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“Padres–15 Minutes of Fame”

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Lousy news.  Devastating news.  Impactful news for the Padres.

The Padres coming off a marvelous season, and an extended playoff series against the Cardinals and then the Dodgers cannot feel good now about this..

And now this, a really big setback.

it doesn’t kill pennant hopes for the 2021-season, whatever that looks like, but it surely tamps down hopes that we could have a repeat season next year like we had in the pandemic summer at Petco Park.

The ace, Mike Clevinger is gone for next year.  After telling the media and the fans the former Cleveland Indian would do rehab, have a Plasma Platelet injection, do weight work, and rebuild his mechanics, we get this.

His second Tommy John surgery of his career.  It raises all types of questions.

Can they re-tool his herky-jerky motion to better protect his arm, or should we be scared that he has injured himself twice?  At age (30) this means the comeback this time becomes more complicated.

The last Padres pitcher to deal with this was hot prospect Cory Leubke.  And he never made it back after they paid him a big money contract.  He injured his elbow three times and walked away from baseball before age 28.

Questions everywhere that need to be asked.

Did the Padres get damaged goods in the Cleveland trade?

Did Padres leadership mismanage Clevinger’s usage, did they push him, did the pitcher lie about how badly he was hurt, or is it just bad luck, and a sign of the times as to what can happen to power pitchers in this day and age?

The loss of Cleviinger comes on the heels of the possible loss Dinelson Lamet, who forged to the front of the rotation last season, becoming a co-‘#1-starter.  He was dominant, a physical force, and spectacular.

And he is attempting to recover from much the same thing Clevinger had.  No one knows if he needs surgery.  Rest, the injection, weight work, and throwing.  The Friars front office and PR people, said the same thing, no surgery needed, just rehab after six weeks.

You hope Lamet does not wind up like Clevinger

Look where we are just six weeks after the Padres-Dodgers series.

Somebody needs to ask the question about the two so-called aces and usage.  Whether that is Jayce Tingler or Larry Rothchild, or AJ Preller himself.

I have not seen a situation where a club lost both its ace starters almost simultaneously.

The Monday night news does not destroy the team, but it means the starting rotation will be very young, if we play a full 162-game season.

Yes they have the promising Mackenzie Gore waiting.  We have seen flashes of Luis Patino.  Joey Luchessi is still here but possibly in need of re-tooling after falling off the radar.  Adrian Morejon stepped up in crunch time and looked special in the playoffs af a young age.  Michel Baez could be converted back to a starter.  And Ryan Weathers’ cameo appearance in the playoffs was surprising.

Maybe they use Luchessi as trade bait to rent a veteran pitcher, but they had already dealt away Eric Lauer to Milwuakee, though he got hurt last year.

Luis Perdomo is gone too for the season, having had late season elbow surgery.

The number of quality arms is being thinned out, and losing cornerstone frontline arms is devastating.  What would the Dodgers be without Clayton Kershaw or Walker Beuhler?  Look what the Mets became without Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndegaard.  See what I feel now?

Maybe they bring back Garrett Richards to be a starter in the rotation.  Maybe he must re-pay the Padres for giving him 15M over two years to do his surgery and rehab.  Two wins for all that money means he owes them something.

Hate to think this a roadblock to the multi-year playoff run the Padres hoped for going forward after all the years of pain.

Hate to think the Padres had their 15-minutes of pennant race fame, and now it’s gone, and this is what we have to deal with.

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