Sipp's Shoulder

Here's a link to Lastoria's 12/27 notes, which include some potentially bad news regarding Tony Sipp's shoulder. This might be old news to some, especially those of you that read Lastoria regularly, but I haven't seen this mentioned here yet. In fact, most have simply continued to include Sipp's name among our 2009/10 bullpen depth options. I hope we're still able to ...

Lastoria reported in mid-Dec and then again on 12/27 that:

"Tony Sipp had not gone to the Dominican Republic as originally planned because the Indians completely shut him down for the rest of the offseason after he complained of some shoulder discomfort at the end of the season and in the early part of his offseason workouts. The severity of the injury is not known, but according to a baseball official I talked to over the past few days if the shoulder does not feel better by spring training Sipp may need to undergo surgery (again) ... No word on what the exact injury is, how it happened, or how serious it is, but this is concerning to say the least. "

about 3 years ago macasson 6 comments 0 recs |

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Hello macasson,

I had actually heard this from sdtribefan on MinorLeagueBall; I had not heard of this beforehand.

It seems we don’t have the depth we thought we had; of the four (Miller, Meloan, Sipp, and Stevens), Stevens would still likely have been #4 in terms of value and potential (and thereby, we likely still would have made the DeRosa trade, even if we can’t count on Sipp for 2009), but not having Sipp certainly lessens our depth for immediate bullpen reinforcements.

That is unfortunate news about Sipp, as he looked like he could be at the very least a very good set-up man, if not a potential closer down the road. Let’s hope his shoulder heals after rest; if he has TJ (I presume?) surgery again, he likely won’t be back until the second-half of 2010, and not be back to full strength until 2011, essentially three seasons from now.

Ugh!

Just my 2 cents.

The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.

by indiansfan on Jan 3, 2009 9:36 PM EST reply actions

Isn’t Tommy John surgery elbow related? Lasortia says Sipp has a shoulder injury, which in a lot of cases is worse because of the lower return rate and the very possible decrease in velocity.

by world dictator on Jan 3, 2009 11:45 PM EST up reply actions

Hello WD,

Yes, as far as I know, TJ surgery is related to the elbow; I too was puzzled the first time I heard about Sipp’s shoulder being a problem.

Did Sipp have some sort of injury or problem with his shoulder when he was at Clemson (due to his throwing a certain type of pitch)? I don’t recall if I heard something about where there was a minor concern about his shoulder or not.

I agree that a shoulder injury is usually much worse than an elbow injury, due to the fact that the pitcher will often lose velocity and have a hard time, if not impossible, time to regaing that velocity. That’s why I’m not that optimistic on Bryson’s chances of being as effective a reliever as I was when we first got him in the Sabathia trade. I hope I’m wrong on that, and I certainly hope Sipp can deliver on the promise he’s been showing since he entered the system (outside of 2008 when he was injured).

Just my 2 cents.

The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.

by indiansfan on Jan 6, 2009 7:13 PM EST up reply actions

This sucks. I figured that by this season Sipp would at least be a LOOGY for us (which is more fun than an ORGY — Only Righties GuY — and you’d strangely rather have a LOOGY than an ORGY).

Really, though, his potential is starting to far outweigh his output. Stay away from Adam Miller, Tony…

by tabler84 on Jan 4, 2009 9:54 AM EST reply actions

I fail to see how anyone, even Sipp, can match Miller for unrealized output to date.

by Jay on Jan 4, 2009 1:25 PM EST up reply actions

While Sipp was pretty well-regarded, Miller was considered an “uber-prospect,” so I definitely agree that Miller’s unrealized output to date is considerably greater than Sipp’s.

Arguably, I’d say that Jaret Wright’s unrealized output to the Indians still far outweighs Sipp’s as well, being that Sipp wasn’t THAT highly-thought of when we signed him, as compared to Miller or even Wright.

Just my 2 cents.

The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.

by indiansfan on Jan 6, 2009 7:10 PM EST up reply actions