Be honest - he was worthless with the bum elbow. His fastball was gone, like he said. He wasn't going pitch up to par this season anyway. At least this way there's some hope of him returning to form.
He had pitched pretty good at the start of the month, 2 starts giving up a run in each game through 7 inn....i think he pitched well enough for us but the elbow just started buggin him too much..... its a good move for the future..just sux if we make the playoffs cuz of his history
In a way, I'm glad he's getting this fixed. As Dallas said, his fastball hasn't been the same recently. Even though we'll have to wait a year, for his long-term future as a pitcher I'm sure it'll be much easier on him to not have to worry about his elbow going out every time he takes the mound. I also think it could be a good thing from an organizational perspective. He's certainly been a great postseason pitcher in his small sample size. But, he hasn't yet shown the durability to make it through one season as a starting pitcher without injury. And there are legitimate questions as to whether he can, given that he wasn't a pitcher for much of his minor-league career and he came up as a reliever. I love the guy in the postseason as much as anyone. But, to me, the Astros seem to put too much stock in him. In his only somewhat full season (2005 - 149 innings), his ERA was close to 5. Combine that with his history of injuries as well as short duration, and I'm not sure if this is the #3 rotation pitcher the Astros seem to envision him as. Back of the rotation, sure, but 3 might be pushing it. This will force them to look elsewhere to upgrade the front end of the rotation, and that could be a good thing.
Sucks for him, but it was inevitable. Good not to delay so he'll be ready to go for 2008. This does most likely mean that the Astros will need to make a push for a vet starter. They can't count on Clemens coming back at 45. Can't even 100% count on Pettitte, either. I haven't looked to see who would be available, but maybe there's someone out there that could contribute at least as much, if not more, than Backe. No one brings his energy, though. That, especially in the playoffs, will be greatly missed. I'm sure the Cardinals are happy they won't have to see him again for a while.
The goes my hope of seeing Backe bat ahead of Ausmus and Everett. Guess I'll have to wait til 08. I really hope Brad is gone by then though
Backe is officially done. How many successful careers were lengthened by Tommy John surgery? This is the equivalent of: (Name of an NBA star) tore his ACL and will have surgery next week.
To name two, Mariano Rivera and John Smoltz, two of the better closers in league history. Also, Tom Gordon, Jason Isringhausen, Ryan Dempster, etc. And, since I'm sure someone will make the argument that "they're just closers", Chris Capuano, Randy Wolf, Kris Benson, A.J. Burnett and Paul Byrd are starters who have recovered from the procedure and are playing reasonably well. In fact, there are some people who actually claim they have more velocity after the surgery. Tommy John surgery is something that was career-ending a decade ago, but the advancements in medical technology are staggering. Pitchers routinely recover from this now, and there's a real chance the old Brandon Backe could be back in April of 2008.
Okay, I woke up this morning and the harsh reality of no Backe hit me first thing. This sucks so bad. I know a couple of successful cases of TJs but anyone have any idea of the ratio of successful vs non-successful surgeries? My poor honey.
