The Cincinnati Reds already thought it was bad that they'd be losing ace Johnny Cueto after the season. On Friday they received more bad news regarding their starting rotation.
Homer Bailey will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the rest of 2015 and likely half of the 2016 MLB season, according to the Reds Media Relations Twitter account. Bailey was placed on the 60-day disabled list earlier this week because of a sprained elbow, but on Friday the right-hander was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL).
"After consulting with Dr. [Tim] Kremchek and other orthopedic surgeons, we determined the best option with the most predictable outcome is to surgically repair the ligament," Reds president of baseball operations and general manager Walt Jocketty told Jon Cooper of MLB.com. "It does not appear the injury is at all related to the right elbow flexor mass injury Homer sustained late last season."
Jocketty signed Bailey to a six-year, $105 million extension prior to the 2014 MLB season, but the starter has only made 25 starts since. He also suffered a torn flexor tendon last year that forced him to undergo surgery last September and he started this season on the DL. He made only two starts in 2015 before going down for the year.
Since signing the lucrative extension, Bailey is 9-6 with a 4.10 ERA (in 145 1/3 innings), compared to his 24-22 record with a 3.58 ERA (in 217 innings) the two seasons prior.
Bailey experienced soreness days after his second start of the season against the Milwaukee Brewers but it was believed to be normal. However, the pain persisted and he was placed on the 15-day DL on Monday before being shifted to the 60-day DL days later.
"The two choices were to let it try to scar over and heal somewhat, but it did create a situation where, obviously, it might not mend and it might put some other parts of the elbow in jeopardy, and that didn't make any sense," manager Bryan Price said on Friday.
The Reds will now be without one of their top starters in Bailey after trading away fellow right-handers Alfredo Simon and Mat Latos in the offseason. They'll have a lot of questions to answer possibly before the trade deadline because Cueto and Mike Leake will also hit free agency once the season ends.
Hopefully Bailey can recover in a timely manner and get back on the mound as early as possible in 2016.
