The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Alyson Footer Discusses Verlander Being Shut Down With Lat Injury

Episode Date: March 9, 2020

Alyson Footer of MLB.com joins Matt and Ross to discuss the news of Justin Verlander missing at least the start to the 2020 season with a lat injury

This is the Matt Thomas show. Matt Thomas on Sports Talk 790. Zach Granke is finishing up his day down in Florida, so we're going to grab our good friend Allison Footer for a couple minutes right now before he speaks to the media, although that probably won't last very long, but that's not here nor there. Footy, thanks for spending some time with me. Give me a thought or two about what first James Click had to say,

and then the response from JV. Were you startled, surprised? are they trying to sell this as a positive or what do you think is really going on with Mr. Verlainer in this LAT latch stream? Well, I don't think it's great news. I mean, Justin said it was kind of not the worst-paced scenario, but certainly not the best-case scenario. So he said if it has to happen, let it happen now and not in September. But he knows that he has to be shut down for a while. He said it'll take a miracle for opening day.

and he doesn't want to take miracles off the table, but opening day is off the table. So he's just going to have to rest it, and then see where he is. So there's a lot of uncertainty right now. He had this injury similar injury in 2015, and I don't think he made his debut until June that year. And then he was five-year younger then. So this is definitely, I would say this is probably an alarming thing for the Astros. Man, he just giving us more bad news after more bad news. I had forgotten the fact that he didn't start.

until June that year. That's, uh, ooh. Did he tell you exactly when it happened? Did he try to fight through it during the appearance? And I know the plan was for him yesterday to throw four innings on the only went two. Right. So as soon as it happens, he stops. And I mean, that's the veteran guy that has been through this. And that was very smart of him to just take himself out of the game. And, uh, and that probably helped him. You know, that's probably something that in the healing process, he didn't make it any worse. And, um, and so I do give him a lot of credit for that. And, you know, they, I mean, we all know that the starting pitching death was already a little bit in question, and now there's even more, there's more spots to fill. So this is, this is, you know, you have to come up with like 1,400 innings in a season to cover from a pitching standpoint. Right.

You kind of can mark a couple guys down for 200 innings, and they just don't have that. So they've got Lance the Collars who's on an inning's limit, you know, Jose R. Petey, who they pushed through the World Series last year. And so that's the main concern. is just how are they going to compensate for all these endings that need to be compensated for. Yeah. I know you're filming for McTaggart. I don't know how long you've been down there, but who it takes advantage of this or who should take advantage of this situation? Well, you know, that's why they get guys like Austin Pruitt. I mean, they have, you know, the guys that are in camp that are always getting stretched

off the start, and this is why. I mean, you need eight or nine guys that deep before you break camp. But you get a guy like Austin Pruitt who's been a long reliever, a bit of a bullpen guy, the starter. And those are the ones that are going to have to kind of step in and try to, you know, obviously make the rotation. You know, Brad Peacock is not a candidate at this point because he's coming back from his own injury. So, you know, starting pitching death is, you know, like James Clitch just said, nobody goes through a season with just five guys. Right. You're going to go through 10 or more. And so that's where they are right now.

My guess is Josh James is a little more secure today than he was, say maybe 48 hours ago. Yeah, I mean, you have like three guys regardless. for the fifth starter spot, and now you have three guys that are going more for the fourth of of the fifth starter spot. So that's kind of how it works right now. Josh James is having a great spring. So I would anticipate that if he ends up strong, then he's going to see some time in the big leagues to start off.

Last question. So what did JV, what have they been telling him about the next time he should attempt to throw a baseball? They're not telling anything right now. They're telling him not to throw a baseball. So these fans just came back, and he cannot do anything for the time being. So everything is very new. I mean, obviously we got this news just a few minutes after Justin did.

So this is all just very uncharted territory right now. But he is shut down for now. All right. How long were you, Zach Granky, conversation be today? I don't know. I got to head down there, Maddie. I'm guessing around. I don't know.

They say that. I obviously haven't been around the whole time. But they say he's been, you know, a little bit more of lucius this spring. Oh, I love when you say lequacious on my radio show. That makes your show sound so smart. Fuddy, thanks for the time. We'll let you get back at it. We appreciate you coming on.

Okay, thanks for having me. We'll see, Allison Footer, MLB.com.