Michael Pineda and Adalberto Mejia Out for Season with Different Injuries

Michael Pineda allowed one run on two hits over four innings to pick up the win in game one of Tuesday’s doubleheader. (Photo: Caitie Ihrig/Rochester Red Wings)

Well, if you’re looking for Minnesota Twins coverage that will make you feel better about the home team, you might want to go over here, because this clearly isn’t where you’re going to find it…

Michael Pineda out for the year with a slight meniscus tear in his right knee. Still a chance of surgery.

— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) August 28, 2018

Yes, this is bad news. Very bad news. Michael Pineda signed with the Twins in the offseason, even though he was coming off of Tommy John surgery, and was charging through his rehab assignment, when he left the game the other day with knee pain…

How often do you hear something related to knee pain turning into something that isn’t terrible? Never. And, sure enough, the news we are getting today clearly isn’t good.

How good was Michael Pineda looking, on his way back from Tommy John? Really good…

As Bollinger’s tweet notes at the top of this post, Pineda could require surgery on said Meniscus. Without surgery, some athletes are ready to go as early as 4-6 weeks. If he elects for surgery, the comeback road would be longer and, according to ClevelandClinic, could see as much as 6 weeks in a brace and crutches alone.

No matter the actions taken, we hope he’d be ready to roll for Spring Training. It’s just frustrating, given his previous injury and the success he was having en route back to the majors.

Also in Twins News:

Adalberto Mejia also had a bad day:

Also ruled out for the season: LHP Adalberto Mejia, whose nerve traction injury above left elbow will take more than the remaining five weeks to treat.

— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) August 28, 2018

After being traded to the Twins in 2016, Mejia was granted 94 innings last season where he posted decent numbers. But, this season when given the opportunity, he’s flourished, posting a 2.01 ERA over 22.1 innings. It’s a small sample size, but positive nonetheless. And, his numbers in the minors had been pretty damn good all season too. Here are tables for both the majors and minors for 2018:

Mejia would have had a nice opportunity to show off for the front office, in September, while he vied for a rotation spot for next year. Now, he’ll be watching the other competitors from the sideline.

Eric Strack
Minnesota Sports Fan @RealMNSportsFan