Clay Buchholz Has Partial Tear Of Right Flexor Pronator Mass, Will See Dr. James Andrews
Two starts into his tenure with the Phillies, and Clay Buchholz’s season is already in jeopardy. Here at Barstool, I’ve had a lot of fun at Buchholz’s expense, mostly because he was the low hanging fruit during some pretty shitty seasons, and an easy target for cheap entertainment, but even I was bummed out when I saw this.
You know, when he debuted back in 2007 and threw a no-hitter in his second start in the big leagues, the sky was the limit for that 22-year-old kid. Ten years later, and Buchholz’s legacy will more than likely be a what could’ve been-type narrative. He had that devastating hook, and a fastball that touched as high as 98.65 MPH in 2009, but when he was great, he got hurt. And when he stayed healthy for a full season, those were usually his worst seasons. And now, here in 2017, he just straight up got rocked for 10 earned runs in 7.1 innings over two starts, then down he went.
If you’re the Phillies and you lose Buchholz for the year, it’s really no harm, no foul. They’re not expecting to compete for a World Series this year, and it cost them a no-name minor leaguer to acquire him. They’d just have to eat the $13.5 million that they assumed in the deal with Boston, and chalk that up as a sunk cost, as he’d be off the books after 2017. But it was a worthwhile gamble, because he was a solid change of scenery candidate, given that he’s always had the ability and the potential to be great. He’s just never been able to showcase that ability and stay healthy at the same time. Case in point, right here.
I actually felt really bad watching him walk off the mound at the end there, because I think he knew how bad it was, especially since he’s the one that called his catcher out to the mound and took himself out of the game. And I also think he was dreading the “Here we go again” headlines that would inevitably be coming. After ten up and down seasons in Boston, Buchholz finally got his clean slate and his fresh start in another organization. Just two starts in, and he’s already getting shelled and undoubtedly on his way to the disabled list for an extended period of time.