With the 2008 season coming to an end, the future was starting to look bright for the Toronto Blue Jays. They have one of the best starting rotations in baseball, leading the Majors with a 3.54 team ERA, and if they can add a bat to their lineup to help score some runs, they can make a lot of noise in the AL East next season.
Of course, one of the big questions going into this offseason for the team is whether or not they were going to bring A.J. Burnett back. Burnett was rumored to be on the move at the trade deadline, but instead remained in Toronto, and he's currently tied with Roy Halladay for the team lead in wins (18) and leads the AL with 220 strikeouts. All of which virtually guarantees he's going to be opting out of his deal after the year ends.
Still, even if Burnett leaves Toronto for a bigger contract someplace else, the Jays were still comfortable with their rotation thanks to guys like Jesse Litsch and Shaun Marcum.
Well, they're probably going to have to try harder to keep Burnett around for 2009, because they just found out they aren't going to have Marcum. Shaun needs Tommy John surgery, and he won't be pitching next season. If the Jays lose both Burnett and Marcum for next season, that will leave two large holes in their rotation, and they probably won't have Dustin McGowan back until May as he recovers from shoulder surgery. In other words, next season could already be over before it even starts.
On Thursday of last week, Tom Glavine returned to the mound for the Atlanta Braves for the first time since June 10th. Things didn't go very well, as the 300-game winner gave up seven runs in four innings, and still felt pain in his elbow after the game. It's because of this pain in his elbow that we now know Glavine has pitched his last game in 2008, as he's going to be shut down for the season.
The real question is, will Thursday's start against the Cubs be the last of Tommy's career. He's scheduled to visit with Dr. James Andrews next week, and the results of his tests there will determine what Glavine decides to do.
"All the discussions I've had, and the MRI I had before, were that it's my flexor tendon," Glavine said. "The soreness I have now is the same soreness I had then. You can pinpoint a needlehead as to where the pain is, and it just puts me through the roof when you touch it, so it's very similar in that regard. There have been some discussions about what my ligament might look like, but I think there's a very low percentage that there might be something wrong with my ligament.
"And if there was, honestly, I'd leave it alone and I'd be done. I wouldn't come back from that kind of surgery now. I'd fix the flexor tendon and leave the ligament alone and live the rest of my life."
When the Braves learned they'd have to put Tim Hudson and Chipper Jones on the disabled list, it pretty much put an end to any hopes of winning the NL East this season, so they went ahead and traded Mark Teixeira to the Angels to make sure of it. Little did they know at the time that they would already be behind in the 2009 season as well.
That's because Tim Hudson has finally given in to reality and knows he has to undergo Tommy John surgery, which of course will end his season.
The veteran will have the surgery late next week. Dr. James Andrews will do the procedure, and Hudson faces a 12-month rehabilitation period.
"I just needed to convince myself," said Hudson, who on Wednesday was advised by two orthopedists - Andrews and Dr. Xavier Duralde - to have the surgery. "I needed to throw one more time, to convince myself of what needed to be done."
If there's any good news for Hudson, and there isn't much, it's that he's got plenty of teammates who have already had Tommy John surgery so they'll be able to prepare him for what he's going to go through. Of course, the bad news is that 12-month rehabilitation period.
Maybe the Braves can call the Angels and see if they want Casey Kotchman back in exchange for a starting pitcher.
Sunday marked the long anticipated return of Francisco Liriano to the Twins starting rotation. Liriano missed all of the 2007 season after having Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow in November of 2006, and it was evident on Sunday that he's not back to being the dominant force we all saw in that 2006 season.
Francisco only lasted 4.2 innings on Sunday, allowing four runs on six hits and walking five while striking out four. Of course, in his first start back from such a procedure, you can't really look at the numbers as the deciding factor. The biggest difference between the Liriano of 2006 and the one we saw yesterday was the velocity of his fastball and it's location.
Whereas Liriano generally threw his fastball in the 94-96MPH range in 2006, he topped out at 91MPH on Sunday. Not exactly a surprise because really, he's still rehabbing his arm. I'm more concerned with his location right now, because his fastball was going anywhere but where he wanted it to on Sunday. Though I'm sure the 29 degree wind chill in Kansas City at times didn't do much to help matters.
It's important to remember that it generally takes two years for pitchers to fully recover from Tommy John surgery, so we shouldn't look too deeply into Francisco's performances last season. Forget yesterday's loss, forget his velocity, and forget his location for the moment. Sunday can only be considered a success for Liriano because he experienced no pain in his elbow, and was able to use his slider effectively. As long as he stays healthy this season, he can have an ERA of 7.71 all season, it will still be a success for Liriano and the Twins.
The Cardinals are probably going to have a tough enough time competing in the NL Central this season, so the possibility of being without Albert Pujols is just something the team would like to try and avoid. Albert, of course, has a whole myriad of injuries in his right elbow at the moment. There's the inflammation, the arthritis, the bone spurs, and that pesky tear of the ulnar collateral ligament just to name a few.
Pujols doesn't have many options when it comes to his elbow. He can either undergo surgery on it and miss the entire season, and possibly parts of next season as well, or he can just keep playing through it and seeking constant treatment for it from team doctors.
According to [Cardinals team doctor, George] Paletta, Pujols was presented with three feasible courses of action over the winter. He could continue the path he had been on, which is treating the symptoms of his injuries while he continued to play. He could undergo arthroscopic surgery, which would address the bone spurs and the arthritis but not the ligament tear. Or he could have arthroscopy as well as Tommy John elbow-reconstruction surgery.
Pujols chose the non-surgical path, a decision that Paletta endorsed. The superstar may yet require reconstruction at some point, and according to Paletta, the intermediate option is likely no longer viable.
While both Pujols and the team's doctor think this is the right decision at the moment, what happens if the Cardinals get off to a slow start and fall out of the hunt in the NL Central? At that point you'd have to think it would make more sense to shut Pujols down and undergo the surgery. Like the doctor says, he's going to have to have it at some point, so there's really no need to make things worse than they already are.
So given the way things have been working in St. Louis this spring, and the outlook of the team, I say Albert has the surgery before the end of this summer.
Just as plastic surgery can help to create the perfect body, people are now hoping that reconstructive surgery can help create better pitchers. Witness an article passed along to me by Matt Watson of DBB, which says that several young pitchers are now beginning to seek out Tommy John surgery even if they don't necessarily need it.
The success of the surgery, and the resulting myths, are prompting young pitchers with marginal injuries, or overly optimistic assessments of their talent, to push for Tommy John surgery when they might not have in the past, doctors said.
Dr. [Damon H.] Petty mentioned one patient, a minor leaguer whose elbow injury did not appear to warrant surgery, who later trumped up his symptoms and had the procedure performed by another physician.
More and more, teams are becoming unafraid of acquiring pitchers who have undergone Tommy John surgery. The success and evolution of the surgery has been fantastic. Still, for some of these people to go out of their way and trump up injuries in order to get the surgery done is ridiculous. I would hope doctors don't perform the surgery on anyone except professional, collegiate, and prospective high school draftees. It should be understood that the surgery isn't a magical cure-all, but rather a procedure to prolong careers that would otherwise be over.
(and yes, that's a picture of Kerry Wood who had Tommy John surgery in 1999 and is just an easy target when it comes to arm injuries)
Sure, it may not be of any help for the Twins right now, but I just figured that their fans could use some encouraging news right now. Considering Joe Mauer was just placed on the disabled list, Mike Cuddyer has missed the last 5 games, and Johan Santana is actually losing games, things aren't going as well as the Twins would like right now.
So take a moment to get away from your negative thoughts right now, Twins fans, and listen to the latest news regarding Francisco Liriano and his left arm.
Twins pitcher Francisco Liriano, who is spending some time here while rehabilitating his elbow after Tommy John surgery, said that the doctors tell him that he is making good progress and there is no doubt he will be 100 percent ready to pitch next season. Liriano was 12-3 last season until he came up with the arm problem.
You hear that? There's no doubt he'll be 100% for next season!
Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. He might be 100% when the season starts but the odds that he'll finish next season that way aren't as high. Liriano was 100% before he started having all these arm problems so he's likely to find himself in the same boat again.
Now that I think about it, that was kind of mean of me wasn't it? To give Twins fans some good news and then throw a bucket of cold water over them. I'm sorry. But hey, at least Joe Mauer is one of America's most eligible bachelors. That's worth something, right?
Mariners medical director Dr. Ed Khalfayan said Thursday that the 21-year-old right-hander will not throw for five days, then will play catch.
"I think 10 to 20 days is a reasonable estimate," Khalfayan said when asked when Hernandez might again pitch in a game. That's as good a news as you can get from an elbow injury."
Actually, doc, the only good news you can hear about an elbow injury is finding out Felix was playing a sick joke on the city of Seattle.
I would hold off on the feelings of relief if I'm a Mariners fans. The truth is these types of things happen to pitchers all the time. You don't have to look any further back than last season and Francisco Liriano. Yes, it's only a mild strain in Hernandez's throwing arm, but mild strains become major strains, and major strains become Tommy John surgeries.
This is a devastating blow for the city of Seattle, because Hernandez is supposed to be the face of the franchise. With the possibility of Ichiro's departure looming, King Felix is supposed to be the Seattle Mariners.
You combine the news of Hernandez's injury with the latest news that the Sonics probably won't be returning, and it's been a pretty craptacular couple of days to be a Seattle sports fan. When do the Seahawks start mini-camp again?
With the 2008 season coming to an end, the future was starting to look bright for the Toronto Blue Jays. They have one of the best starting rotations in baseball, leading the Majors with a 3.54 team ERA, and if they can add a bat to their lineup to help score some runs, they can make a lot of noise in the AL East next season.
On Thursday of last week, 
When the Braves learned they'd have to put 
Sunday marked the long anticipated return of 
The Cardinals are probably going to have a tough enough time competing in the NL Central this season, so the possibility of being without 
Just as plastic surgery can help to create the 
Sure, it may not be of any help for the Twins right now, but I just figured that their fans could use some encouraging news right now. Considering 
You never feel like you're in the clear when it comes to a pitcher's elbow, but the Mariners got some good news about Felix Hernandez.
