Brandon McCarthy Out For Season With UCL Tear

The Dodgers have announced that Brandon McCarthy has a UCL tear in his right elbow. They’ve placed him on the 15-day DL and he will miss the entire season. Reliever Adam Liberatore has been recalled from Oklahoma City to take his roster spot. McCarthy had to exit his last start early. During his Saturday night start against San Diego, he was removed in the sixth inning after motioning to the medical staff and grabbing his elbow.

What a disaster of a signing. The brain trust signed McCarthy to a 48 million dollar four-year contract, despite McCarthy having a long and established history of shoulder, and arm troubles, and mediocre pitching. To tell you the truth, this does not surprise me in the least. So far both free agent signings (McCarthy) and Brett Anderson have been horrendous. This is why you don’t go cheap on starting pitching, and you don’t sign guys with long histories of injuries.

The 31-year old right hander made just four starts this year. Somehow he won three of his four starts. Overall he was 3-0 with a 5.87 ERA, and 29 strikeouts against four walks in 23 innings pitched. However McCarthy also gave up nine home runs, and allowed 24 hits. The advanced metrics agreed that McCarthy’s pitching was dreadful, as he posted a 6.15 FIP, and 9.4 hits per nine.

McCarthy has said that he is shooting for a return around the all-star break of 2016. Regardless, he is gone for the year, and the Dodger’s rotation is in shambles.