:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60527175/usa_today_10931250.0.jpg)
The 2018 Trade Deadline is coming up, the Reds are playing fairly well for the first time in what feels like a decade, and they actually have some decent pieces they could shop around that doesn’t completely gut the team like in recent years.
So, you’d think any breaking Reds news would be fairly exciting as we pore over the new players brought over in a trade for, say, Matt Harvey and maybe even Scooter Gennett or Raisel Iglesias.
But no. Instead, we get this turd of a nugget dropped on our collective heads.
Winker is likely done for the year: “He’ll be ready for spring training next year,” president of baseball operations Dick Williams said. “I don’t think we’ll see him playing this year.”
— John Fay (@johnfayman) July 26, 2018
That’s a really tough blow for the #Reds the kid was having a really nice year.
C. Trent then confirmed that Winker will indeed be having surgery and is done for the year.
Winker has sat for the last two games against St. Louis with what was described as a sore shoulder. He suffered the injury in the 9th inning of the Reds latest late comeback, as he had to hit the dirt to avoid being nailed by a line drive from Tucker Barnhart on his way to second base. Winker, as you’ll remember, would later score the winning run on Dilson Herrera's single to walk off the Cardinals.
Winker later relayed, via Bobby Nightengale over at the Enquirer, that he had been experiencing some shoulder discomfort “off and on” for “a couple of years,” though at the time I’m not sure anyone thought it would be this severe of a situation.
I don’t have to tell you all how much this sucks, but, let me do it anyway: this really sucks. I mean, it’s good he’s getting the thing worked out if it’s been bothering him over the course of his pro career, and it’s better to be put on the shelf in July of this season rather than, say, the next one where the Reds don’t start 3-and-forever and are actually in the thick of things.
However, it’s still awful to see a rookie get his season cut short by an injury like this. Just like it sucked when we saw it just a week ago with Alex Blandino (though that one looked far more severe at the time).
So, for his rookie campagin, Winker will wrap at 89 games played, 334 PA, 7 HR, 43 RBI, 38 R, with a .299/.405/.431 slash line.
Come back healthy and strong, Winker.