Ted Lilly is Broken

As we know, Ted Lilly was battling through some shoulder issues through 2009 and still delivered a fantastic season with a 3.10 ERA. It didn't seem like it was too serious and something a little offseason rest may take care of, but instead he went under Dr. Yocum's knife.

Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly underwent a left shoulder arthroscopy and
debridement on Tuesday by noted orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Lewis Yocum in
Los Angeles. During the surgery, Yocum found no major damage to Lilly's
shoulder and the procedure consisted of a washout and clean up of the
shoulder.

Hopefully Dr. Hecht can chime in later on this post with what the hell all that means, but Lilly will start motion and range exercises almost immediately and go back for an exam after January 1st to figure out a throwing timetable. Let's go to Bruce Miles for the kicker.

They say they're hopeful he can be in the rotation within the month of April.

This rarely ends well for our Cubbies, does it? On the other hand, if you're going to miss a month of baseball as a starter, April is the month to do it as a team can get away with four starters for a good portion of it. In the Cubs case, they don't need a 5th starter until April 19th at New York. But who knows if there will be complications or lingering problems...which is all a convoluted way of me saying the Cubs should probably offer Rich Harden arbitration or load up on some starting pitching depth before spring training.

 

Tags: 
Ted Lilly
Cubs Injuries
Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 4:03pm
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Comments

Submitted by jacos
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 4:19pm

And thus ends the 2010 season.

Submitted by Andrew
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 4:35pm

Fuck. Our best starter gone. Likely not for a month either -- if he's back contributing by the ASG, it'll be better than how these things normally turn out.

Seems like we've got two choices: A) unload Castro and Vitters and everyone else for Halladay or B) start the rebuilding now. Is that too dire?

I vote B.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 4:53pm

Hendry better at least offer arbitration to Harden at this point. The worst case scenerio that he accepts it is far less un-appealing right now.

Maybe go for a buy low type of rebound guy this offseason.

Rich Hill
Fausto Carmona for Milton Bradley trade?
Jeremy Bonderman for Milton Bradley trade?
Ben Sheets

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:01pm

you know Bradley's not going back to Cleveland...Shapiro isn't going to go through that PR shitstorm even with Wedge gone.

we'll see how Sheets is throwing but I'm all for a 1 yr/$5M deal with incentives if he shows anything, Smoltz is a FA as well although he said he wanted to back to St. Louis...

couple other potential cheap options...

Washburn, Penny, Pedro, Duchscherer, Hampton

more than likely, Sean Marshall gets another shot at it...

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:02pm

on another note, why did this surgery take a month to get done?

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:21pm

He probably waited a couple weeks to see how it felt, decided it didn't feel great, had to schedule an appointment, have the appointment, discuss it with the Cubs staff and Yocum, schedule surgery, have the surgery, that adds up to about a month.

How old is Yocum anyway? Seems like someone should have taken over for him by now.

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:24pm

How old is Yocum anyway? Seems like someone should have taken over for him by now.

---

Same for Frank Jobe, those guys have to be getting up there.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:24pm

here we go..

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/david-kaplan-chica...

"At the conclusion of the 2009 season, Cubs
team doctors prescribed a conservative approach to managing Ted's
shoulder in preparation for the 2010 season and, following a second opinion,
Dr. Yocum agreed," Hendry continued.  "At the end of last week,
Ted decided that undergoing a surgical procedure was the course of action he
wanted to pursue, a decision the club supported.  We're glad the
surgery did not reveal any major damage to Ted's shoulder and look
forward to his return to our rotation."

so Ted said enough with you quacks....

 

 

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:27pm

he's just in it for the painkillers and bitchin' scars.

what a selfish jerk.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:29pm

How old is Yocum anyway? Seems like someone should have taken over for him by now.

Kremchek tried, didn't work out too well....at least for Kerry Wood.

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:23pm

The AP called it "arthroscopy and debridement procedure"

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb...

Wikipedia's definition of "debridement":

Debridement is the medical removal of a patient's dead, damaged, or infected tissue to improve the healing potential of the remaining healthy tissue. Removal may be surgical, mechanical, chemical, autolytic (self-digestion), and by maggot therapy, where certain species of live maggots selectively eat only necrotic tissue.

Submitted by Craig A.
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:48pm

I don't think it was maggots.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:27pm

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/david-kaplan-chica...

Hendry joined us soon after Ted was done. One question that came up was whether this would have an effect on whether the Cubs would try to keep Rich Harden. Jim didn't want a whole lot to do with that question.

About all he said was that he has talked with the agents for Harden and reliever John Grabow, whom he'd like to re-sign.
"We haven't made any decisions yet on who's coming back or not from the club we ended the season with," Jim said. "This wouldn't alter our plans about adding another starter because Lew Yocum is one of the best in the world. If he felt that...if the rehab went according to plan, the way Ted goes about his business, that there's a good possibility Ted will be pitching in April. We certainly don't want to take that spot away from Ted if he's ready."

nope, carry-on....everything will work out perfectly.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:28pm

glendon rusch is available.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 6:53pm

Shhhhhhh

If Jim reads that he will give him ANOTHER multi-year contract.

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:31pm

If he felt that...if the rehab went according to plan, the way Ted goes about his business, that there's a good possibility Ted will be pitching in April.
------
Shit.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:35pm

fantastic quote in your signature...

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:57pm

thanks

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 6:29pm

he's an apple designer...big deal.

put rounded corners on electronics and charge twice as much for it. brilliant!

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 6:32pm

put rounded corners on electronics and charge twice as much for it. brilliant!

and make them work, the flaw in Windows business plan...

Submitted by Ryno
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 8:12pm

When it comes to technology, the average person doesn't want to think about the process, they just want to do their shit. That's the genius behind Apple. For good measure they're also marketing wizards.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 8:31pm

to me...apple's greatest triumph is not getting all bent out of shape about having a low market share compared to "Windows machines" and just working around it rather than trying to trample all over it.

they managed to make a market of very loyal people to sell overpriced machinery to. i mean, seriously, they sell VERY expensive hardware...it's not because it's of higher quality, either. Those days are coming to an end now that you can run apple's newer OS's on x86 machines, though.

they also were at the forefront, even though not the first, to define the 00's portable music industy, too. adaptable...

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 12:03am

I think the newest Apple ad with the Windows guy saying, "Trust Me" is probably the best ad Apple has ever made. The one with Puddy was pretty funny, too.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:34pm

Hopefully we can get Ted signed to a nice 3-year extension while he's working that shoulder back into shape.

Submitted by John Beasley
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:40pm

The one place in baseball you absolutely cannot afford to skimp on depth ... is of course the exact place where Hendry is practically going to count on someone like Gorz or Marshall, not to mention the main four.

Submitted by Paul Noce
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:57pm

There's minor league depth behind them, Mitch Atkins, or, I hate to say it...Shark Boy, or they could move Caridad to the rotation for a month or two until Lilly hopefully returns.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:34pm

joking aside, there should be plenty of vets and one year stop gaps available anyway if Lilly is behind schedule in March...so no real rush to make sure you get someone, unless they are actually planning to pursue Lackey, which I of course doubt...

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 5:57pm

Current pitching rotation depth for Cubs fwiw:

Z, Dempster, Wells, Gorzelanny, Marshall

Lilly on the DL

Samardzija, Atkins, Caridad, Mathes

J. Jackson, Cashner, Coleman, Carpenter, Russell farther down the line...

http://thecubreporter.com/cubsdepthchart

Submitted by John Beasley
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 6:02pm

Nevermind.

Submitted by thescatman
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 7:36pm

This seems like a familiar story doesn't it. The Cubs once again will be hoping that one of their top starters will be ready for the beginning of the season. It usually doesn't turn out well. The last time we went through this with Prior and Wood we blew 2 or 3 seasons while we waited. Maybe this time we need to be more proactive so we don't get stuck with a big hole next Spring.

www.thescatman.com

Submitted by Ryno
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 8:13pm

This is great news!

... Just kidding.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 8:42pm

This whole thread would have been much more on-target with an open and supportive background from Dr. Hecht instead of complete conjecture from every poster.

Let the experts "do their thing". That is ther beauty of this blog, imo.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 8:48pm

indeed, let me threaten witholding his substantial TCR benefits and salary if he doesn't deliver an article in the next 5 minutes...

Submitted by The E-Man
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 10:13pm

lol. Dr. Hecht is still rooting for the Phillies to pull it out...

Submitted by The Joe
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 11:17pm

So is Johann's mom.

Submitted by carlosrubi
on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 1:34am

Mwahahaha!

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 9:02pm

how about we drag out the instances of people who have this surgery in november and see how often they actually come back in april to determine whether the doc's opinion matters at all. then we can blame hendy for his higher-than-normal DTDCBIA% (dudes that don't come back in april percentage).

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 9:08pm

or they will in about 12 more outs...

guess Hideki earned himself the MVP tonight as he already 2 HR's going into the game...

Submitted by Charlie
on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 12:02am

Utley is the MVP. Who cares who won the series?

God I love that swing.

Submitted by Sweet Lou
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 9:25pm

Here's the latest from Mesa on the Cubs search for a new Spring Training home:

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/146680

And here's the same story from Naples perspective:

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/nov/04/Chicago...

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 9:38pm

it's the same article from both sides, it's the Arizona article syndicated to the Florida paper...

Submitted by Sweet Lou
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 10:19pm

The only difference I saw was that the Naples article contains some quotes from people in Naples (Napoleans? Naplites?) that are involved in the process.

Submitted by navigator
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 10:36pm

The word you're looking for is neapolitans---at least it is in my favorite other country, Italy.

Submitted by Sweet Lou
on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 11:39pm

Ah, yes. I love their ice cream...

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