Reds' Mat Latos has knee surgery, expected to return in 10 days

[wvu_man]

Reds' ace Mat Latos is expected to start throwing in 10 days after having surgery to repair a torn left meniscus on Friday, the team announced. That timetable seems pretty optimistic. He suffered the knee injury when he slipped off a mound earlier this week.
Latos, 26, went 14-7 with a 3.16 ERA (121 ERA+) with a career-best 3.22 K/BB ratio last season. He has been durable throughout his young big league career, throwing at least 184 innings in each of the last four years. Latos has topped 200 innings in each of the last two seasons.
The Reds let Bronson Arroyo leave as a free agent and it would be very surprising if they pursued someone like Ubaldo Jimenez or Ervin Santana to replace Latos. In-house options like Chien-Ming Wang, Jeff Francis, David Holmberg and Brett Marshall figure to compete for the now open rotation spot if Latos has to miss the start of the season.
Cincinnati has one of the better rotations in baseball, but losing someone of Latos' caliber certainly hurts. The starting staff will still feature Johnny Cueto, Homer Bailey, Mike Leake and Tony Cingrani.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Uh....there's this kid named Aroldis Chapman just sitting in the bullpen watching playoff losses... I hear he's available.

 

[wvu_man]

 

[JohnU]

Early in the year, the thinking is a 4 1/2-man rotation is probably sufficient, depending on how much work the bullpen gets. All the same, it's April.

If Latos needs rehab time, giving it to him is prudent.

I don't know if Wang or Francis can get people out. Probably once around the league, they could. Early-season baseball is bizarre.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

Wow, so much for the pitching staff staying healthy.

No need to worry, they have Pope Francis, Wang Chung, and Marshall Brett warming up just in case. I think all three of those guys could pitch at the same time and the batter might hit all three pitches, probably two for base hits.

 

[JohnU]

What, exactly, would be wrong with working Chapman into a rotation regimen?
If the worst that happens, he can pitch.
If the best that happens, he can still pitch.

 

[Redsfan1507]

He's started each of the last 2 springs...and was in both, the best SP the Reds had. It didnt matter somehow.

Columbus didnt just make one voyage. He tried 4 times, and still didnt find Asia, or any other continent, but at least with success, they gave him another chance at something bigger. The thought process with Chapman if used in 1492, would have had ol Cristo running a repeat route to Venice for the rest of his career. It's beyond stupid, it's almost riskless, with potential for huge reward.

4 pitchers is enough early. Is Cueto cured ? Cingrani ? No guarantee Bailey or Leake won't snap a hammy. You NEVER have enough pitching. 10 days for a meniscus tear is ridiculous. It's like saying a marathon is a 15 minute race. The guy could be out 2 months.

 

[JohnU]

Reds F.O. is downplaying Latos because it's time to sell season tickets.
This isn't unique in business. Target did the same thing when somebody hacked its system. "No data was compromised," they told everybody -- who got a brand new debit card in the mail the following week.

 

[Ryanballa]

I was so pumped for the first official day of Spring Training,then I heard this news. Man I hope this is not serious and so far the Reds have made it sound like it aint. But at this point I guess we cross our fingers and hope he dont miss to much time,and is our Opening Day starter.

 

[Redsfan1507]

I don't expect him to be ready until May at best. A pitching motion must be in harmony with lower body or bad things happen. Pain has a way of motivating your body to compensate, and that changes things. The Reds are better off getting his knee back to 100% before they start having him throw much, or it's trouble.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Sounds like a commercial- when you blow a knee in spring training you rush to get back. When you rush to get back your timing gets out of whack. When your timing gets out of whack, you lose control. When you lose control you get cut. When you get cut you wind up hanging drywall with Rickey Stone. Don't wind up hanging drywall with Rickey Stone.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

People read the 10 day comment and think he's going to be on the mound pitching March 1st. The 10 days is an estimate for the surgical repair to heal based on his age and health. Once the wound heals he'll start strength and conditioning and throwing on flat ground. Best case scenario is 4-6 weeks before he can go 100% off a mound and then he'll have to get his pitch count built up. Without any set backs 1507's estimate is probably pretty accurate.

 

[JohnU]

I had him pegged for the first of June. For one thing, we haven't heard about the projected "setbacks" that all suggest a guy is doing too much thinking and not using his brain at the same time.

Latos had bone chips taken out of his elbow last fall. The two are not connected but I am sure that somewhere in his noggin resides a rule telling him to "pay attention."

I still think it's time to get Chappy stretched out.

 

[ckhokie]

The Reds medical staff is laughable as is. They really need to be saying he'll be ready to go in 10 days? GTFO. If the past is any indication, we should probably expect a second surgery and a June return

 

[Redsfan1507]

Dr. Kremcheck's "signature" patient was Ken Griffey, Jr...who came back to stink. I know a few ex-prospect patients of his that are paying their own tuition...he still comes highly recommended though. Before I bought that car repair from him, I'd like to see a few examples that are still running.


Cueto's injury was never really diagnosed, or corrected to my knowledge, and went DL 3 times the same year.

Loose bodies in elbows aren't normal. Something causes them. C.C. Sabathia's procedure might not have been a factor, but he doubled his Ernie after the same procedure. You just never know. Probably going to be some second guessing if Arroyo wins 18 games and our rotation becomes Bailey, Leake, Parra, Francis and LeCure until June.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

Saw an interview with Price answering a question about Cueto's injury and the "Tiant turn". He seemed to believe the problem is created more by Cueto's tendacy to fly open more than anything else. That sounds like what the focus will be for Cueto this spring.

Johnny had the same tendacy before the turn, keeping his glove arm tucked and more compact would probably help keep his momentum moving over the left knee as opposed flying open and finishing left of center. Probably would relieve some of the stress in his lat. Hard to break old habits, they seem to always creep back in.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Well, the turn was created by tinkering with Cueto's original delivery, which was to fly open and fall toward the 1b dugout. They also reduced his velocity, his walks went down, his GB ratio got better and he won 19 games...all good, until he couldn't pitch. Now they want to what, reverse all that now ? Its not the turn stressing him, its the delivery.

In the days where PED's took care of a lot of problems, they forgot how to strengthen muscles used in the delivery by mortal means ? Tinkering with pitchers is advisable when they suck, not so much when they star. Conditioning can help or harm a guy, and I think they need to figure out which one applies here, instead of guess and check.

Cueto in 2012 was what we wanted. It included the turn. Now can they get back to that without it ? Easier than making him a lefty, but it still might be an issue.

 

[JohnU]

If Cueto needs the Tiant Twist to pitch effectively and gets injured because of it, I tend to follow the crumbs -- he's not much value, is he?

 

[Redsfan1507]

Exactly.

 

[Ryanballa]

Bryan Price was on MLB Network earlier talkin about Latos, he said that he is gettin around like nothin happen. But he is going to say stuff like that. This is also off topic but have you guys heard about Price not being a fan of facial hair? He does not like it and has made it known ny letting players know they atleast have to trim it. So I dont think we will see a Dunk Dynasty beard on Hoover, or LeCure, and Cingrani had one at Redsfest. I think with this act we kinda see what kinda coach Price will be, and that's a leader, not a players coach like Dusty. That just might be what our boys need.