What's the cost of a Tommy John surgery these days? About 10 ranking spots, apparently. After being rated as the no. 7 prospect going into 2010, Tazawa found himself on the shelf for twelve-plus months, missing the entire season after the operation in question.
These days, Tommy John Surgery isn't nearly as scary as it used to be. They've gotten enough experience in the procedure to reduce both the recovery time, and the risk of reoccurrance. Still, though, it's got the same stigma as ever, and it's certainly not a good thing.
Hopefully 2011 proves all our concerns to be lacking merit.
1. Ryan Kalish, OF
2. Anthony Ranaudo, SP
3. Jose Iglesias, SS
4. Felix Doubront, LHP
5. Drake Britton, LHP
6. Ryan Lavarnway, C
7. Stolmy Pimentel, RHP
8. Lars Anderson, 1B
9. Kolbrin Vitek, 3B
10. Josh Reddick, OF
11. Ryan Westmoreland, OF
12. Yamaico Navarro, SS
13. Che-Hsuan Lin, OF
14. Oscar Tejeda, 2B
15. Garin Cecchini, SS
16. Junichi Tazawa, RHP
Four to go. Rec the post in question to vote, and if your choice isn't there, than make the thread yourself.