The Marlins introduced this afternoon that right-hander Eury Perez is experiencing elbow soreness and is about to bear imaging and testing over the course of the approaching days. Jon Heyman of the New York Post provides that a part of the membership’s diagnostic course of might be a visit to Texas, the place Perez will meet with famous orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Meister. Earlier this week, Perez was pulled from a Spring Coaching begin after simply 14 pitches attributable to discomfort attributable to a damaged fingernail.
It’s a brutal blow for the Marlins, who’ve been ravaged by rotation accidents this offseason. Sandy Alcantara underwent Tommy John surgical procedure again within the fall and is about to overlook your entire 2024 marketing campaign, and since then each Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera have handled shoulder points that might relegate them to the injured checklist to start the season. Now Perez seems all however sure to open the common season on the shelf as effectively. Whereas the severity of the 20-year-old phenom’s particular problem is unsure, considerations relating to the elbow are notably ominous attributable to the potential of a prolonged absence.
Elbow surgical procedures can usually wipe out a pitcher’s total season, as is the case with Alcantara, and even non-surgical rehab can take a pitcher away from sport motion for months at a time, as was recently demonstrated by Yankees ace Gerrit Cole. Even in one of the best case state of affairs, the time spent figuring out the extent of Perez’s harm figures to set him again as he seems to be to construct up his pitch rely for the common season. Perez’s aforementioned fingernail problem has restricted his capacity to arrange for the approaching season this spring, and with simply two weeks till Opening Day and the right-hander prone to be sidelined for at the very least a number of extra days, it’s arduous to think about him having the ability to keep away from at the very least a short stint on the injured checklist.
With Perez, Cabrera, and Garrett all at the very least susceptible to becoming a member of Alcantara on the injured checklist to open the season, that leaves southpaw Jesus Luzardo as the one member of the membership’s on-paper beginning rotation who’s at present anticipated to be obtainable on Opening Day. Southpaw A.J. Puk was already widely expected to start the season within the membership’s rotation after the membership made the choice to stretch the lefty out regardless of his success as a high-leverage arm within the membership’s bullpen final yr, and the accidents additionally appear prone to open the door for the likes of Trevor Rogers and Ryan Weathers to step into rotation roles because the season begins. That might nonetheless depart the fifth spot within the membership’s rotation vacant, nonetheless, although right-hander Bryan Hoeing represents one possibility already on the 40-man roster and the membership has loads of potential non-roster choices at its disposal together with Yonny Chirinos, Vladimir Gutierrez, and Devin Smeltzer.
After all, none of these potential depth choices may be moderately anticipated to ship the form of impression that Perez gives. The righty, 21 subsequent month, was a consensus top-15 prospect in all of baseball when he made his debut for Miami final yr, and he instantly flashed the front-of-the-rotation potential that his prospect pedigree advised as he dazzled with a microscopic 1.34 ERA and a strong 3.02 FIP in his first 9 begins within the majors. He struck out 29.2% of batters confronted throughout that stretch, and whereas midsummer struggles led the membership to restrict his workload down the stretch the teen nonetheless options prominently within the membership’s plans for the 2024 season and past. A lot so, in truth, that Perez was typically considered the membership’s sole untouchable as they fielded commerce gives on the likes of Garrett, Luzardo, and Cabrera through the offseason.
The rotation accidents have been a serious blow to a Marlins membership that’s trying to construct upon a shocking postseason look in 2023. The membership’s beginning pitchers ranked high ten within the majors final yr in ERA, FIP, and fWAR whereas hanging out the fourth-most batters in all of baseball. That dominant run prevention equipment was key to the membership’s success final yr because the lineup lagged behind, rating simply twentieth within the majors with a collective wRC+ of 94. With so many accidents impacting the membership’s rotation already this yr, the staff will want robust efficiency from the likes of Luis Arraez, Josh Bell, Jake Burger, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. if the membership hopes to return to postseason rivalry in 2024.
