UPDATE:  Martin Perez has announced that he is opting to undergo Tommy John surgery now, and is working with his agent to determine a schedule.

This sentence is the only thing I can say without swearing.

Martin Perez has a partially-torn UCL (ulnar collateral ligament, the thing that's repaired by Tommy John surgery) and Matt Harrison has a(nother) displaced vertebra.

Perez can try rehabbing for a few months to try to get the ligament to heal, which would allow him to return (if everything goes right) in August. Or he can go ahead and have Tommy John surgery performed, in which case he could be rehabbing in time for Spring Training 2015. However, he most likely wouldn't be pitching again until late 2015. And it's not uncommon for TJ surgery recipients to take another year to get their form and power back. A year-and-a-half is the expected recovery time, and two years is fairly common. Texas has done pretty well signing TJ surgery survivors starting their rehab year to two-year contracts, gambling they'll make a full recovery and provide a year of top-form pitching.

Harrison may need a spinal fusion. Once upon a time, that meant the end of any sports career, but many athletes have had the operation done and come back. Not many pitchers though, at least not at the professional level.

Nick Tepesch gets another chance at the rotation now, along with Nick Martinez, who had been shoring up the bullpen in every way imaginable, and probably two or three guys from AAA Round Rock, and maybe even your cousin if he can miss a bat every now and then.

This is getting ridiculous. When I read the tweet from Newberg, I screamed "You gotta be f****** kidding me!"

Posted by: Ben at 08:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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