Matt Hobgood Shut Down With Shoulder Injury

[Moose Milligan]

A horrible pick just keeps looking worse and worse.

Ehhh, yeah. I mean, I think I tried to drink the Kool Aid back then, buying into some of the hype after we drafted him...but yeah, there's no doubt that there was better talent available at that point in the draft.

It's certainly shaping up to be a horrible pick.

[Sports Guy]

A horrible pick just keeps looking worse and worse.

Yep...Amazing how poor this pick was at the time and now it looks worse.

[Sports Guy]

If I recall correctly, Hobgood was shut down for a few weeks this summer with shoulder soreness so this is even more alarming coupled with that. You can say he was a horrible pick but saying he was a horrible pick because he's now injured doesn't sound right to me. Strasburg wasn't an awful pick because he blew his elbow out. If Hobgood was an awful pick it was because he wasn't talented enough, not because he got injured. A rotator cuff injury is bad, but it's probably still better than the dreaded torn labrum. I wonder if he's had discomfort for awhile and whether the shoulder issues has anything to do with the lack of velocity since he was drafted.

This is partially true.

Part of the reason, IMO, that he was a poor pick is because of the likelihood of injury to a young pitcher.

[SammyBirdland]

I hope he doesn't weight train with 1/2 lb burritos from Taco Bell to rehab his shoulder.

(Just kidding, Matt, if you're reading this )

[adamwolff11]

A horrible pick just keeps looking worse and worse.

Yep. I'm sure we'd all love to be wrong and we all want Matt to succeed, but he shouldn't have been drafted when he was, and that seemed to be pretty much common knowledge to everyone except those in the Orioles organization. It was a value pick no matter how the spin it, and I guess you get what you pay for, or in some situations, less.

Oh well.

[QBsILLEST1]

If I recall correctly, Hobgood was shut down for a few weeks this summer with shoulder soreness so this is even more alarming coupled with that. You can say he was a horrible pick but saying he was a horrible pick because he's now injured doesn't sound right to me. Strasburg wasn't an awful pick because he blew his elbow out. If Hobgood was an awful pick it was because he wasn't talented enough, not because he got injured. A rotator cuff injury is bad, but it's probably still better than the dreaded torn labrum. I wonder if he's had discomfort for awhile and whether the shoulder issues has anything to do with the lack of velocity since he was drafted.

The thing is, how do we know it isn't the labrum causing discomfort?

[ScGO's]

How long till Hobgood reaches Rowell's disapointment status? 1 more year?

[byrdz]

How long till Hobgood reaches Rowell's disapointment status? 1 more year?

Had completely forgotten about Rowell. I think it's time for Jordan to go.

[adamwolff11]

The thing is, I'm sure he's a good kid. He wants to succeed just like everyone else, and he didn't necessarily choose to get drafted where he did. He shouldn't have been drafted where he was, and all of a sudden he was given a lot more responsibility than he would have had if he had been drafted where he was supposed to be. If he were a 3rd of 4th round pick, this would be a lot easier to stomach.

[Stotle]

I didn't agree with the Hobgood pick, on a number of levels, and have said as much numerous times. But this injury has little to do with whether or not it was a good pick.

I guess it's worth noting that these "types" of setbacks aren't uncommon, so it's another feather in the projectability cap. If Hobgood had room to grow, get stronger, and potentially see another sizeable bump in his stuff, there would be more comfort that his end status (even after an injury) could potentially be valuable. When your young player doesn't have that advantage of further projectability, any reduction in stuff is going to hurt a little but more. But this whole paragraph is putting the cart ahead of the horse. There's certainly no guarantee that this is a serious injury that will result in downgraded velo, etc.

[DrungoHazewood]

This is partially true.

Part of the reason, IMO, that he was a poor pick is because of the likelihood of injury to a young pitcher.

But that's true of any young pitcher. Would you drop every pitcher down X spots because of injury concerns? I guess there's some legitimacy to that line of thought.

I also suppose the O's should get some credit for sticking to their guns and drafting the guy they wanted when almost nobody else thought it was the right pick. Especially when the guy had all kinds of conditioning and weight red flags.

Or you could just call them cheap, and Occam's Razor says that's probably closer to the truth.

[Sanfran327]

How long till Hobgood reaches Rowell's disapointment status? 1 more year?

Had completely forgotten about Rowell. I think it's time for Jordan to go.

My girlfriend and I were in line at Barnes and Noble last night, and Lincecum is on the cover of the latest issue of SI. She asks, "Who's 'The Freak'?"

So I say, "That's two-time, back-to-back Cy Young award winning, World-Champion pitcher, Tim Lincecum."

Then I threw up in my mouth a little bit.

But I'm not bitter.

[ChaosLex]

I'm not ready to give up on Matt yet. That said, this is disappointing news.

[Dr. FLK]

Hobgood has been snakebit.

Lets hope this is minor.

When you're out of shape, it's funny how you get "snakebit" with more frequency than guys who keep themselves in shape. Overweight: Check; Out of shape: Check; Injured: Check.

[DrungoHazewood]

My girlfriend and I were in line at Barnes and Noble last night, and Lincecum is on the cover of the latest issue of SI. She asks, "Who's 'The Freak'?"

So I say, "That's two-time, back-to-back Cy Young award winning, World-Champion pitcher, Tim Lincecum."

Then I threw up in my mouth a little bit.

But I'm not bitter.

Lincecum was the 10th pick of the 2006 draft. In career value, three of the first nine picks currently have negative WAR, and Rowell and the Pirates' Brad Lincoln are at 0.0. The first two picks in the draft, Hochevar and Reynolds have combined for 73 major league games and an ERA somewhere north of 6.00.

Bill Rowell is actually the 6th-most valuable player in the first 10 picks of 2006, by virtue of him being bad enough to not come to the majors and play awfully.

You can always play what if games with almost every team in every draft.