Thursday, August 7, 2008

No Surgery For Joba . . . Yet

The good news for Yankees' fans: I was wrong yesterday when I assumed that Joba Chamberlain's visit to Dr. Andrews' shop meant that surgery was inevitable:
Joba Chamberlain was placed on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday by the New York Yankees due to rotator cuff tendinitis in his pitching shoulder.

The club said Chamberlain will rest for about a week before beginning a throwing program. Chamberlain had gone to see noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews after undergoing an MRI on his ailing right shoulder Tuesday.

The bad news for Yankees' fans:

It's a typically conservative treatment program for the Yankees and allows for the possibility he returns this year. But it is also worth noting that when Jorge Posada went on the disabled list in April, his injury was also termed rotator-cuff tendinitis -- and he wound up needing labrum surgery.
I hadn't remembered that, but yep, that seems to be the case. Posada never got right, and now stands to miss the rest of the season and maybe some of next year too. Here's hoping that Joba is on a different track.

(second link via BTF)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

APBA Guy-

Despite my frequent comments on the beloved, if humble, A's. the APBA appelation above comes from my passion for the tabletop game, in which I am the proud owner of one Joba Chamberlain.

Not being any kind of doctor, I was horrified to see him heading off to Dr. Andrews, one of two physicians (along with Dr. Yocum) for whom a player visit seems always to result in surgery.

A lot of us feel like this diagnosis is tentative and provisional. That is, there was nothing clear cut on the MRI, but his shoulder is hurting enough to be more than worrisome. It's pure speculation whether he'll have surgery sooner or later because teams are not required nor inclined to release much solid data on player conditions.

Ron Shandler had a great lead article in the 2008 Forecaster about the impact of this lack of information in injuries as it relates to player choice in fantasy. The upshot is the degree of uncertainty has been significantly increased, and especially with young pitchers.

Anonymous said...

I think the difference between Joba & Posada is that Joba had a single twinge of discomfort but was still throwing 95... Posada was tossing lollipops to second base for over a month despite pain/discomfort.