Justin Verlander Is Apparently DONE For The Season With An Elbow Injury
Houston Chronicle - Reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander will miss the rest of the season because of an elbow injury, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
Manager Dusty Baker said Verlander was diagnosed with a forearm strain and will be shut down for “a couple weeks” but would not confirm an initial report by the Chronicle that his top starting pitcher will be out for the season.
Verlander, who was not at Minute Maid Park for the Astros’ 7-6 loss to the Seattle Mariners, posted on Twitter: “The report that I’m currently missing the rest of the season is not accurate”
“Forearm strain” is often a team’s descriptor for elbow-related problems. The two body parts share the same bone. The Astros described pitcher Lance McCullers Jr.’s injury in August 2018 as a “forearm strain.” He underwent reconstructive Tommy John surgery on his elbow that November.
For the record, that's actual sports journalism. I feel like we get confused around here time to time what a blogger does vs a journalist and this is a good example. Cross referencing team reports. Working information. Contradicting the primary source because you have people on the inside. And then applying it to the McCullers injury from two years ago to conclusively report AGAINST the player's explicit denial... that's good hard sports journalism and it's all but dead because this is an Access driven world. Hard to imagine Verlander will be pleased with Chandler Rome from the Houston Chronicle after this story which makes me respect the guy that much more. He's going to cover his fucking beat whether you like it or not, Justin. So start giving us some answers.
Elsewhere there's a solid Dusty Baker joke here if you give me enough time. Just 4 games in and he's already lost his Big Dog and sounds like a couple more relievers are on the way. As a Cubs fan that watched Mark Prior and Kerry Wood get sacrificed on the alter of 120 pitch counts, I can tell you there is literally no larger albatross to a pitching staff's health than Dusty Baker. My heart goes out to the Houston Astros but not really because they suck.
Although to be fair & balanced, part of me really wanted to see Verlander bulldoze a 60-game schedule. Guy is an absolute machine and at my core I will always respect a thoroughbred starting pitcher. Especially when you take the time to go to his Baseball Reference page. One of my "eye tests" when looking at a ballplayer's stats is to literally cross my eyes and see how many bolded numbers stand out. Those represent times a player led the league in a statistic. Objectively speaking Verlander has a lot of bold. Even when you cross your eyes it stands out like crazy, which almost always means 1st ballot hall of famer. Try and prove me wrong on this.
PS - spin zone Mike Trout's playoff chances just went up a little bit and we like that A LOT