Under The Knife 9/1/25

Laboring Day

Baseball loves a good holiday, but injuries never take one so let’s jump right into it and get you back to yours:

CARSON FULMER, RP LAA (strained elbow)

The Angels will head to October the same way they have for much of the last dozen - out of it. The best player in the league doesn’t play here anymore, let alone two of them, but what remains is late-phase Mike Trout, some secondary pieces, and an interesting plan that went horribly astray. Could the “pitchers only” approach have ever worked, let alone in this high-velocity, high-risk era? We can only guess at that, but in retrospect, what Perry Minasian tried to do was both very bold and very unlikely to work. I can respect trying something different even when it doesn’t work, but not threading the needle usually doesn’t set a franchise back even further than it was, which is what seems to be the case with the Angels now. No new talent, no new stadium, no new owner, and no new prospects on the horizon. The most exciting thing they might get is a new close-to-home Triple-A franchise in place of their long-term partners in Salt Lake, assuming they get an expansion franchise.

Carson Fulmer is more the result of this. Not his elbow strain, which follows on his other issues, another of the Vandy guys with mixed results post-David Price, but that the Angels would need to sign major league minimum, cut by the Pirates guys like Fulmer at all, let alone have to figure out how to replace them as they go down. Robert Stephenson is healthy in a timely manner after being out since June, but same-same. The Angels flat out need a new approach, top to bottom, starboard to port, and instead we’ll likely get discussions about payroll inequality, ballpark villages, and team constraints for 2026. Is a 30-homer season from Jo Adell as he gets arb eligible a plus or a minus? Will they recognize they are an 8-WAR offense with a 5-WAR and a 2.5-WAR player on the roster? Or will they push along, excited that Christian Moore is already in the majors on a rush and that the pitching - almost all imported - is better this season? You’re not cursed, Angels - you’re just bad.

COREY SEAGER, SS TEX (appendectomy)

Appendectomies aren’t what they used to be. Scalpels? Nope. Scars? Barely. Long recoveries? Days, not weeks now. The advent of the endoscope made the old style cut-and-hope appendectomies a thing of the past so someone like Corey Seager will have tiny scars that will fade, little muscle damage, and an extremely low risk of secondary infection compared to what many of us had not too long ago. Lots of abdominal surgeries are much easier for everyone and for athletes, barely disruptive. New technologies might reduce it further in the very near term as well.

For Seager, he’ll need a couple days to let things heal up, for scar to form inside the gut, and then he can get right back to it. With all the injuries and this one on top of it, the team won’t rush him back, but there’s also no need to not let his own health and feeling guide the process. You could push someone back, safely, at a week and at two weeks, almost everyone could. My postman had his appendix out last year on a Thursday and was back at work the following Monday. Maybe he’s not a typical postman and he’s certainly not a major league shortstop, but tell me how Corey Seager used his appendix this season and you’ll realize why such a short return is possible. Anything longer isn’t risk aversion, it’s atychiphobia.

Nats pitchers, Astros pitchers, Dodgers pitchers, and a shortstop, plus another extensive Quick Cuts as we move into September. Get it all for one month for just $5, the lowest Substack will allow.