Man that is f**king horrible. Historic performance all for absolutely nothing because the Angels are a clown show. Then get hurt in irrelevant games right before payday.
Innings restriction may help, but what if they actually make the playoffs and he has to take 140 innings to make the playoffs? Inning limit just won't work. If anything, the new UCL injury may suggest they have to look at altering his wind up and motion. Honestly, this is something that MLB should be working on for every pitcher. Basically it seems like majority of pitchers end up needing Tommy John surgery or have a UCL injury at some point in their career and that can't just be understood requirement. It suggests everything needs to be evaluated and rethought.
Love of the Game... Plus, he has a chance at Judge's AL HR record. It will be interesting to see how much this hurts his contract. I think it takes $500M off the table, and maybe even $400M. The number of pitchers to come back from TJS is huge, the number to come back twice is much lower. Maybe he targets a deal with an opt-out so he can hit the open market again. He's a good enough position player alone to make him worth around $300M. Heck, he'd be leading for MVP if he hadn't thrown a single pitch this season.
30 years ago, a pitcher that threw 95 was among the top 10% fastest in baseball. The few who threw 100 were unicorns. A SP was expected to pitch 120 pitches and 7+ innings per start 200+ per season. They frequently pitched at 90% throughout a game to accomplish this. Now everyone throws 95+ and let's it rip every pitch just hoping to make it 5 innings but no problem if they don't. But the human arm taking all that stress is the same.
I understand all that. Which is why I don't understand a multibillion dollar business has not invested more research in evaluated the biomechanics/stressors of the arm/shoulder and such to improve mechanics to limit these kinds of injuries. You can't have some of the biggest draws/stars in the sport consistently out for a 1-2 years and some never get back to 100%.
I doubt he is freaked, but this kind of news certainly reinforces his stance regarding long contracts.
If career ending injury related it becomes guaranteed. The Nationals, somewhat absurdly, didn't have his contract insured. His arms could have fallen off the day after signing the deal and they would have owed him every penny.
One of you guys go find video of the throw de la Cruz made to get the out at home. It was damn near 100mph
NICE, that's better than I remembered it live. He threw that damn near deadfooted...catch, spin, throw in one motion Also, in case somebody doesn't know: Corbin Carroll is really ****ing fast
