Royals closer Joakim Soria has damaged elbow ligament

[.infamous]

Joakim Soria‘s fears were justified, as an MRI exam on his injured elbow revealed ulnar collateral ligament damage.

No word yet on the extent of the damage, but torn UCLs are what lead to Tommy John surgeries and 12-month recoveries.

Soria has actually already had Tommy John surgery, way back in 2003 when he was a teenager in rookie-ball. His big-league debut came four years later and since then he’s been one of the truly elite relievers in all of baseball, throwing 315 innings with a 2.40 ERA and fantastic 341/87 K/BB ratio.

And now just days after losing 22-year-old catcher Salvador Perez for 3-4 months following knee surgery the Royals may be without their best pitcher and potential top trade asset. Soria makes $6 million this season and the Royals have $8 million and $8.75 million team options for 2013 and 2014.

Jonathan Broxton would be the obvious choice to fill in for Soria as closer, assuming of course that he’s healthy after missing most of last season with elbow problems of his own.

 

[elcheato]

Remember when he had a shit ton of value and the Royals refused to trade him? Good times

 

[Elite]

Ahh, the good ole' Soria for Montero deal that they wouldn't take.

Foolish.

 

[Mexi]

have fun with Broxton

 

[RManske2]

Just add this to the misery of being a Royals fan, I'm sure all 27 of them are currently crying into their alcoholic beverages...

 

[snipezo]

Yeah, can't believe they didn't sell high on him.

 

[cruzg24]

Damn they shouldve so traded him earlier on, I was one of those people who thought Soria was great and was worth trading for. Now, they wont get much for him unless they hold onto him until he recovers and has a good season.

This is taking into consideration that last year he wasnt that good at all. He was actually pretty bad for most of the year.

 

[Giantmetfan07]

its official - Tommy John Surgery. What a shame, man. Always liked this guy and they should have sold high on him when they had the chance.