Red Sox: Tyler Thornburg to have surgery on right shoulder; out for season

Mar 1, 2017; Sarasota, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Tyler Thornburg (47) throws a pitch during the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 1, 2017; Sarasota, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Tyler Thornburg (47) throws a pitch during the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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Red Sox relief pitcher Tyler Thornburg will miss the 2017 season after being diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome in his right shoulder.

It was just announced that Boston Red Sox reliever Tyler Thornburg will undergo surgery to treat thoracic outlet syndrome in his right shoulder tomorrow. Thornburg was acquired by the Red Sox in the offseason for third basemen Travis Shaw and three other prospects.

Thornburg has yet to throw a pitch for the Red Sox this season.

This adds more salt to the wound for Dave Dombrowski. Dombrowski has traded for set-up men twice now and failed miserably on both. The first was for Carson Smith and he had Tommy John surgery last season and is still recovering. The second is this Thornburg situation.

Dombrowski traded away the team’s primary third baseman in Travis Shaw for a reliever who hasn’t thrown a pitch this season.

While Shaw thrives with the Milwaukee Brewers, the Red Sox are struggling to find a set-up man and are on the cusp of opening up the position of third base to applicants on ZipRecruiter.

If Shaw was still with the Red Sox, he’d be the team’s everyday third baseman due to Pablo Sandoval‘s inability to play baseball. The Red Sox would not need to go out and trade for a third baseman such as Mike Moustakas (which I called five weeks ago) like they do now.

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It’s a well-known fact that Dombrowski has made a lot of questionable moves with regard to the team’s depth and has almost completely depleted the farm system.

This latest development with Thornburg does not help him out.