On Carlos Santana’s Surgery, Adam Miller’s Career
Written By: Scott | Category: Cleveland Indians | Comments: 8
Two not-so-great notes regarding the Cleveland Indians came across the wire yesterday afternoon as Tribe prospects Carlos Santana and Adam Miller both underwent surgical procedures. Santana, the heir apparent to the departed Victor Martinez, had a fracture removed from his hamate bone in his right hand. Miller, who seemingly hasn’t been able to stay healthy through his entire stint with the Indians, had surgery to stabilize a tendon in right middle finger.
Santana’s surgery was the result of some soreness that occurred while playing winter ball. The team reports that the common recovery time is around eight-to-ten weeks. While Santana is slated to be ready for the start of the 2010 season, this definitely does not help any conditioning or extra swings that the slugger could use in terms of preparation for his start in Columbus.
Miller, on the other hand (no pun intended), experienced yet another setback in his recovery from several bouts with the same finger on his throwing hand. No timetable has been set for his return to baseball activities, and many are wondering if Miller will ever return to the diamond for the rest of his career.
As Anthony Castrovince points out, Miller has only thrown 28 innings in the last two years. Adding a handful of surgeries to the puzzle makes the four-time top prospect’s chances at ever contributing very, very slim.
I am sure this is not exactly how anyone pictured this story playing out. It wasn’t long ago when Miller was touted as the only blue-chip prospect in the system. He was slated to be the number-two man to CC Sabathia, and was the reason why the Indians would not trade for Mark Teixeira back in 2007 before Tex was moved to Atlanta.
Coincidentally, LHP Chuck Lofgren – the number two prospect in both 2007 and 2008 - was lost this morning in the Rule 5 draft as he was selected by Milwaukee.
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(Chuck Crow/The Plain Dealer)
Author: Scott
Scott is a co-founder/editor of Waiting For Next Year who resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or email him at scott@waitingfornextyear.com.Scott has written 2013 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
…looking forward to the 2011 season.
Well that’s the most depressing post (non-Browns related) that I’ve read in a while.
Thanks for that …
It’s funny, Miller has been hurt for so long that news like this elicits no reaction from me anymore.
It’s a bummer about Santana – but really not a big deal. He wasn’t going to open in Cleveland anyway. As long as he can go at the start of Spring Training it will be fine. Better to find this now than during the season.
But how does he flip the bird?
Look, he is just 25 years old. His talent is not going to disappear if he can heal. Let’s not dump him out of aggravation. He is too talented to not sign for cheap. It is not like we are loaded with pitching talent in the minors. The fact that he is cheap now, he has ace talent and the lack of pitching depth in our minors means keep him unless the doc says that he will never pitch again.
“But how does he flip the bird?”
Probably “flops” the bird, all those snapped tendons and whatnot…
Ya know, I’m not a Shapiro hater… he’s a very bright guy, and has done a hell of a job with what he’s given to work with here. Needs to improve his drafting, but overall, I think he’s a good GM.
That said, I’ve gotten really tired of him overvaluing his prospects. We missed out on Pedro because we wouldn’t move Jared Wright. Passed on Texeira for Adam Miller. Wish he had the huevos to pull the trigger on those big prospect trades once in a while.
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