We've been hearing for weeks that John Patterson's only problem was a lack of arm strength following surgery on his right arm last year. We heard that his arm strength was improving, even while he pitched more like Marc Brunell than the John Patterson we had come to know and love. That whole story came crashing down yesterday with news that Patterson has a "bicep problem." The actual problem sounds worse than that, though, because Patterson says he has pain in his elbow, as well. That's a bit scary.
Patterson has been pitching so badly that it's easy to conclude that he has a serious injury. How else to explain an ERA that is over 7 after 7 starts--7.47 to be exact. (By the way, what is this proclivity of Nats' pitchers for ERAs equal to model numbers of Boeing airplanes?)
Although we'd love for Patterson to get back to form quickly so that he could be traded for younger players, it's pretty clear that that's not going to happen. Given that the Nats are going nowhere fast this year, the best thing is probably to shut him down until the team is sure he has no significant medical issue. An MRI is in his immediate future, so we should know more soon.
You should know that Patterson is on my team in a NL-only fantasy league, as is Chris Carpenter, Jason Jennings, Jorge Julio, Micah Owings, and Juan Cruz, all of whom have had significant arm injuries this year. Yes, that's right, I think I caused Patterson's injury by drafting him. Sorry about that.
1 comment:
Hopefully it's just a bad case of tendonitis, precipitated by too much pitching. I've known several people who've had tendonitis that is so painful, it feels like arthritis from the wrists through the shoulders. If he's been lifting and pitching to excess to improve his arm strength, it could be a matter of overdoing it.
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