Brackman – Potential “Tommy John” Surgery (12:20 Update – Good News?)

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Scroll down to the Yankees section here:

RHP Andrew Brackman, the first-round draft pick who agreed to a contract Wednesday night, was optioned to the Gulf Coast League Yankees. He saw Dr. James Andrews in Alabama on Wednesday and is expected to have “Tommy John” surgery. General manager Brian Cashman said that had not been determined yet.

Tough break for Brack, if it happens. Visits to Dr. Andrews tend not to have a short-term happy ending. Command was a problem without surgery, and that’s usually the last thing to come back following TJ. Still, he’s young, and has plenty of time to work things out and have a successful MLB career. SFN wishes him all the best.

12:20 Update: The New York Times is reporting that the damage might not be as significant as first feared:

Brackman, a 6-foot-10 right-hander from North Carolina State who was drafted in the first round with the 30th overall pick in June, remains confident despite his visit to Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., on Wednesday.

Andrews is the surgeon many pitchers see to schedule reconstructive elbow surgery. But Brackman said he did not need the surgery — not yet, at least — and that his arm checked out better than expected.

“Andrews said he couldn’t tell if I needed surgery, because I don’t have any pain right now,” Brackman said. “And I don’t have any pain because I haven’t thrown a ball in a while. The M.R.I. showed it wasn’t as bad as some cases are.”

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

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35 Responses to Brackman – Potential “Tommy John” Surgery (12:20 Update – Good News?)

  1. noah 08/20/2007 at 9:46 AM #

    “No one, not you, not me, nobody, can say that.”

    I’m not saying he WOULD have gotten hurt. I’m saying it posed an unreasonable risk. When you’re looking at a one-time only seven-figure payout, you are a fool to take unreasonable risks.

    “I’m wondering just how far back in the AMATEUR athletics field you are willing to go to say that it unwise to devote time to another sport?”

    You misunderstand me. If Andrew Brackman rode a motorcycle, was willing to get into barfights, went skydiving….I’d say those were all unreasonable risks. Same with playing basketball.

    “In my opinion the emphasis on money and professional sports has already way overstepped it’s bounds and ruined many of the pure aspects of amateur sports, as well as some amateur, now professional, athletes.”

    What country do you live in?? I live in one where you get to exchange little pieces of paper for goods and services. Surely you don’t need me to tell you this. Surely you are intelligent enough to realize that that professional sports is about as big of a business as there is in this country…

    Or perhaps you’re just mad because you like NC State basketball and you don’t like baseball? Why don’t you just SAY that?

    This isn’t about the alleged pure joy of playing sports or how well-rounded Brackman can be or how wonderful a college education is…

    This is about PRACTICALITY. It doesn’t matter if Andrew Brackman is an AWFUL pitcher or a great one. It doesn’t matter if he ever comes back from TJ surgery or whether he wins 300 games.

    It’s about protecting a one-time only (because 4th year seniors don’t have any leverage) investment worth $3 million. If you’re willing to f*** with that, you are a fool. You are a FOOL. YOU are a fool.

    That’s living expenses for a couple of years while the bigs figure out whether or not he really is an MLB prospect, that’s paying off your parent’s mortgage, that’s putting a significant amount into an offseason home and that’s putting a reasonable amount into conservative investments that will provide you with a nice stipend for a long time.

    One time only, $3 million. The line of people who would sell their children or cut their mother’s throats for a fraction of that is too long. All Brackman had to do is NOT play basketball and you’re throwing a temper-tantrum?

    Surely it’s not that hard to understand.

  2. Astral Rain2 08/20/2007 at 9:55 AM #

    With $3 mil, even after taxes, if he’s willing to leave a middle-class Raleigh existance, and saves his money and lives on the interest, he’ll never have to work a ham-and-egger job. I think he made the right decision on that regard. He may never be able to make his parents filthy rich, but he can support them as well if he had to.

    That said, I do hope he can make it back from this.

  3. redfred2 08/20/2007 at 1:10 PM #

    Well now, I went fishing off shore and I did have a few drinks before I typed that line of *#^@. My apologies. But I see that I did end up getting noah’s attention afterall. I do know how I feel about it and it has nothing to whether I like baseball or not. If Brackman was a great BB player and yet a good, but not great, pitcher, I’d still say he should play baseball. Especially if he had signed on for a baseball scholarship and he was needed and depended on by the team.

    Oh well, I guess I’m just old fashioned. I still like watching the best athletes in the country playing amateur sports on the collegiate level.

  4. noah 08/20/2007 at 1:46 PM #

    The odds are so overwhelmingly against him (or any other draft pick) making it to the big leagues, it pretty much isn’t a choice.

    If someone’s talking about $3 million, you take the damn money.

    It’s the same way in basketball. If you are a lottery pick after your freshman year, you go pro. Financially, people are going to look back at people like Tyler Hansborough the way they look back on Matt Harrington.

    That’s good for UNC and good for the NBA who managed to avoid drafting a 6-7 power forward. But it’s a disaster for Hansborough.

  5. Girlfriend in a Coma 08/20/2007 at 1:58 PM #

    If Brackman had played basketball this year, that would have been the second-stupidest decision in the history of the ACC.

  6. redfred2 08/20/2007 at 6:39 PM #

    ^Sure as hell would, I’m sure that no MLB franchise would touch a kid that happened to excel in two sports instead of just one.

  7. redfred2 08/20/2007 at 6:57 PM #

    The records are set in stone, forget about future two sport athletes, any really good ones anyway. Besides, the really smart people would call you an idiot for even trying to accomplish it in this day and time. They’re saying that you need to just concentrate what you can make money on, and nothing else. Forget about college athletics unless you just have to, it’s all just a brief sideshow now anyway.

  8. PackGirl 08/21/2007 at 9:36 AM #

    “One time only, $3 million. The line of people who would sell their children or cut their mother’s throats for a fraction of that is too long.”

    Sadly, this is true, but it shouldn’t be. Familes got by on much less income in the previous generation – and weren’t any less happy I’d venture (may have been more happy because of less stress). Now it’s all about maximizing material wealth at the expense of everything else. Had Brackman decided to play basketball last year, it would have been a reasonable decision. He may have even done better in the draft – would have been having more fun doing what he likes to do (which translates to success) and may not have over-worked his elbow either.

  9. redfred2 08/21/2007 at 6:38 PM #

    PackGirl

    It’s sad, but most of these kids coming up now can’t see anything beyond a dollar sign. What’s even sadder is that there are grown adults, and big time fans, who seem to want to push them straight to the professional ranks. High school is just about the summit of the amateur athletics for the nation’s best athletes. What I don’t understand is why a plain ol’ fan, especially a collegiate fan, would accept it so readily or even think that it’s somehow great.

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  1. StateFans Nation » Blog Archive » Brackman Undergoes TJ Surgery - 08/29/2007

    OMo35y Enjoyed every bit of your blog article.Much thanks again. Keep writing.

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