Yardbarker: Pat Neshek

Twins Eye Cruz

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:19:28 -0500

MLB.com is reporting that the Twins have made a contract offer to Juan Cruz and may try to work out a sign-and-trade with the Diamondbacks. "Obviously, it's tricky," Arizona general manager Josh Byrnes said Monday. "[Another team] would have to work out a deal with someone else and then we would have to get back in player value something that we feel is close to the respective picks." The Twins may land one of the top relievers in the game. He brings experience, a good work ethic, and excellent numbers to the Twins, who could use Cruz to fill in for the rehabbing Pat Neshek.?
Last season, Cruz went 4-0 with a 2.61 ERA and 71 strikeouts, in just 51.2 innings of work.?
This story was approved by MLB Rumors.

Surgery or Rehab?

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:34:10 -0500

Photo from RapidCityJournal.com

After being injured back in May this past season, Minnesota Twins reliever Pat Neshek was diagnosed with a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. Neshek would miss the remainder of the season, but no surgery was required, and rehab would heal the injury.

Six months later, and Neshek was just a few days away from the completion of the rehab. Just days before his rehab was scheduled to finish, Neshek experienced discomfort in the same elbow while throwing. An MRI revealed that the other side of the ligament was completely torn away from the bone, and Tommy John surgery would be required.

The initial outcry from fans everywhere thus far has been about whether or not Neshek should have just had surgery to begin with rather than go through with the rehab. The question is a valid one, but the team made the right decision.

As we’ve mentioned before, Tommy John surgery requires at least a year to recover from, and a lot of time it take 15 months. The injury occurred on May 9th this past season, and by the time the surgery would have been completed, it would have been closer to June.

Do the counting, from June, or for that matter, even count from May. Count fifteen months and see what you come out with. If you counted correctly, you’ll get to August 2009 (from May). Assuming the recovery would take 15 months, Neshek would have had the opportunity to possibly return with one month remaining in the 2009 season. However, he would have likely needed some sort of minor league rehab like Francisco Liriano did in 2008, and it would be questionable whether he‘d see a major league mound.

Surgery wouldn’t have been a bad option looking back now, but whether Neshek had the surgery then or now, he would have missed the 2009 season, or had little affect on its outcome. It was a wise decision to allow him to rehab the partial tear which has an 80-percent success rate. Had the rehab worked, and had Neshek returned this spring, we would have all been happy that surgery was avoided.

More comfort in the decision can be had from Dr. James Andrews, the exact doctor who performs the widely known Tommy John surgery. While it has been said that the Twins doctors made the decision, according to Joe Christensen, Andrews did agree with their recommendation:

When Neshek was first injured in May, he received a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews, who agreed with the Twins recommendation to rehab the injury, instead of having surgery.

“I don’t think the plan was wrong,” Smith said. “He re-injured it the other day, and now it’s a complete tear, and that changes the diagnosis completely.”

It would be nice to think that surgery immediately would have been a better choice, but taking a shot at rehab and a shorter return timetable was the correct move. Whether Neshek did the surgery back in May or now in November, he would have missed the Metrodome’s final season, and would be looking ahead to Spring Training 2010 either way.

A Sad Day: No Neshek in '09

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:20:28 -0500

Pat Neshek was injured unexpectedly last season in early May, and although he missed the remainder of the season, the organization and fans everywhere were relieved to find out that it was only a partial tear of the ligament and no surgery was required.

Now six months later, and just a few days before his rehab was due to be complete, Neshek felt discomfort in the same elbow during a throwing session.

An MRI today revealed that the other side of the ligament has been torn away from the bone, and rehab won't do the trick. The team has announced that sometime in the near future, Pat will undergo the widely-known Tommy John surgery.

It is the exact same surgery that left-hander Francisco Liriano returned from this past season, and it takes about 10-15 months to recover from. The good news for the organization is that the surgery a lot of times allows the pitcher to completely recover, and there have been cases where the pitcher has returned and performed at a higher level.

In March 2010, it will have been 16 months for Neshek to fully recover, so Spring Training 2010 is a good bet for him to finally return to game action.

The toughest part, other than the Twins being out an All-Star caliber set-up man, is that Neshek is one of the most like-able players in a Twins uniform. Neshek unfortunately will miss the final season in the Metrodome as well. We wish Pat the best, and we'll be waiting around when the new ballpark is come 2010.

We Got One

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:42:20 -0500

It was a tough series for the Twins, one that had just a few things went the other way could have just as easily been a sweep for Minnesota rather than a series loss. I know one thing, and that is if the Twins can’t learn to win a few games on the road quickly, come September we’ll be talking about how they missed the playoffs.

There isn’t really any team with the exception of the Angels that is really good on the road. With that said, the Twins still need to be better than the 24-30 that they’re been thus far. Coming up in the final two months they’ll have two critical road trips. One of fourteen games and the other of ten. They can’t head west at the end of August and go 5-9 and expect to make the playoffs, they need to have some sort of success even if it is being just above the .500 mark.

Another thing they need to learn to do is beat bad teams. You could argue that the Twins have an easy schedule as far as teams go with twenty-two total games remaining with the Mariners, Athletics and Royals. For the most part those game are on the road, so that will play a big part yet again. But they also need to learn to cap games off against these teams and take advantage of the youngness.

By the time we get to the end of August, for the most part these three teams will have likely given up on some of their veterans and called up youngsters and prospects to see what they have for their future. The Twins need to take advantage of these situations.

It was tough to lose two games to one of the worst teams, but right now we’re lucky it was just a short two-game losing streak. Hopefully the rotation can begin to provide more seven inning outings to save the bullpen. I just really realized this week how much I miss Pat Neshek.

Hopefully we won’t look back in September and say that the Twins missed the playoffs because they couldn’t finish games or because they couldn’t take advantage of their opportunities.

Bullpen Getting Job Done

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:16:45 -0500

Andrew Kneeland talks about the state of the Minnesota bullpen at the mid-way point in the 2008 season.

Random Thoughts

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:20:45 -0500

-Every day when I came home from work for the last few weeks I've been watching--and suprisingly enough, enjoying--Euro 2008. I've never been much of a Soccer fan but I have to say, once you start to understand the game it is incredibly enjoyable. I don't have any profound statements to make about the game, strategy or anything like that but I will say this... Germany: if you want to be a championship team why would you hire a coach that dresses like an indie-rock star? ...

Vote for Pat Neshek!

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:49:00 -0500

Just a reminder to go vote for Pat Neshek to make it onto the All-Star game!With a 1.37 ERA, a fantastic K/BB ratio, and being very stingy about giving up hits, Neshek is the best middle reliever in the MLB!VOTE FOR NESHEK

Pat Neshek, The Best Middle Reliever in the Game - .077 Whip

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 19:07:34 -0500

The Twins always have a good bullpen and this year is no different. Neshek has 34 K's in 28.2 innings and has only walked 10. Remember when Byung-Hyun Kim was a dominant reliever? That's what Neshek looks like, only bettet.