The amount of money that Andrew Friedman has spent since becoming president of baseball operations for the Dodgers in 2014 could finance a small country.

…or a large one.

A good portion of that money was used to sign or re-sign pitchers, both starters and relievers. Here is but a small sample size of what Friedman has spent on pitchers since 2016:

But with the signing or re-signing of major league pitchers, we are reminded of a saying that is as old as the game of baseball itself – ‘Pitchers break.’

Although the number of broken pitchers is far too numerous to even begin to list, for Dodger fans, especially veteran (old) Dodger fans, it is impossible not to immediately think of the greatest pitcher in Dodgers history – Brooklyn and Los Angeles. I am, of course, referring to Dodgers Hall of Fame left-hander Sandy Koufax, who retired from the game following the 1966 season at only 30 years of age for what (then) team physician Dr. Robert Kerlan called “traumatic arthritis.”

Little did anyone know at the time that exactly eight years later, after the 1974 season, Dr. Kerlan, along with fellow orthopedic genius Dr. Frank Jobe would develop a medical procedure that became known as ‘Tommy John surgery’ that revolutionized sports medicine and prolonged the careers of more than a hundred major league pitchers. In fact, by the end of the 2017 season, a total of 183 major league pitchers had Tommy John surgery.

Amazingly, John, who had the procedure while with the Dodgers after his 12th major league season, would go on to pitch 14 more seasons after his namesake surgery and would finish his 26-year MLB career (that’s not a typo) having appeared in 760 games (700 starts), with a career mark of 288-231 and a career ERA of 3.34. (Can you even imagine if it had been called ‘Sandy Koufax surgery?’).

Although elbow reconstruction surgery has prolonged the careers of many, elbows are not the only part of a pitcher’s body that ‘break.’ Shoulder injuries (and subsequent shoulder surgeries) are increasing at an alarming rate, including Dodgers left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu, who missed the entire 2015 season after suffering a torn labrum in his left shoulder and also had Tommy John surgery on his left elbow at the same time. All the (now) 32-year-old Incheon, South Korea did was return to action in 2016 and go on to win the MLB ERA title this past season. He is also now a free agent and figures to land what could be a record-breaking multi-year contract – perhaps (and even hopefully) back with the Dodgers.

But here again, ‘pitchers break,’ and it is extremely unlikely that we will ever again see a guy go on to pitch for 14 seasons after having elbow or shoulder surgery – or both.

…but you just never know.

Play Ball!

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