Brackman Undergoes TJ Surgery

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Confirmation link from NYT. As we noted two weeks ago, those visits to Dr. Andrews tend not to have happy short-term endings.

Starter Andrew Brackman, the Yankees’ No. 1 pick in the June draft, had reconstructive elbow surgery last Friday, Brian Cashman said. The Yankees signed Brackman for a guaranteed $4.5 million on Aug. 15, and determined he needed surgery after his first few workouts in Tampa, Fla.

“We knew there was certainly a possibility when we signed him, but we had to wait and see,” Cashman said. “If everything goes right, he could be pitching in rehab games in August of ’08.”

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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43 Responses to Brackman Undergoes TJ Surgery

  1. tooyoungtoremember 08/29/2007 at 12:04 PM #

    Get well soon Brack!

  2. packbackr04 08/29/2007 at 12:44 PM #

    shoulda played bball brack. shoulda played bball….. shakes head with diapointment

  3. redfred2 08/29/2007 at 1:16 PM #

    packbackr04,

    He would have been stupid, he couldn’t do that, he might’ve gotten injured and needed surgery or something. Where have you been, haven’t you heard that already?

  4. CarnifeX 08/29/2007 at 1:28 PM #

    hmmm, basketball for the fans and no money or future (in the NBA) or baseball and $4.5 million guaranteed. I wonder what most people would pick…

  5. crackdog 08/29/2007 at 1:54 PM #

    Interesting post on SectionSix about a sporting news article that mentions Brackman:

    http://sectionsix.blogspot.com/2007/08/that-would-have-been-weird.html

    Apparently his agent (Scott Boras, a particularly effective but cunning character) claimed that Brackman would have considered transferring to Cincinatti to play basketball if the Yankees wouldn’t sign him. Probably just negotiating smoke.

  6. packplantpath 08/29/2007 at 2:01 PM #

    As a fan, I wish he kept with basketball, but if I were him, I probably would have done the same. His odds were much greater with pro baseball than basketball, so why risk it. We are talking millions here.

    Sure as it stands now, he needs surgery anyway, but it could be worse for him.

  7. RAWFS 08/29/2007 at 2:32 PM #

    crackdog, I read that too, but one thing overlooked in Decourcy’s logic is that as a transferee, Brack would have had to wait one year to play after going to Cincinnati. Boras may well have thrown that into the mix, but common sense said it was a bluff if he did.

  8. noah 08/29/2007 at 3:06 PM #

    God, what an a-hole Andrew Brackman is. I mean…what’s he doing? How dare he do what’s in his own best interests. Doesn’t he realize that I’m a State fan and I’ve been a State fan for a long time? God, these kids today…I tell ya.

    Back in my day, he’d have been over at my house mowing my yard instead of working to make sure he’s financially set for the rest of his life.

  9. ChuckAllYall 08/29/2007 at 3:42 PM #

    Agreed Noah, rabid fandom can be blinding to many.

  10. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 08/29/2007 at 4:03 PM #

    Agree Noah, but aren’t we all told that you do what is best for the team? Actually I think that is what successful people tell the commoners. Most people that succeed are dog eat dog, cut throat and willing to stab anyone in the back all the while preaching the team concept. The chiefs and indians thing. I guess the world needs ditch diggers too.

  11. haze 08/29/2007 at 4:45 PM #

    ^ Best for the team should never win out over financial independence FOR LIFE.

    We’re not talking treason, we’re talking basketball.

    What’s more, it wasn’t going to be a peak season for the team and I doubt that his presence would have added up to much more than an outside chance of an NCAA bid. It can be argued that Brack (who would not have played his Sr year in any case) actually helped the development of the team by making way for other kids to get minutes (esp. Horner).*

    *As if getting minutes was a problem last year 🙂

  12. PackGirl 08/29/2007 at 4:58 PM #

    I love how this argument is always reduced to something pathetically simplistic by the “baseball was the only reasonable choice” promotors. No one ever said he should choose baskeball and reject baseball. Nor did anyone say (at least I didn’t) that he should choose baskeball for the fans, against his own wishes. To the contrary, Brackman expressed many times how he loved basketball and it would be extremely difficult to give up. He even said (after the fact) that he was bored when restricted to one sport and wound up spending too much time in the weight room (which had a negative impact on his pitching). Now, as sportswriters have recently speculated, his increase in innings pitched led to overworking and injurying his elbow. Hindsight is 20-20 and I don’t think he made a bad decsion, but history says he probably would have had a better outcome if he had played basketball.

  13. noah 08/29/2007 at 5:08 PM #

    Brackman pitched in 78 innings last year. Unless he pitched all of those in a row, how was he overworked?

    I think the conventional wisdom is that needing TJ surgery is usually indicative of use over a long period of time…it’s not like an ACL tear.

  14. PackGirl 08/29/2007 at 5:50 PM #

    He was overworked relative to the previous 2 years when he pitched only 71 innings combined. This was not my speculation, I read it in an ESPN article earlier this year.

    I’m sure the pitching had nothing to do with his elbow injury. It was probably a delayed injury from when he played basketball the previous year.

  15. redfred2 08/29/2007 at 5:53 PM #

    PackGirl, don’t you know that if you express an opinion that’s contrary to the status quo or isn’t all about the big $$$’s, then you’re considered a hayseed?

    What gets me is how easily people are blown away and lose perspective when things are changing. Even if those changes aren’t necessarily for the better and intiated by money grubbing agents and the like. There will always be some people will always say “It’s cool, that’s what I’d do. I mean hell, someone else has already done it, got by with it, so it’s got to be RIGHT.”

  16. PackGirl 08/29/2007 at 5:58 PM #

    ^Yeah, I need to get with the program I guess.

  17. redfred2 08/29/2007 at 6:22 PM #

    Brackman was a good basketball player with untapped potential, that’s it. Sure, I’m disappointed that he didn’t stick with, but only because he had a lot more to offer then he’ll ever know. Argue that all you want, but it’s been the legacy of that era and the program that he started in. That all changed, and I hate that he couldn’t see it coming. But, in his defense you can’t really blame him, his shortsightness was not unlike many of the most vocal folks around here who are still saying that “He did the only wise thing.”

    I find it hard to believe, but someone posted earlier that his agent supposedly used basketball as a bargaining chip when dealing with the Yankees. I don’t know if that’s true but I wonder how much more leverage Boras could have mustered if Brackman had actually played and been successful on the basketball court?

  18. redfred2 08/29/2007 at 8:45 PM #

    “How dare he do what’s in his own best interests.”

    noah, that is where you take liberty with the truth and where yours an my thinking parts ways. You’ve said the same on thing in different situations and I don’t know if you have a crystal ball or what, but you don’t know any more than the man in the moon about how any kid’s future would play out. Or, whether they could have become a better player, excuse me, I should have said signed for more money, by taking a different route and not signing at the first opportunity.

    But you always say, or imply, “they’re wise”, “they made the best decision”, “they’d be crazy not to”, “they have nothing to gain by staying”. I’m just wondering where all of your psychic abilities come from?

  19. PackGirl 08/29/2007 at 9:41 PM #

    It’s funny how, even after being proven wrong after the fact, people keep insisting that not playing basketball was obviously the only acceptable decision.

  20. redfred2 08/29/2007 at 10:01 PM #

    PackGirl, I guess you can tell, it drives me crazy.

    It’s the way they said it, like they just knew, and like anyone who thought differently was a moron. I’m not at all upset with Brackman, I hope he does well and makes a mint, but it’s people out there advising and voicing opinions containing nothing but negative scenarios, along with the money grubbing agents blowing their smoke, that make it seem to the kids that this is absolutely what sports are all about, and the way it’s meant to be. It’s just not true.

  21. noah 08/29/2007 at 11:01 PM #

    That’s right. Poor wittle Brackman…he’s completely incapable of making up his own mind. Those evil, moustache-twirling agents! Damn them! Don’t they realize that what’s most important is YOUR opinion?

  22. noah 08/29/2007 at 11:06 PM #

    “I’m sure the pitching had nothing to do with his elbow injury. It was probably a delayed injury from when he played basketball the previous year.”

    UCL’s don’t tear all at once. They get frayed over time. That’s why pitchers keep throwing with them.

  23. noah 08/29/2007 at 11:10 PM #

    “Brackman was a good basketball player with untapped potential, that’s it. Sure, I’m disappointed that he didn’t stick with, but only because he had a lot more to offer then he’ll ever know.”

    “…but it’s people out there advising and voicing opinions containing nothing but negative scenarios, along with the money grubbing agents blowing their smoke, that make it seem to the kids that this is absolutely what sports are all about, and the way it’s meant to be. It’s just not true.”

    “I find it hard to believe, but someone posted earlier that his agent supposedly used basketball as a bargaining chip when dealing with the Yankees. I don’t know if that’s true but I wonder how much more leverage Boras could have mustered if Brackman had actually played and been successful on the basketball court?”

    So not only do YOU know better than Andrew Brackman what his potential is, you also know better than Scott Boras AND the entire New York Yankees front office.

    Amazing…

  24. choppack1 08/29/2007 at 11:11 PM #

    Why are we arguing about this? If you read the articles when Brackman signed, it was pretty obvious his first love was baseball – to me, it seemed that’s where his true passion was. And let’s be honest, how many folks love baseball more than basketball or football – especially as a pitcher??

    I’ve said it before, the only way I thought this decision was a bad one was if he really, really wanted to play basketball and was willing to jeopardize everything doing so. The “I started lifting weights too much because I was bored” isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of basketball. OTOH, if he was playing roundball every evening at they gym – that’s another story.

  25. PackGirl 08/30/2007 at 9:40 AM #

    “UCL’s don’t tear all at once. They get frayed over time. That’s why pitchers keep throwing with them.”

    Exactly my point. When he was only pitching 35 innings a season, it was not enough time to wear down his elbow. Apparently 78 innings was. But I give up on this topic.

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