Twins make it official: Neshek to miss 2009 season
Posted on November 11th, 2008 – 5:32 PMBy Joe Christensen
Twins reliever Pat Neshek will undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow and is expected to miss the entire 2009 season, the team just announced.
Neshek originally injured the elbow May 9 in Chicago and missed the rest of the season. He re-injured the elbow in a throwing session last week in Fort Myers, Fla., and underwent an MRI exam today.
The exam showed a complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. The surgery date has not been set.
Tommy John surgery is a ligament-replacement procedure, common to modern pitchers. Typical recovery time is 12-15 months. Twins lefthander Francisco Liriano had the procedure in November 2006 and was back for spring training this February.
The Twins hope Neshek will be ready for spring training in 2010, but the Minnesota native will miss pitching the final season at the Metrodome.
Update (6:03 p.m.): Twins GM Bill Smith said, “We’re disappointed because Pat Neshek had made such good progress throughout the summer and fall with his throwing programs. And unfortunately, he reinjured it last week in a throwing session.”
Asked if finding setup relief this offseason, Smith said, “It was a priority and it continues to be a priority. We’re going to have some young players within the organization that get a chance to win a job in the big leagues, and we’re going to continue to look outside at free agents and trades.”
One important point: When Neshek was first injured in May, he received a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews, who agreed with the Twins recommendation to rehab the injury, instead of having surgery.
“I don’t think the plan was wrong,” Smith said. “He reinjured it the other day, and now it’s a complete tear, and that changes the diagnosis completely.”
48 Responses to "Twins make it official: Neshek to miss 2009 season"
wow, that’s just unfortunate. that means it won’t be until at least 2011 that he is at full strength and capable of pitching like he did, if he ever does again. Pat’s a good guy and i wish him a speedy and healthy recovery.
as far as the twins are concerned, now the plan has to be to go out and get a set-up guy. free agency is not the way to go seeing as how there aren’t too many good options out there and that the price for relievers is outrageous. i don’t wanna hear juan cruz, because although he strikes out a ton, he also walks a ton and is injury prone. trading for someone seems like the best option.
Does this make a packaged deal with the Rockies for Atkins and Street a real possibility?
why does this sound just like the Liriano debacle? unbelievable. how disappointing.
hmmm
Smith is talking about “reinjuring” but the earlier reports are saying that the newly torn ligament is not the one previously injured. Are there 2 different ligaments in question here or not? The previous injury was reported to be in the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). This is the ligament replaced in the Tommy John surgery. This ligament is on the “outside” of the elbow. There are also the radial collateral ligament (RCL) on the “inside” of the elbow and the annular ligament on the top of the elbow, but that one does not usually injured by repetitive actions like pitching with a bad motion.
UCL or RCL? Any light?
bummer about losing neshek for an entire year. but at least the news comes before the free agent market opens. now smith knows he has got a huge hole to fill… and not just with some middle aged middle reliever.. go get a quality 8th inning guy to get from our rotation to Nathan!
imagine neshek getting on the mound for the 8th inning for the Target Field home opener in 2010…
I wish Neshek the best. In 2007 he was the most important Minnesotan on the team, and in 2008 his injury was without a doubt the most devistating.
Are you kidding me!! It takes this long to figure this out!! Quit jerking our chain - we all knew this should have been done last spring - FGS!!!!!
No surprise. The Twins should have been trying to get a new reliever regardless of Neshek’s condition. Now this just drives the point home. Everyone knew it would come to this, especially with Neshek’s violent arm movement.
And they found this just now???? Where was the MRI exam back in April or May? Almost 7 months has past and they now say he has a complete tear?
Good thing that Neshek didn’t have cancer, because if it took almost 7 months to find this, can you imagine where Pat would be today if did??
Should’ve been done 6 months ago. Rest and relaxation NEVER EVER cures a torn ligament. Name once in the history of the world that a pro athlete rested for 9 months with a torn ligament, and it miraculously cured itself and he never had problems again. NEVER has happened. Never will happen. The Twins and Pat Neshak dropped the ball, and it was obvious they had 6 months ago.
a partially torn ligament can heal on its own. a fully torn ligament needs surgery. it was just partially torn and ended up tearing completely last week.
Well he did give the Twins at least one good season. Too bad he won’t come back as a Twin. I’ve seen it too many times in the past, pitchers go down with arm injuries like this and they’re done for good. Liriano was different because of his immense talent and relatively young age. Neshak is older and not as talented. Too bad because I loved watching this guy pitch. Good Luck with Rehab.
There is a chance that Pat Neshek will be on my podcast tonight. It starts at 8:00 central time at http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SethSpeaks. I haven’t actually talked to him for probably 10 days but have sent a couple of messages and hope he’ll call in during the second half of the show. You can ask questions there, if you like.
everyone saying the twins made a mistake in not having surgery in may. if dr. james andrews, THE doctor when it comes to arm problems recommended rehab, then there’s nothing that can be said. if surgery was needed or recommended, they would’ve done it.
by “people within the organization”, does smith mean delaney and perhaps slama? i know swarzak and mulvey were being considered but how much upside do they have as relievers?
Like I said… Name me 1
Good thing they didn’t pick this up when it actually happened back in April, huh? I mean, then he might have actually been able to pitch sometime next year.
This team’s training staff and doctors are retarded; this garbage happens year after year, player after player. Joe Mays with his elbow. Eric Milton with his meniscus. Francisco Liriano with his elbow. Again and again. It’s like this team prefers to wipe away as much time from a player as possible.
Have they got a clue??? Christ.
whoops… Like I said, name me 1 single solitary instance where a professional athlete came back from a ligament tear (partial or otherwise) by just resting it, and never had problems ever again. Never works. They always end up having surgery because the ‘partial’ injury turns into the full-meal deal.
whalefeet, yes, I would think Big Daddy Delaney will definitely get a very long look in Spring Training. Slama may be a bit further away, and I’m not sure if his stuff really will play well in the bigs. But a bigger sleeper than Big Daddy or Slama could be Mijares. He’s got the stuff, for sure, and if he keeps his head on straight, he could be absolutely filthy out of the bullpen setting up Nathan. You heard it here first…
We can second guess the front office all day but the fact remains we have no replacement for neskek! Without a dominant force to lock down 8th innings we will continue to suck on the road.
“…will miss pitching the final season at the Metrodome.” Silver lining anyone?
Mijares showed he could be the man we need in the clutch; lefties are an even hotter commodity than tough righties out of the pen so this is pretty awesome to have him
that said, i will miss neshek. i wish they had just done surgery in the first place; he basically wasted this entire offseason training only to tear it again (his crazy delivery didnt help things either im sure). he’ll be sorely missed
if anything, this team can use Humber as either the 5th starter (moving a current guy, possibly Perk) or be a set up guy himself. he is pretty solid, not great but a good fit in if needed. if not, he can be used as trade bait since he’s got plenty of potential still and we could get a veteran reliever another team might not need but could use young starting pitching. An Atkins + Street trade would be brilliant, but it needs to be for the right price. I won’t give up a lot for either guy (neither are lights out or even top 10 at their position).
right now who’s are likely BP….hmmm
Nathan,Mijares,Breslow,Crain,Guerrier,
Bonser,and Humber….that’s 7 and I doubt we’ll carry more than 12 pitchers out of spring training. If we bring in someone from outside who’s the odd man out Boof or guerrier?
“I don’t think the plan was wrong,” Smith said. “He reinjured it the other day, and now it’s a complete tear, and that changes the diagnosis completely.”
And if I were Neshek I’d sue Dr. Andrews to the point that dear old Dr. A is seen packing my bags at the local grocery store.
also, we had bobby korecky up and he showed some good things as well; he was a closer at AAA and has the gust to pitch in the late innings; i think hes our guy to replace neshek
that leaves more ammo to go after a better SS or 3B and shore up the line up.
I have a really hard time believing that the twins would trade any of their 5 young starters. Nor do I think that they would move Perkins to the BP after going 12-4 in 26 starts!
DANGIT! Great, well there goes the 2009 season.
Pat Neshek did call in to the show. it completed about 10 minutes ago. If you go to http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SethSpeaks in about 1/2 hour or so, the podcast will be available (along with previous shows). He called in at around the 40 minute mark of the show, right after I talked to Mark Hamburger. The Jonathan Mayo interview was good too.
Neshek was one of my favorite players on the team. I loved watching him pitch. God’s speed Pat - I certainly wish you a speedy return and continued success.
Who is this James Andrews guy. He don’t know jack…..
I guess Neshek should have gotten a third opinion. And then a fourth. And maybe a fifth, until someone told him to get the Tommy John surgery.
Another possibility is that the decision to forego Tommy John surgery was the correct one but that Neshek started pitching again too soon.
Rob L,
Name one pro that had ligament tear that came back without surgery? Is this is a serious question? This happens ALL OF THE TIME. Do your own research, it isn’t hard to find names after names. Heck we had 1 just last year that is a significant and I mean super significant name in the Twin Cities. He plays for the Vikings and is pretty good. I think you might know the name.
Name one pro that had ligament tear that came back without surgery?
Not all ligament tears are the same as not all bone fracture are the same. Some require surgery some not.
Regardless, given the following facts:
* This team is having an alarming increase in injuries the past few years
* The performance of the team on the road is lagging, compared to the MLB average
The Twins need to shell $2-3 million to establish a medical and conditioning team in charge of health, nutrition and conditioning on season and off season and on the road. They should also establish rules like football teams (i.e. you show up out of shape, you get fined and you don’t play.) Bit radical for baseball, but it can only help.
Off topic, But I just read that Doug Melvin of the brewers said that he hasn’t had serious talks about dealing JJ Hardy, because nobody is offering names, “with the exception of one team, and that team offered a fifth starter.” Anybody think that team might be the Twins, and that fifth starter Nick Blackburn?
Melvin’s comment seems to read that a fifth starter isn’t going to be enough.
obviously. I’m not inferring that Blackburn should be enough. But Blackburn isn’t a typical fifth starter. He is young, talented, with upside. He is a starting point. Let’s hope Bill Smith gets something done to help the infield and bullpen. JJ Hardy would be a fine addition.
Thrylos has a good idea at 9:35. Four or five of our players could use a program like that. Hire Jenny Craig as a bench coach.
Well, if it was the Twins and it was Blackburn, who I agree is more than a 5th starter, it sounds like Melvin wasn’t too impressed. And you are right, he should be asking alot for Hardy. How about Blackburn and Span?
You think they offered Perkins instead of Blackburn? Perkins really struggled in the second half, despite his impressive record.
That’s too steep of a price, Walt. The A’s gave up a middle reliever and a AAA outfielder for two time All-Star Matt Holliday.
Perkins was the Twins’ fifth starter… Blackie was the fourth. W-L record doesn’t matter; if you don’t believe me, ask Livan
“The A’s gave up a middle reliever and a AAA outfielder for two time All-Star Matt Holliday.”
Holliday has one year left on his contract, so it isn’t a fair comparison.
If Melvin rated the player offered as a “fifth starter” it doesn’t matter where his actual place in the rotation was. It could even have been a demoted fifth starter like Bonser or a projected fifth starter like Humber. Whatever pitcher was named, Melvin does not consider it a “serious” offer.
We don’t know that the rejected offer was from the Twins. The Brewers might consider Blackburn to be a #4 starter, so it’s possible they would take him along with another player or prospect.
Wouldn’t the Brewers want to wait to see what happens with C.C. before they start dealing for pitchers? Or maybe they believe they have no shot at re-signing him?
ligaments are like rubberbands in an way. they start out strong and tight, and the more they are stressed and stretched, the more they “stretch” out. when they develope slight tears, they don’t repair themselves. the tear only gets bigger if it is stressed to its limit again…. and then it snaps. regardless of what any doctor told pat, he had to know and suspect this result. that must have been hell for pat….. the last six months, having to do what someone else - the doctors and the management - tell you to do……… all the while having a gut feeling of what is really needed and will ultimately happen. the dreaded finality and the wasted time. you will be back pat. you have the heart that is needed………
hey ……
how do i know……….?
i’m not a doctor, but i stayed at a holiday inn express last night……
