Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Clay Buchholz apologized to GM, others on Wednesday for his injury.
The Philadelphia Phillies have a long road ahead of them this season. Clay Buchholz was pulled from a game after getting shelled for 5 runs in 2.1 innings vs. the Mets on April 11th. The reason given at the time was forearm tightness, but it was later revealed that he had a partial tear in his flexor pronator mass. The typical recovery time for this injury is four to six months, but many have predicted he will miss the entire season.
According to Todd Zolecki, Buchholz came was at the ballpark today to apologize to Phillies GM Matt Klentak.
Clay Buchholz is here today. Said he apologized to Matt Klentak and others for getting hurt. Said he still hopes to pitch in September.
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) April 26, 2017
While the sentiment is nice, this seems a bit unnecessary. It’s not like Buchholz hurt himself in, say, a dirt bike accident. He was injured while pitching in a game for the Phillies. Were he still on the Red Sox, it’s unlikely would have felt the need to apologize for getting injured. Since he’s on a new team though, he may feel like he isn’t earning the $13.5M the Phillies will pay him in 2017.
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Per Zolecki’s report, Buchholz sounds like he still intends to pitch this season. If the Phillies were expected to be playoff contenders, that would make sense. However, since they will likely be a 70-ish win team again this year, there’s no reason to rush a veteran pitcher back from injury.
Regarding on-field production, Buchholz should be easy to replace. He was incredibly inconsistent with Boston in 2016, losing his rotation spot on more than one occasion. Overall, he registered a 4.78 ERA with 93 strikeouts in 139.1 innings. In his first two starts with the Phillies, he was even worse. In only 7.1 innings pitched, Buchholz surrendered 10 earned runs (12.27 ERA), gave up 16 hits, and struck out just 5 batters.
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Hopefully this injury is partially responsible for his results this season. Assuming he returns full-strength in September, Buchholz will have the opportunity to showcase his abilities in preparation of his impending free-agent status. Of course, there’s no guarantee he’ll be able to pitch again this season. Clay Buchholz doesn’t owe the Phililes an apology. Still, it speaks to his character that he would apologize for hurting his team, even if he’s not to blame.