After missing the month of June with thoracic outlet syndrome that caused numbness in his pitching hand, Josh Beckett appears headed for the disabled list for the remainder of the season.
As Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reported, the right-hander will be shut down for the rest of the season as he undergoes surgery to relieve pressure in his neck causing the numbness:
Ken Gurnick and Austin Laymance of MLB.com reported on Friday that Beckett would begin a throwing program in an attempt to repair the issue without surgery. As it turns out, the program didn’t yield the results that Beckett or the Los Angeles Dodgers were hoping for.
When the 33-year-old began experiencing problems in early June, some questioned his ability to ever return to the mound. As Andrew Gastelum of the Los Angeles Times noted, Beckett was trying to avoid surgery at all costs:
Surgery is Plan F. You always want to avoid surgery if you can. We are going to try a lot of different things in the next four weeks to try to reassess things. There’s a lot of guys that have had this, and there’s a lot of guys who have had surgery who were successful. There’s a few guys it hasn’t been successful. We’re going to do everything we can to beat this thing without surgery. If we have to move that way, that’s what we’ll do.
Unfortunately, Beckett will now be forced to find out if he can return after said surgery. Given his poor performance this season (0-5, 5.19 ERA) and the Dodgers' struggles, opting for a long-term fix may be the best option for both parties.
At 36-43, Los Angeles remains at the bottom of the NL West and 5.5 games behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks. The team has made progress in recent weeks, posting a 7-3 record in its last 10 games, but the Dodgers still face some serious questions—starting with the health of some of their marquee players.
With Beckett’s season-ending surgery, the Dodgers now have one more hole to fill. While he hasn’t contributed in the last month, manager Don Mattingly will now have no choice but to consider long-term options to fill Beckett's spot in the rotation for the rest of the season.
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