James already here. Pound for pound, he was as effective against the Red Sox lineup as any pitcher in the post season.
I have been since day 1 pounding the drums on Lance having this type of injury due to the way he throws the ball. I have never seen a pitcher with that much of a violent arm action. He was due for that injury. The good news is that guys typically recover quite well from this injury.
We’ve also seen pitchers with perfect mechanics suffer this injury. And we’ve seen eras where guys threw 300 innings year after year without any arm trouble at all. We know now there’s a ton of variables. Short UCL’s, poor protoplasm, childhood arm overuse, being too precautionary, not being cautious enough. It’s become a known risk of the position... sort of like how concussions are to NFL players. Yes, it’s no longer the career changer (or ender), but it is a good year plus of downtime... and he will be on a strict limit the year he comes back.
Not surprising news at this point, still disappointing. Respect for trying to tough it out for the team. Unfortunately the way rehab from this often works, he likely won't be ready to contribute in a meaningful way until mid 2020 at the soonest.
Lance has had elbow issues since his Rookie year, his bad delivery since his Rookie year hasn't changed. I thought Bret Strom would help, maybe Lance is unwilling to listen and change his delivery. Lance has this whip arm action, his arm action is always dragged last in his pitching motion. Whenever I see Lance on the Mound, He makes me miss Roy Oswalt, Roy always had a great delivery and a great 2 seam fastball under the hitters hand. Lance never added a 2 seam Fastball 92-93 mph. Always overthrowing, pumping 96-97 mph, I mean take a little off add a 2 seam, he doesn't last long in games, he over uses his delivery not compact like Roy was, Roy never injured his arm, only hamstring, groin injury. But Roy always has been a Elite Pitcher during his time with the Astros.
Will be interesting to see if they bring him back in a bullpen role next year, sort of like McHugh this year, and then back as a starter for 2020.
I was very impressed by James this year, but I worry about his longevity in games with that sort of lightning coming out of his arm. It seemed like he was probably left in one too many innings in that Red Sox game where Morton went out early. If they can work with him to meter himself out a little more and have some alternate tools in addition to raw, unfettered speed, I think he'll be quite fun to watch in the rotation. Verlander seems like the ideal candidate to work with him, since Justin actually throws harder in the 6th and 7th innings at times.
He was hardly stretched out in the playoffs, with his last start being several weeks prior. Yes, he was certainly gassed... but I also don't think he was holding anything back in that game. Hinch could have taken him out after the Vasquez double, but nearly every bullpen pitcher was shaky that series... and I doubt Hinch was asking him to hang a first pitch changeup to JBJ. I could see him in the rotation... or taking the McHugh role (with McHugh going into the rotation).