Updated: ACK UGH NO: Zumaya hurt
posted in 2007-08 offseason |Sadly this isn’t a rerun. And it’s not April Fools.
The Detroit Tigers said Thursday:
DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers today announced righthanded pitcher Joel Zumaya underwent surgery yesterday at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego. Zumaya had an AC joint reconstruction on his right shoulder, a procedure performed by Dr. Heinz Hoenecke and Dr. Jan Fronek. He was injured moving personal items during the California wildfires.
Zumaya will rest his shoulder for the next six weeks, before he will be able to begin an active rehabilitation program. He is expected to begin a strengthening program in three months and it is anticipated he will begin a throwing program in four months. The club is hopeful Zumaya will return to pitching at the mid-season point in 2008
So that’s obviously a bad thing. Half a season. Wow. You had to fear a fireball guy with his mechanics, who hurt his finger squeezing the ball too hard, could have problems. This only makes you look upon his future with greater worries going forward.
Is Zoomer as we know it gone?
Who will the Tigers find to close in 2008?
My thought right now: Ack.
UPDATE
Now that we’ve had some time, here’s a few updates.
Jon Paul Morosi has been updating throughout the day. Apparently Zumaya was helping his father move some stuff, as the San Diego fires were within two miles of their house. A heavy box fell on his shoulder, and that was that. The injury is compared to that of Placido Polanco and Gary Sheffield. Doctors gave him a 90-95% chance of pitching the same again. Will he be the same Zoomer we know? Who really knows. But Zumaya has faith.
Morosi quotes the a team doctor, Bruce Miller:
“Because this injury does not involve the shoulder joint, per se, the things we most worry about in the shoulder – the rotator cuff, the labrum, the biceps – tend not to be affected by the surgery,” Miller said. “The prognosis is quite good that he’ll make a recovery.
“These pitchers are such fine-tuned machines. They’re always riding that thin line between performance and injury. Reestablishing that balance is now up to the athlete and the training staff, and, more often than not nowadays, they’re able to come back.”
When asked if there was a possibility that the injury would threaten Zumaya’s career, Dombrowski said, “A possibility? I guess there’s always a possibility, but I’m not going to play that up at this point. … By no means do I want to say that he won’t make it back because the doctor feels that he will. But we won’t know until he gets back on the mound.”
