Ever since John Means was removed from his most recent Orioles start on a night where he was displaying diminished velocity, and especially since he was placed on the injured list with elbow soreness, there was one outcome to fear above all.
It’s the same outcome to always fear when pitchers have elbow problems: A tear in the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) requiring major surgery that ends the pitcher’s season.
On Friday afternoon, Mike Elias delivered this expected bad news: Means has UCL damage and will soon be getting season-ending surgery to repair it. Not only did he deliver this update about Means, but at the same time he revealed that Tyler Wells, who last pitched for the Orioles on April 12, has a tear in his UCL as well and is headed for surgery.
In each case, Elias said, the surgery may not necessarily be termed Tommy John surgery, depending on what the surgeon finds after actually starting the surgery. It could be the full ligament replacement (Tommy John) or another procedure that’s not named after a former MLB pitcher. What’s known as an internal brace surgery is becoming standard for players who’ve already had TJ before.
Means and Wells have each had Tommy John surgery in the past. For Means, it was only two years ago, and he only got eight starts out of his new elbow before having to go back under the knife. That’s some terrible luck. Wells is over five years removed from his own UCL surgery, an injury that hit him when he was in Double-A with the Twins. It’s an unfortunate reminder that when it comes to arm injuries, one of the biggest risk factors is that you’ve had previous serious arm injuries.
Whatever the surgery ends up being, neither one of these guys will pitch again in 2024. Elias indicated they will also be out for the beginning of the 2025 season. The cold reality of service time being what it is, Means will become a free agent at the end of this season, so it’s quite possible we’ve already seen him throw his final pitch as an Oriole, if they don’t choose to try to reach a contract agreement with him to keep him around while he rehabs the injury. There is not much benefit to the Orioles in doing this.
If it’s Tommy John and the recovery pushes closer to 18 months than 12, neither Means nor Wells will have much to contribute to the 2025 Orioles, either. Wells qualified as a “Super Two” player for 2024, meaning he started his arbitration salaries this season and has three more of them coming. If the O’s follow some of their recent precedent, an agreement on his 2025 salary at an identical level to 2024 ($1.98 million) will follow soon.
The news confirms what you might already have guessed ever since Means hit the injured list. He’s not going to be a part of any improvement to the Orioles pitching staff for the rest of this season, and neither is Wells. However the O’s solve any problems that they have or that may yet develop, it’s going to happen without those guys.
There was some better news about a different injured pitcher, as Elias revealed that Dean Kremer’s injured triceps is “not something we’re worried about,” though he will require a rehab assignment before he returns.
During the press conference where Elias announced these injuries, he also told Orioles reporters that the team is “very closely” keeping an eye on pitching prospects Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott. Of those two pitchers, acquired in separate trades in 2022, Elias observed that Povich has had more Triple-A success. It seems like a good tell about who we’re going to see first out of those two guys, if not when we will see him.
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