Tigers Kenny Rogers Out Until July After Blood Clot Removed
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The New York Mets are now not the only team to have wait on it’s ace until July. The Mets are waiting on their ace Pedro Martinez to come back after last season’s surgery.
Now, an AP post for ESPN reports that the Detroit Tigers also will apparently have to wait at least until July for their veteran star Kenny Rogers (17-8, 3.84 ERA in 2006) due to surgery on Friday to remove a blood clot from his left shoulder and to repair arteries.
The report continues;
“We might have been the only club in baseball with five established starters,” Tigers president Dave Dombrowski said. “It’s an edge we have here and all we did was lose a little of the edge. We still have a great club with four established starters and a strong bullpen.”
Rogers, a 42-year-old left-hander, was flown to Baylor University in Texas, where Dr. Greg Pearl performed the surgery. Rogers is expected to start throwing in six to eight weeks, and Dombrowski said the earliest Rogers would return to the rotation is July.
Rogers reported arm fatigue to trainers late Wednesday and received treatment at a Lakeland hospital. Tigers officials said at first that he would miss only one start, but the pitcher was put on the 15-day disabled list Thursday after doctors found an irregular pulse.
He… gained notoriety during the postseason when he had a patch of dirt on his pitching hand. He won all three of his postseason starts and didn’t allow a run in 23 innings.
Rogers was 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA in five exhibition starts.
MLB.com’s Jason Beck adds background on Rogers’ shoulder woes, surgery and possible rehab time;
The 42-year-old Rogers was placed on the 15-day disabled list Thursday with what was then listed as a fatigued arm. The original diagnosis was a blood clot, but the Tigers hoped it would be easier to repair.
President/CEO/general manager Dave Dombrowski said Thursday that the team hoped it wasn’t a long-term injury. Those hopes were dashed once Rogers had further examination from Dr. Greg Pearl, a specialist based out of Baylor University.
“The treatment of the blood clot was done a little bit differently than what we might’ve had happen if it was a shorter term,” Dombrowski said. “There was some thought, until they went in there, that perhaps they could treat that blood clot differently than what they ended up doing.”
Instead of a minor procedure, doctors had to do some artery replacement. The operation removed a clot and repaired both the axillary and brachial arteries. The brachial artery runs down the arm before splitting into two arteries. The axillary artery is located in the upper chest and runs blood to the head and arms.
Dr. Pearl had previous experience with Rogers, having performed surgery to clear an artery in the same part of the shoulder back in 2001. That procedure involved removing a rib that was pinching shoulder muscles and blocking an artery, diagnosed as thoracic outlet syndrome. Ironically, that was the last trip to the disabled list for Rogers, who hadn’t missed a turn through the rotation since 2005.
Rogers will be under complete rest for about a month and is expected to resume throwing in 6-8 weeks. Given that timetable, Dombrowski said, “It’s probably three months until you would anticipate him back starting at the Major League level, somewhere around there. This is not a real common injury, so we’re dealing with an unusual circumstance.”
The Tigers still have one of the premier and deepest pitching staffs in baseball and are still expected to be strongly contest for the AL Central Division championship in the upcoming season. The pine tar is not necessary!
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