{"id":1116,"date":"2025-06-21T02:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T02:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1116\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T02:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T02:16:07","slug":"a-j-puk-undergoes-elbow-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1116\/","title":{"rendered":"A.J. Puk Undergoes Elbow Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Diamondbacks reliever A.J. Puk<\/a><\/strong> underwent elbow surgery today, manager Torey Lovullo tells the Burns & Gambo show<\/a>. Puk had visited Dr. Neal ElAttrache after experiencing recurring soreness as he tried to work back from a flexor strain. Lovullo didn\u2019t have specific details as to whether he required a full Tommy John ligament replacement or some kind of modified internal brace procedure. Puk\u2019s season is over in either case. He\u2019s likely to miss most or all of 2026 as well.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the manager told Burns & Gambo that catcher\u00a0Gabriel Moreno<\/a><\/strong> has a hairline fracture in his right index finger. The D-Backs placed Moreno on the 10-day injured list yesterday but had initially called it a hand contusion. He has evidently been playing through an undiagnosed fracture for some time. A return timetable is unclear but will be measured in \u201cweeks, not days.\u201d Topping it all off, Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic<\/a> reports that left-hander\u00a0Tommy Henry<\/a><\/strong> is also headed for season-ending elbow surgery.<\/p>\n

The news on Puk is terrible but unsurprising. He has been plagued by elbow issues for the past two months. He\u2019d undergone Tommy John surgery once before in his career. The 6\u20197\u2033 southpaw required the procedure in 2018 when he was a member of the A\u2019s farm system. He missed that season and was limited to 28 combined appearances between the minors and MLB the following year.<\/p>\n

Acquired from the Marlins at the 2024 deadline, Puk has been one of the most dominant relievers in the sport since getting to Arizona. He recorded 43 strikeouts in 27 1\/3 innings after the trade last summer, working to a 1.32 ERA in the process. He had fanned 12 more hitters against two walks while collecting four saves in his first eight appearances this year. Aside from a terrible stint in Miami\u2019s rotation early last season, he has been generally excellent since the A\u2019s traded him to Miami over the 2022-23 offseason.<\/p>\n

Depending on the nature of the surgery, there\u2019s a decent chance this will end his time with the D-Backs. Puk has over five years of MLB service. He\u2019ll be eligible for arbitration for the final time next offseason. He\u2019d earn only a modest raise on this year\u2019s $2.95MM salary, but a full ligament repair would make him a non-tender candidate. Players usually require 14-plus months to return from Tommy John surgery, and that would be Puk\u2019s second such procedure. He\u2019s likely to be out through next year\u2019s All-Star Break even if he \u201conly\u201d needed the internal brace procedure, though the D-Backs would happily retain Puk for around $3MM if they felt they could get half the season from him.<\/p>\n

The news on Puk comes a week after\u00a0Justin Martinez<\/a><\/strong>, the team\u2019s other top reliever, also went under the knife.\u00a0Corbin Burnes<\/a><\/strong> and\u00a0Jordan Montgomery<\/a><\/strong> have been Tommy John victims in the rotation. It\u2019s difficult for any team to weather that kind of injury luck. Arizona has hovered around .500 despite having an elite offense because of their issues on the mound.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll lose Moreno from that lineup for what seems like a decent chunk of time. There\u2019s a significant drop off to light-hitting backup Jose Herrera<\/a><\/strong>. The Snakes selected\u00a0Aramis Garcia<\/a><\/strong> to work off the bench behind Herrera.\u00a0Adrian Del Castillo<\/a><\/strong> is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. He\u2019s a far better hitter than either Herrera or Garcia but isn\u2019t regarded as a great defender. Del Castillo won\u2019t be an option in the immediate future regardless, as he landed on the Triple-A injured list today with what is expected to be a minor back injury. Moreno will be the clear starting catcher once he\u2019s healthy, but his injury could lead the Snakes to pursue a veteran #2 who can provide more punch than Herrera offers.<\/p>\n

Henry, 27, is a former second-round pick who has a 5.07 ERA over 37 career appearances. He has an ERA above 8.00 over 11 starts in Triple-A Reno this year. This is his final minor league option season and he seems unlikely to stick on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason. His elbow injury occurred in Triple-A, so he\u2019s on the minor league injured list. He\u2019ll continue to count against the 40-man for now. The D-Backs may place him on the MLB 60-day IL or simply decide to release him (which would save them a bit of money relative to putting him on the MLB injured list) once they need another roster spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Diamondbacks reliever A.J. Puk underwent elbow surgery today, manager Torey Lovullo tells the Burns & Gambo show. Puk…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1600,1601,1602,62,1603,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-1116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-a-j-puk","9":"tag-adrian-del-castillo","10":"tag-gabriel-moreno","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tommy-henry","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114718951566646906","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}