Is Gus’s goose finally cooked, for good?
It is hard not to start thinking that way after general manager J.P. Ricciardi said this afternoon that Gustavo Chacin will not pitch again this season for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Chacin has only been out of the lineup since the end of April with a baffling sore left elbow that no amount of rest and rehab has been able to clear up.
Ricciardi said before tonight’s game against the Angels that surgery is the next option.
“I think we’ll try to get the process started soon,” said the GM. “We’ve pretty much exhausted every other thing we can do with him.”
The surgery would be of the exploratory type, to try to ascertain why the 26-year-old Venezuelan is not able to pitch pain free.
Chacin, a left-hander, last pitched for Toronto on April 28 against the Texas Rangers, lasting 5.1-innings during a 9-8 Toronto loss. On the year he was 2-1 with a 5.60 ERA.
He went on the injured list a couple of days later and has not yet surfaced.
It marks the second consecutive season that injury woes have plagued Chacin.
Last year, when he went 9-4 with a 5:05 ERA, Chacin was sidelined twice, from May 16-30 and from June 10 to Aug. 23 with forearm soreness and a strain of the left shoulder.
You have to wonder how much patience the Jays will have with Chacin, waiting for him to regain the form from 2005 when he was one of the league’s leading rookie pitchers, going 13-9 with a 3.72 ERA.
“You never have enough pitching and Gus has done a good job for us,” Ricciardi said. “He’s got 20-something wins in the big leagues.
“We’d like to at least evaluate him when he’s healthy.”
Overall it has been a really cruddy year for Chacin.
Back in spring training in Florida, Chacin was arrested and booked for driving under the influence by police in Tampa.
Los Angeles Angels @ Toronto Blue Jays
Game time: 7:07 p.m. (EST)
Lineups
Angels
1. Chone Figgins, 3B
2. Orlando Cabrera, SS
3. Vladimir Guerrero, RF
4. Garret Anderson, LF
5. Gary Matthews Jr., CF
6. Casey Kotchman, 1B
7. Maicer Izturis, 2B
8. Jeff Mathis, C
9. Reggie Willits, RF
Pitcher: RHP Kelvim Escobar
Blue Jays
1. Reed Johnson, LF
2. Lyle Overbay, 1B
3. Alex Rios, RF
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Frank Thomas, DH
6. Troy Glaus, 3B
7. Aaron Hill, 2B
8. Gregg Zaun, C
9. Ray Olmdeo, SS
Pitcher: RHP Dustin McGowan
Up Next:
- Friday Aug. 17: at Toronto, 7:07 p.m. (EST): RHP A.J. Burnett (6-6, 4.09), Toronto Blue Jays, vs. LHP Garrett Olson (1-1, 4.60), Baltimore Orioles. Rogers Sportsnet.
- Saturday Aug. 18: at Toronto, 1:07 p.m. (EST): RHP Jesse Litsch (4-5, 3.54), Blue Jays, vs. RHP Steve Trachsel (5-7, 4.85), Orioles. Rogers Preview.
- Sunday Aug. 19: at Toronto, 1:07 p.m. (EST): RHP Roy Halladay (14-5, 3.99), Blue Jays, vs. Jeremy Guthries (7-4, 3.50), Orioles. Rogers Sportsnet.
