old Strasburg appeared in just two games this year and has otherwise been shelved by ongoing issues in his right hand. He was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome a bit more than a week ago and, after visiting with a specialist late last week, made the decision on Saturday to undergo surgery.
The absence of Strasburg has surely played a role in a pedestrian season for the Nats, who currently sit at 11-16, placing them last in the National League East. Washington, of course, famously rallied from a dismal start to the 2019 season as well, but if they’re to enjoy a similar Cinderella tale in 2020, they’ll need to do so without the help of last year’s World Series MVP.
With Strasburg sidelined, the Nats have been leaning on a combination of Max Scherzer, Patrick Corbin, Anibal Sanchez, Austin Voth and Erick Fedde as their primary starters. Scherzer has had some uncharacteristic struggles but still posted passable results, but each of Sanchez (6.48 ERA), Voth (6.65) and Fedde (5.11) has struggled considerably. There’s no indication yet as to how the Nats plan to proceed at this year’s Aug. 31 trade deadline, but considering the fact that virtually the entire National League (Pittsburgh excluded) is within two and a half games of a Wild Card spot, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Washington pursue some affordable rotation upgrades — both to bolster its hopes in 2020 and perhaps to reinforce the staff in subsequent campaigns.
Martinez also revealed Wednesday that lefty Seth Romero, the Nationals’ first-round pick from 2017 who made his MLB debut earlier this year, will undergo surgery to place a pin his fractured right hand (Twitter link via Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post). Martinez explained recently that Romero suffered the fracture when he slipped on some stairs and braced for the fall with his right hand. While it’s fortunate for his long-term outlook that the injury wasn’t in his pitching hand, the procedure seems likely to end Romero’s season.
The 24-year-old Romero allowed four runs in 2 2/3 innings over three appearances in his first taste of the Majors. He’d missed much of the 2018 season and all of the 2019 season due to an elbow injury that ultimately required Tommy John surgery. To this point, Romero has still thrown only 50 professional innings.
Can we please get a legit trade? Like the only legit trade we’ve seen this year is the Brandon Workman one. I know this isn’t related to Strasburg’s injuries, but I saw that this was the most recent post so I decided to put this comment in here.
Ha — I doubt we’ll get much action until the few days directly preceding the deadline (and plenty of moves on the 31st itself). This generation of front offices wait longer than ever, and this year’s tightly bunched NL makes it all the more muddled.
The schedule doesn’t help, either. There are 121 hours until the trade deadline and the Mets still have seven games to play in that time, ha.
How many PTBNL or Cash Consideration trades will get this year on August 31st?
4
If we are getting off topic, yesterday I was looking through the pitchers in Mlb’s top 100 prospects to try and figure out, what makes a good pitcher? I created a list of guidelines, and I have found the one pitcher who falls under everything (who isn’t an “elite” prospect), and at number 43, it’s Logan Gilbert. Don’t ask me why Logan Gilbert is going to be good (and is good), but I just wanted to do an experiment to see if he ends up having a good career, to see if I was correct. So keep him in mind.
The weirdness of this season makes it more likely that general managers will wait it out longer or perhaps do nothing. Given the usual length of the season, it’s more difficult than ever to evaluate players and your own team’s needs. Let’s not forget that the 2019 Nationals were just 19-31 after 50 games. They then went 74-38 the rest of the way, tying them with the Dodgers for the best record in the NL over that period.
Likewise, we often see less-talented teams start strong, only to fade over the long haul of the 162-game season. For “contenders” like the Orioles, Marlins, and Giants to feel they have suddenly turned the corner would be extremely short-sighted. This is true not only for the 2020 trade deadline but for the winter ahead. Smart GMs undoubtedly realize this.
I find it amazing that modern surgeries can relieve people of Carpal Tunnel. Quite a feat. I hope he recovers quickly.
My buddy’s wife, her brother is working on a a new way for diabetes patients be alerted sooner if their numbers are off. Apparently it stays in their system for about 3 months and sends direct information to their phone. I’m not 100% of all the details as he was briefly describing the project he was working on.
Does anyone recall any professional athlete having this type of surgery?
David Price?
He didn’t have surgery, but Sacramento Kings rookie Lionel Simmons sat out two games in 1991 due to carpal tunnel syndrome. He had an inflamed wrist caused by too much joysticking. Back then, the treatment was wearing a brace. Treatments change, especially in a modern era where the affliction is more common due to video games and the sheer amount of time people spend on a keyboard.
Also in the ’90s, a newspaper colleague of mine sued the company over carpel tunnel syndrome caused by improper keyboarding techniques. As a result, we were all given wrist pads and instruction on proper posture and techniques. Keep those wrists elevated!
Apparently Fortnite is really popular and we are not to notice the side effects of overuse of playing a game.
I guess these idiots need another clause in their contracts prohibiting it.
Very rich and talented idiots.
RDR 2 is way better than Fortnight.
Careful, keep up comments like that and they’ll close the thread.