Padres left-hander Adrian Morejon will undergo Tommy John surgery, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. He’ll miss the rest of this season and likely a sizable portion of next year as a result.
Morejon last appeared for the Padres on April 11, when he departed a start against the Rangers during the first inning with a left forearm strain. A Tommy John procedure looked like a realistic possibility for the 22-year-old at that point, and that’s unfortunately the route he will have to take.
Morejon, a Cuba native, signed an eyebrow-raising $11MM bonus with the Padres in 2016 and has since ranked among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects on an annual basis. However, Morejon hasn’t yet taken on a significant workload during a professional season, having never thrown more than 65 1/3 innings in an individual year. He combined for 27 1/3 major league innings as a swingman from 2019-20 before earning a rotation spot heading into this season with 14 frames of 3.21 ERA ball and 17 strikeouts in spring training. But Morejon’s 2021 will now end after just two starts and 4 2/3 innings.
The season-long loss of Morejon is obviously a blow to the Padres’ depth, but the team is still in enviable shape in its rotation. Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove, Dinelson Lamet, Chris Paddack and Ryan Weathers are their top options in the majors, and elite prospect MacKenzie Gore could debut sometime this season.
Well, I suppose that clears a path for Mackenzie Gore, if he’s ready.
He’s clearly not ready. Padres had every opportunity to bring him up for last postseason when their pitching was in shambles. Weathers went from high school to the bigs in 2 years which is remarkable. For all Gore was hyped up to be, something is wrong.
Gore reminds me of Whitley kid on stros. There’s a reason why he isn’t being brought up when the numbers look solid in minors. Padres are rushing arms up too fast, too many innings. Trading patino may have saved his career
Arguably, none of the prospects they called up were ready when they were called up. Calling Patiño and Camp up was a huge mistake. And then Weathers looked even worse in Spring Training than Gore. Although he has actually been decent since the season started. Maybe Gore would do the same thing if they called him up tomorrow? Either way, I’d rather they wait until he’s ready to go.
I think he’s just not having the success with the upper echelon hitters that he did with the lower level guys. One of the things the Padres need to get better at if they’re ever going to be a truly elite team is developing their own players.
If PrElLeR cAn TrAdE hIs PrOsPeCtS fOr GoOd Ml PlAyErS wHo CaReS iF tHe PlAyErS aRe HoMeGrOwN oR nOt?
Cool! My first chance to use the mute button. I’d be curious to see why someone would go to the trouble of carefully capping every other letter, but anyone that does that, probably has nothing to say.
They haven’t brought him up because 1. They don’t want to use him in the bullpen. Starter only. 2. His command is not where they want it to be 3. There’s already a 40 man roster crunch and adding him would require a move.
40-man roster crunch didn’t stop them from calling up a bunch of guys who are younger than him and didn’t have to be protected on the 40-man
Who were those players? Tatis? Urias? Patiño? Morejon? Campusano? Weathers? Marcano? Who am I missing? Each one of those players was brought up to fill a specific need. If the Ps they all went bullpen first. Something the Padres have specifically said they werent doing with Gore. If Gore gets his command back you can expect Paddack down and Gore up with Altavilla being DFEed or not since we now have an open roster spot when Morejon hits the 60day.
@dmaciel Nice try. Weathers is in the rotation now. Def a little sus that he made the major league roste and Gore didn’t when Gore had the lower ERA and BAA in spring.
Weathers was already on the 40 man from last year. Weathers also started the season in the bullpen and will likely go back when Lamet comes off the IL.
@dmaciel Yeah, putting him on the 40 for 4 outs in a game the Padres lost anyway was terrible process
1. Gore is only a year older than Weathers. Hes 22. Nothing is “wrong” other than his development has changed the last 2 years. Some guys develop faster some slower. Completely interrupting a players development has hurt many guys, not just Gore.
2. Guys like Weathers are exceptions, not rule. Garrett Crochet was drafted and debuted all last year. While guys like Lacy, Detmers, Hancock, Meyer arent close to being ready. Just because Crochett debuted before them doesnt mean anythings wrong with the other guys.
3. Weathers is son of former MLB pitcher David Weathers who carved out a nice 19 year career. Id wager that helped speed up weathers development when you can get advice from someone like that your entire life.
@I Beg To Differ I agree that they shouldn’t call Gore up yet but I also thought they shouldn’t have called up Patiño, Campusano and Weathers. Few if any teams have promoted their prospects more aggressively than the Padres the past 3 years but Gore has been a rare exception to that and I for one would like to know why.
Campusano has been given the Hedges treatment. Back in the day Hedges was brought up when Federwicz or however you spell it got injured as a backup to get some exposure to mlb pitching. Nola going down this year had the same effect. Would have been Nola and caratini.
Weathers got brought up much like Price, Finnegan, and other lefties before him that were brought up during playoffs. Turns out he’s developed faster than we thought.
Patino was a head scratcher. But in a shortened odd year I don’t blame Padres trying to keep their top guys game ready with no minor league season. When it came to Gore he doesn’t have the velocity patino or Weathers do, he’s at what 92-93 maybe 94. So that probably played a part.
@I Beg To Differ they actually went with Wil Nieves as the backup to Derek Norris for a couple weeks before DFAing Nieves and calling Hedges up only to basically never use Hedges that year.
Weathers has been good so far this year but they didn’t know that would happen when they called him up. His ERA and BAA this Spring were both higher than Gore’s.
Calling Patiño up was questionable at the time and now stands out as a big mistake.
Secondaries are way more important than velocity.
Detmers is actually right on the cusp of being ready. The Angels don’t have a rotation spot available and don’t want to use both him and Chris Rodriguez, their two biggest guns in relief. So Detmers’ path to the majors is quite a bit shorter and more streamlined than Gore’s.
But you are correct in that Gore is going to be fine. He’ll be a solid mid rotation starter, and Weathers was promoted over him more because Weathers is a better fit as a RP than Gore, desire both of their long term futures being in the rotation. Guys like Mackenzie Gore, don’t go in the bullpen. You develop them, and they’re ready, you deploy them in the rotation, and the enjoy the next half decade of club controlled production.
Gore being a “solid mid rotation” starter would be a disappointment. This is a guy universally looked at as a TOR arm. A 70 FV guy.
Chris Paddack was supposed to be a “solid mid rotation” arm. (He still might be) but Gore’s definitely supposed to be at a another level.
A guy named Dinelson Lament will be replacing Morejon.
Over/under 1 month until Lamet gets injured again?
Sadly, the under is probably the better bet
id go over – by 1 day!
Man padres have turned into angels. Rushing arms to majors for the slim chance of catching dodgers. Just give your youth some time, why rush? They can dominate for the next decade if they build correctly instead destroying your talent….I called Clevingers tj won’t be surprised when lamet needs his after making few starts. Saw it with Garrett richards a couple years back after his prp and attempted avoidance of tj(just prolonged the inevitable) Starting to see why padres traded for so many arms now.
They really haven’t rushed Morejon. He’s been in the big leagues now his third season. They have babies him for a while
If there’s a strike next year, the Padres will get exactly nothing out of Clevinger unless they resign him, which won’t happen. They got one or two starts against the Giants and the Rockies. That’s it.
Dr – while true, don’t you think this is the case in lots of situations for lots of teams?
And even if they do re-sign him they still get nothing out of the trade unless we have some kind of tangible evidence that he wouldn’t have signed with SD if they hadn’t traded for him.
They have roughly a 2 year window. After that Clevinger, Snell and Darvish are all free agents and probably gone. They’re not hanging with LA if all their veteran starters are gone, they’ve committed 600+ million on the left side of the infield and minimal flexibility.
Darvish and Snell FA after 2023. Clevinger and Musgrove after 2022.
I think they’ll resign Musgrove because of the no no and because he’s a SD native unless he just completely tanks It’s just good PR.
This is a great point. I’m trying to think of another team with two $300m contracts on the roster. If this team as constructed cannot win they have limited options. No surprise Preller went ahead and talked ownership into extending him. “Hey guys thanks for letting buy up a decent roster, mind if I break off some for myself too?”
It’s not two $300M contracts, but Trout, Rendon, Pujols, and Upton is a pricey quartet.
Unless all four players are hitting, the Angels are severely handicapped due to spending money in the wrong spots.
Pujols off the books after this season. Upton after next season.
@jim – and the Angels have to be eagerly awaiting the day they’re both off the payroll.
You hate to see it. Good things the Padres have great depth.
Terrible news. Cant go a week without an uplifting TJS story. Another job created, unfortunately.
How many TJ surgeries is that now since March 1? Good thing all these guys are on pitch counts and ‘protected’ all through the minors.
They’re all throwing upper 90s, every pitch, imparting massive spin on the ball. I don’t think the human body is designed to do that.
A pitcher walks off the mound on a Sunday and within a few days TJ has already been recommended. We see a guy holding his arm and all of us automatically say oh boy Tommy John. I’m sorry but I feel like this surgery is a bit of a scam. Tanaka rested his partial tear and pitched fine. I’m not saying all pitchers can just rest the injury but I’m saying that many could. These young guys don’t all need to get cut on to continue their careers. I know for a fact that tendons and ligaments fuse back together on their own cause I’ve been through it so when I see “partial tear” or “strained” tendon it gives me serious pause when TJ surgery is the recommendation 99.99999% of the time. Of course these doctors are going to recommend the surgery they’re making millions off them.
99.99999% means one out of 10,000,000 and I’m not sure there have been that many pitchers yet.
The only two pitchers I can recall successfully rehabbing the injury recently are Tanaka and Luke Weaver.
Googling it, the answers vary some, but the average price quoted to perform TJ surgery is $15,000. There are many other costs associated with the surgery, primarily rehab. I was surprised to see what the actual surgery costs. At $15K per, it would take 67 TJs to break the million dollar barrier.
Tanaka is a shell of himself statistically and velocity wise. To say he’s a PRP win is kinda missing how much he regressed pre vs post injury. Velo down, splitter either not used or not the same usage. He went from a 1/2 to a 2/3 imo
At least they’re solving their problem by moving back a foot from there.
At what point do we recognize that current pitching ways of doing things doesn’t work? I am sure there are many different factors but the fact that it seems like a third of all young pitchers need TJS or something else has to tell you development is broken and it’s time to do other things.
Thinking this may be a huge new area for teams as most teams are pretty adept now w analytics. Finding ways to keep players healthy is worth a ton of wins.
Bigger strike zone, robot umpires and every pitch over 90 MPH is an automatic ball. Solved it.
When are teams going to back off the ‘max effort on every pitch’ edict? They are asking these kids to throw too hard and put too much spin on the ball. The arm isn’t built to handle that much torque and repetitive max effort throws. You either have throw 95+ or have a very deceptive delivery just to make a bullpen these days, and way too much emphasis is being put on the strikeout. Give me a good defense and a ground ball pitcher with a good sinker and things will turn out just fine. You need 20+ MLB caliber pitchers just to make it through a season and sometimes that’s not even enough. Something has to change soon.
Hence the Dodgers and 7 starters…..
MLB gms dig the triple digits.
Idk if it’s so much in the major leagues, rather than when kids are young, like little league young. While I wasn’t a pitcher when I was in my 10-year-old league, they already had kids throwing and my dad told me that if coach ever wanted me to pitch, never to try and throw breaking stuff. You start a kid at 10-12 years old already throwing breaking balls and a whole bunch of off speed stuff, you’re going to not just wear out their arm by the time they’re like 25 by just them pitching so often, but wear it out even faster since they’re throwing breaking/off speed.
When I was a kid in middle school, Bruce Hurst paid us ball players a visit after he signed with the Padres. He told all of the pitchers to just focus on their pitch location and not even think about throwing breaking pitches until at least their late teens, preferably later.
That’s a cool story. But yeah, he’s absolutley right. With so many advancements in technology and our advanced medical knowledge, and how much teams implement even biomechanics, it’s kind of shocking that TJS is so common.
This man gets it.
Is it them asking the kids to throw hard, or is it the kids wanting to throw hard? If I make the pros, I would be looking to succeed. $500k to be he last guy in the BP is an awful lot more than a long career in the minors.
Maybe develop an entire staff of ambidextrous knuckleball pitchers.
A TJ post where I don’t have to read Remove’s ridiculousness – thanks for the mute button!
One of my first mutes also! The comment sections are already WAY better now.
Why would you lie about muting someone? Seems like kind of a weird thing to do.
I believe Tim said a blocked person can still see posts but the blocker won’t see the blocked ones responses.
I’m on android cell. I don’t see mute buttons or upvotes or flags or anything else new
@Gwynning If someone mutes you you can’t reply to their comments. You can see them. But you can’t reply. I could reply to Hubcap’s comment and I did.
You can say that again!
I’d rather see them rushed when they’re younger so they can get the TJ out of the way enjoyed their still young
Longtimecoming pronounces Target “Tar-shay”
No more Jon
Well next year no room for him anyways….Clevinger,Darvish,Snell,Lamet,Paddack/Gore/Weathers
^ implying that Clev and Lamet will be healthy and rotation ready
Yeah pretty much….glass half full in my book
You left out Musgrove even. Morejon come back in 2022 to take a spot left by some of the departures.
That’s no Bueno. It’s no fun to win because the other is hurt. Hopefully recovery is smooth and he’s back with most of his 2022
On a side note. 11M bonus for a 16 year old!? Holy moly. That must have been the old rules, no?
I mentioned the Padres burning through arms and their fans said I was missing the cause.
Clearly they’re not doing something right.
You sign a guy named MoreJon what did you expect? If you want a healthier staff, I would suggest Lessjon.
More Tommy John for MoreJon. And Ka’ai Tom gets DFC’d- designated for Cleveland. Tough day to be Tom, Jon.
Darn. Take care of your arm and see you in 2022
I keep saying the unlimited foul ball is the 800 lb gorilla in baseball think how arms are still pitching if it doesn’t take 8 to 10 pitches per at bat
Think how many of us are still awake at games end.
On the 4th consecutive foul ball the runner gets to take off running. But he has to keep running until the ball is retrieved and doesn’t score a run until he ends up in the dugout.
You can keep saying it and hope they do that to hurt LA, but that’s not the problem buddy. Throwing sliders since they’re 12, year-round has a much worse effect on the elbow than freakin foul balls because a pitcher can’t finish a guy off
Pitch better
People need to stop complaining about surgeries. It’s completely normal.
~ come on pseudodoctors, you GMs, your rumors, and shine.
You reached for the reason too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy baseball diamond.
Either the San Diego Padres and their medical staff are not good at assessing injuries or injury concerns, the organization is merely willing to take major risks or they have the worst luck ever. I’m guessing it’s a combination of all three situations, with the first two options, especially the first issue, being the biggest reason for their problems with injured players.