Cardinals Reliever John Brebbia's Surprise Tommy John Announcement Confirms Another One of Our Fears About 2020

Baseball has a long Spring Training for a reason. Everyone needs time to get their bodies back into shape, and that is especially true for pitchers. Injuries are common and it is not natural to begin throwing at top speed after not being in a proper routine for months.

Pitcher health should be a top concern for teams as the 2020 season is set to begin in July. There will be a higher risk for arm injuries with all the stopping and starting this year, and one St. Louis Cardinals pitcher already appears to be a victim of the weird year.

So this is news. John Brebbia apparently had some secret surgery that will hold him out for all of 2020 and for a good portion, if not all, of 2021. This is even before the 2020 season officially begins.

Brebbia had a shot to earn some high-leverage work in 2020 and is now done for the year. We do not know if this is a result of starting and stopping his training, but it is not a good sign at all. Injuries to top players in a shortened season will make the league look terrible, and may also have the players demanding more money after an ugly labor fight that finally ended this week.

Let's hope for fewer surprises like this moving forward, but even one is already one too many.