Dodgers' May on the mend
From staff and wire reports
These have been trying times for Dustin May.
“You have no idea,” the 26-year-old right-hander said with all the weariness that two major elbow surgeries 26 months apart will bring.
“It was definitely not what I wanted to hear when I heard that I needed surgery again . ... You can understand the first one. It’s, ‘OK, I’m going to go get fixed and then I’m going to be fine and I’ll be able to stay healthy and compete.’ Then as soon as I get back basically, the same thing happens again. It’s just a gut-wrenching feeling. It’s like the rug keeps getting pulled out from under my feet. All I want to do is go and compete and I keep being told I can’t.”
May was just 23 innings into his 2021 season when the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow gave out. He had Tommy John surgery on May 12.
Fifteen months later, he was on a big-league mound again and pitched 30 innings over the final weeks of the 2022 season. But May says now he was never really right.
“No. I wouldn’t say that I ever felt more than probably 75 percent,” he said.
“It hurt every throw. Everybody always says it always hurts (after Tommy John surgery) and then one day it just clicks. I was waiting for that. Mine — instead of getting better, it kept getting worse and getting worse. It kept climbing in the wrong direction and it got to a point where my last game it was affecting my velo(city) so much I was like, ‘Alright, I’d better say something.’ I didn’t even need to say something. They were like, ‘Are you OK because you’re throwing 93?’”
An MRI revealed damage to the flexor-pronator mass in his elbow. Repairing it required another surgery and likely another 12 months of tedious rehab. While May was undergoing surgery for the flexor repair, the doctors also put a graft on his repaired UCL.
“I was definitely very frustrated, especially in L.A. after I got my MRI results,” May said. “I was very frustrated just in the moment. Then it was like — it took me a day and then I was, ‘What am I mad about? I can’t do anything about this. This is the cards I’ve been dealt. I’ve got to go do what I gotta do and hopefully be back whenever I can.’”
May said he has asked a lot more questions this time around — “I’ve got a good understanding and grasp of how the elbow works and what it’s supposed to feel like after the second one.”
So far, it feels “really good.”
May has started a throwing program but is just playing catch on flat ground from 90 feet four times a week. Throwing off a mound probably won’t come until late April at the earliest. Rehab games would follow and — if his rehab continues without any setbacks — May is optimistic he will be pitching for the Dodgers in late August or September.
— Bill Plunkett
SLIMMER SANO ARRIVES
FOR ANGELS >> It remains to be seen whether Miguel Sanó has any good baseball left in him, but he made a good impression the moment he walked in the door at Angels spring training.
Sanó, who was delayed by visa issues in the Dominican Republic and arrived Sunday, said he lost 58 pounds in the last year.
“He looks real good,” manager Ron Washington said. “And he’s in a great fame of mind.”
Washington, however, conceded that on the field Sanó is “a little rough
right now.”
Sanó, 30, has hit at least 25 homers in four big league seasons with the Minnesota Twins, including 30 in 2021. In 2022, he hit .083 and was released. He then dealt with left knee issues, which was one of the reasons that he decided he needed to get into better shape.
“It was very important to me,” Sanó said through an interpreter. “I feel better and lighter, and that will help me have better performance on the field.”
A right-handed hitter, Sanó could play third and first and he can also be the DH. If no one is hurt, the Angels have one infield spot up for grabs. An injury would obviously open another spot.
— Jeff Fletcher
SIGNINGS >> Cody Bellinger is returning to the Cubs on an $80 million, 3-year contract, AP source says
Cody Bellinger is going back to the Chicago Cubs, agreeing to an $80 million, three-year contract, according to a person familiar with the deal. The slugger can opt out of the deal after each of the first two years. The person confirmed the agreement to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because it was pending a physical. He hit a career-best .307 with 26 homers, 97 RBIS and 20 steals in 130 games for Chicago in 2023.
■ Free agent shortstop Nick Ahmed reached agreement on a minor league contract with the San Francisco Giants. Ahmed, 33,had spent all 10 of his major league seasons with the NL West rival Arizona Diamondbacks from 2014-23, winning two Gold Gloves.