Friday, August 31, 2012

Rodriguez has surgery for bone spur

Henry Rodriguez has made two stints on the disabled list this season for injuries the Nationals said were to his index finger and his lower back. Turns out the biggest issue with the erratic reliever was a bone spur in his right elbow that required surgery today.

Rodriguez was operated on by team orthopedist Wiemi Douoguih; he may not be able to pitch in winter ball but is expected to be fully healed for the start of spring training.

General manager Mike Rizzo said Rodriguez only began complaining about discomfort in his elbow in roughly mid-July, but it's not certain how long he was pitching with the injury, or what effect it had on his performance. After failing to surrender an earned run in any of his first nine appearances this season, Rodriguez posted an 8.14 ERA over his final 26 games.

"I'm not sure [what the effect was], but Henry has got great upside," Rizzo said. "He's a power pitcher, and if this injury prevented him from performing at his accustomed level, then that's a good thing. Because when he gets healthy, he should revert back to the guy we saw in spring training and the guy we saw at the beginning of the season."

Rizzo said this injury was similar to the one that caused fellow reliever Drew Storen to miss the season's first 3 1/2 months. Given a comparable recovery time, Rodriguez could be healed by December, at which point he could appear in some winter league games in his native Venezuela in preparation for spring training.

The Nationals will face the same dilemma with the 25-year-old next year as it did this year: Because Rodriguez is out of options, he will have to make the Opening Day roster or else be exposed to waivers.

Meanwhile, top Nationals draft pick Lucas Giolito underwent Tommy John surgery today, a procedure planned over the last week. Giolito, the 16th overall pick in the June draft, was operated on in his native Los Angeles by orthopedist Lewis Yocum. He's expected to miss the entire 2013 season.

8 comments:

Jim Webster said...

If this fixes it, the Good Henry will be back and unhittable.

Holden Baroque said...

Here's to Pretty Fricken Bueno...

JaneB said...

I'm happy they figured out what was bothering him. It's possible his body was compensating to avoid pain. And I hope they fix it perfectly, and that HRod comes back and is the PFB pitcher Rizzo et al believe him to be. Not being snarky...really not...my heart couldn't have taken HRod in the games this fall. Heal, Henry Heal!!!

peric said...

Be nice to know what has become of Nate Karns and Matt Purke ... now that Rizzo has let drop what happened to Alex Meyer. Doug Harris behaves like he works for the CIA!

Steady Eddie said...

Nats Jack -- I'll ask my seemingly perpetual question -- have you heard or seen anything about Cole Kimball?

natsfan1a said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
natsfan1a said...

Feel better, Henry. And I'll drink (some coffee) to PFB.

MicheleS said...

I hope this solves Henry's problems because I love when he is Good Henry, PFB.

Also, noted during some broadcasts, Henry is very quiet and doesn't speak English well. He needs to spend the offseason with Gio to loosen him up and learn English.

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