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Jung Ho Kang Out For 6-8 Months After Knee Surgery
By <a class="" href="http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/author/steveadams" title="Posts by Steve Adams">Steve Adams</a> [September 17, 2015 at 9:49pm CDT]

9:49pm: The Pirates announced that Kang’s surgery will keep him away from competition for an estimated period of six to eight months. That would seem to make a return late in Spring Training the best possible scenario.

The procedure that was ultimately required, per the announcement, was a “reduction/internal fixation of a displaced lateral tibial plateau fracture with a lateral meniscal repair.”

6:06pm: Kang is out for the year with a significant injury, according to a report from Dejan Kovacevic of DKPittsburghSports.com (subscription required). Kang has a torn MCL and meniscus as well as a fractured tibial plateau.

That’s bad news for the playoff-bound Pirates, of course. A recovery timeline remains unclear, but the club’s offseason plans will be heavily impacted by Kang’s outlook.

1:21pm: Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang suffered a knee injury in this afternoon’s contest when Chris Coghlan slid into second base to break up a double play effort. As Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes, Kang exited the game with the help of two trainers and did not put any weight on his left leg. To this point, the Pirates have announced only that the knee is being examined, though the injury certainly looked to be fairly serious in nature (video link).

Kang has been one of the best rookies in all of baseball this year, riding a .287/.355/.461 batting line, 15 homers, five steals and solid defense to legitimate Rookie of the Year candidacy. His outstanding rookie campaign has already more than justified the Pirates’ modest $16MM offseason expenditure (when including the posting fee), and a loss for any significant amount of time would be a huge loss for Pittsburgh as the team has pulled within four games of the Cardinals for the NL Central lead.

Pittsburgh is likely to end up in the postseason as a Wild Card team even if they don’t catch the Cardinals, but the difference between staking a season on a one-game playoff versus a best-of-five series is sizable. Without Kang, the Pirates will lean even more heavily on Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer in the infield. While Mercer has a history of reasonably productive seasons, he’s slumped to a .240/.291/.306 batting line in 2015 (including today’s two hits), so the Pirates will hope that Kang’s injury is one from which he can return in 

Quote:Ouch.  While I don't think it was a dirty play, but if I were a Pirates fan, I'd be upset with the play.

Quote:I'd be upset at the outcome...not upset at the opponant's clean play.

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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="jstraw" data-cid="260664" data-time="1442591568">
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I'd be upset at the outcome...not upset at the opponant's clean play.

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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="VanSlawAndCottoCheese" data-cid="260667" data-time="1442593156">
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="jstraw" data-cid="260664" data-time="1442591568">
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I'd be upset at the outcome...not upset at the opponant's clean play.

Quote:Matt Garza left the Brewers and traveled to California to be with his pregnant wife for the upcoming birth of their twins and Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports that he's not expected to rejoin the team this season.


MLB paternity leaves typically last a few days, rather than multiple weeks, but Garza's relationship with the Brewers has become increasingly rocky thanks to his poor performance and refusal to pitch out of the bullpen after being dropped from the rotation.


So basically they told him to just stay away until next season, since he wasn't going to pitch out of the bullpen anyway.


Brewers manager Craig Counsell told McCalvy that Garza left the team on good terms and says they had a very good conversation before his departure, but the veteran right-hander is owed $25 million for the next two seasons and clearly the team would love to shed that contract from the books this offseason.