Richards not getting TJS. Opts for rehab

[HaloCory22]

Alden Gonzalez ‏@Alden_Gonzalez  8m8 minutes ago

Garrett Richards has chosen not to undergo Tommy John surgery. Is getting something similar to a PRP shot today, shut down six weeks.

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Alden Gonzalez ‏@Alden_Gonzalez  8m8 minutes ago

Richards is essentially doing the same as Andrew Heaney, trying the non-surgical route first in hopes of avoiding surgery. Time will tell.

Edited May 16, 2016 by HaloCory22

[Guest]

Whaaat? So he might return this season? He should just get the surgery, wtf.

[gotbeer]

Good luck Richards.  See you in 2 years. 

[HaloCory22]

He's dumber than Heaney. With how hard he throws its gonna tear. Just bite the bullet on this season and come back in late 2017. There's no rush for this team.

[RallyPanda]

Moron.

[halosfan1970]

Just now, failos said:

Whaaat? So he might return this season? He should just get the surgery, wtf.

Don't worry, I'm sure Garrett Richards and his doctors will give your opinion on the subject the consideration it is due.

[Jay]

haha

[Jason]

This thread went sour really quick

[AngelsLongBall]

[Kenny]

This was a big decision.  I hope this is for the best.

[m0nkey]

Eh, can't blame him.  Easy to say "sure, give me a career altering surgery and let me spend a year+ doing extensive rehab" when you're not the one getting the surgery.  Sure success rate is relatively high, but good luck to him

[Guest]

sorry about that guys. Anyways, carry on.

[Chuck]

I mean, why not at least try this. It's only going to set him back for 2017 what, 6 weeks? Big F'n deal.

If the MRI shows healing over the course of the next few weeks than why get the surgery. If there is no progress to the healing process, then go under the knife. 

[beatlesrule]

???????  This doesn't make any sense.  I need to google the list of pitchers this worked out for.  Surgery should be his only option.  The season is lost anyway.  It's not like it's September and the Angels are in the hunt for the playoffs.  Get the surgery and come back strong in 10 months.

[Oz27]

Impossible for us to know if this is a good idea or not. But there's obvious risk so it's natural for us to be a bit concerned. Really hope it works out okay.

[Corona]

How often do guys elect to not have TJ surgery and rehab? I feel like the success rate of that is way worse than having TJ itself. I'd rather see him get it done but w/e. Just hope for the best I guess. All that said I have very little faith in our med staff, seems like we deal with more lingering and bs injuries than other clubs. 

[Second Base]

There really isn't any risk here.  Ok let's say Garrett gets the surgery right now in May.  Best case scenario, he's back in May or June of next year, but even then, most TJ pitchers take another 2-6 months to actually get a feel for their pitches again.  So the timeline of Richards returning to form if he has the surgery right now is likely August or September of next year.  

Ok, so now let's say they wait 6 weeks and there isn't enough improvement to avoid surgery, and he gets it in July.  Best case scenario, he's back by July of next year, but Richards returning to form likely doesn't come until 2018.  Basically, the Angels lose one more month of Richards, if this doesn't work.

That's not a huge risk.  Now let's pretend this actually works in much the same way it has for Tanaka in New York.  He came back two months later and was a middle or backend starter, and returned this year and is back in prime form.  The upside here is that Richards can be back to himself before this season ends.  

He definitely make the right decision.  The risk isn't great, but the potential reward is. 

[Corona]

At least tanakas best pitch is his splitter. Richards relies on his power, we'll see how it goes though I guess. 

[krAbs]

This would be an acceptable move for a team that has a good shot at winning this year...

[AngelsLakersFan]

20 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

I mean, why not at least try this. It's only going to set him back for 2017 what, 6 weeks? Big F'n deal.

If the MRI shows healing over the course of the next few weeks than why get the surgery. If there is no progress to the healing process, then go under the knife. 

The real risk is that he comes back "sort of healthier." Most guys who opt to avoid surgery come back with diminished performance, where as most guys who have the surgery come back at 100% or maybe even a little better. It's a tough call either way.

[stormngt]

This maybe hard for the fans to understand but the Angels do not think the season is lost yet.  How dare they compete has hard as they can.

[Angelsjunky]

 

1 minute ago, stormngt said:

This maybe hard for the fans to understand but the Angels do not think the season is lost yet.  How dare they compete has hard as they can.

I appreciate this post. As bad as things have been, they're only 5.5 games out with 125 games to play. The Chacin and Lincecum moves prove they're not giving up on the season.

[gotbeer]

4 minutes ago, ScottyA_MWAH said:

There really isn't any risk here.  Ok let's say Garrett gets the surgery right now in May.  Best case scenario, he's back in May or June of next year, but even then, most TJ pitchers take another 2-6 months to actually get a feel for their pitches again.  So the timeline of Richards returning to form if he has the surgery right now is likely August or September of next year.  

Ok, so now let's say they wait 6 weeks and there isn't enough improvement to avoid surgery, and he gets it in July.  Best case scenario, he's back by July of next year, but Richards returning to form likely doesn't come until 2018.  Basically, the Angels lose one more month of Richards, if this doesn't work.

That's not a huge risk.  Now let's pretend this actually works in much the same way it has for Tanaka in New York.  He came back two months later and was a middle or backend starter, and returned this year and is back in prime form.  The upside here is that Richards can be back to himself before this season ends.  

He definitely make the right decision.  The risk isn't great, but the potential reward is. 

IMO, I could not disagree with you more.

If he had surgery now, he'd be back sometime next season, 2017. 

If he tries to work it out, upside is if he works it out great.  Downside, he needs surgery, or he does what every stupid medical decision the Angels do are, and he tries to rehab it in the offseason.  Come 2017, and it doesn't get any better, and he needs surgery missing all of 2017.

That means he will be back sometime in 2018. 

And ladies and gentlemen.  Guess what happens in 2019?  He's a free agent.

So I'd rather have 1 - 2 season post injury to evaluate whether we spend gobs of money on him.  Than part of a season and decide whether to spend money on him. 

[Amazing Larry]

Maybe the ligament damage isn't bad enough to do TJS. Remember he pitched through the discomfort for quite a while before being shut down. Maybe all he needs is a little rest and rehab?

[AngelsLakersFan]

13 minutes ago, ScottyA_MWAH said:

There really isn't any risk here.  Ok let's say Garrett gets the surgery right now in May.  Best case scenario, he's back in May or June of next year, but even then, most TJ pitchers take another 2-6 months to actually get a feel for their pitches again.  So the timeline of Richards returning to form if he has the surgery right now is likely August or September of next year.  

Ok, so now let's say they wait 6 weeks and there isn't enough improvement to avoid surgery, and he gets it in July.  Best case scenario, he's back by July of next year, but Richards returning to form likely doesn't come until 2018.  Basically, the Angels lose one more month of Richards, if this doesn't work.

That's not a huge risk.  Now let's pretend this actually works in much the same way it has for Tanaka in New York.  He came back two months later and was a middle or backend starter, and returned this year and is back in prime form.  The upside here is that Richards can be back to himself before this season ends.  

He definitely make the right decision.  The risk isn't great, but the potential reward is. 

Ervin Santana was similar, although he never quite regained what he showed prior to his injury. This gives Richards a shot for 2017 essentially, since he wasn't likely to contribute much next year.