NFL Tickets
Not ever having been a general manager of a major league team leaves me with a limited amount of insight when it comes to the moves and money decisions that accompany such a position. But even an armchair executive like myself had to question the logic behind giving a pitcher a $5.5 million guaranteed contract when he hadn’t even thrown a pitch for his former MLB team in over a year.
But that is exactly what the Chicago Cubs did with starting pitcher Scott Baker, who was (is) recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Minnesota Twins, Baker’s former team, can do nothing but shrug their shoulders like the used car dealer who sold you that lemon “as is”.
Baker got absolutely hammered in his only Cactus League start of the Spring, giving up three hits, two walks and three runs before reaching his pitch limit, and only retiring one of six batters faced in the first inning. After showing some obvious discomfort in the surgically repaired elbow, the Cubs decided to give it a closer look.
An MRI on the elbow showed that something wasn’t quite right, and Dr. Stephen Gryzlo, the team orthopaedist, is coming to Arizona this weekend to give a closer look at the images and give Baker a thorough exam
Until that time, however, Baker is shut down indefinitely.
The success rate of Tommy John surgery is extremely high, sitting around 95% of patients with a complete recovery. It only figures that the Cubs would get one of the few pitchers who falls into that minor 5% of the unfortunate few that need further surgery or may not recover at all.
“It’s just too soon to really know,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. “It’s more disappointing for him as a guy that’s worked that hard and did everything (right) – nothing to warrant (getting) shutdown. But, hopefully, it’s not that big a deal. It’s just a wait-and-see thing right now.”
Only fitting, as the Cubs themselves have been a wait-and-see thing for far too many years now. Baker is just another blow to the depth which the Cubs thought they had built up over the off-season, and possibly another indicator of how things will go in Wrigleyville this season.
————————————————————————–
Michael Collins is a Rant Sports Senior Writer, and Atlanta sports columnist. Follow him @GaSportsCraze on Twitter and here on Facebook
Share 
