rockin500
06-02-2005, 10:59 PM
well, no Dotel for awhile. :eek:
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Athletics closer Octavio Dotel will have reconstructive elbow surgery as soon as possible, despite receiving recommendations from four doctors that he try to rehabilitate the injury first.
Dotel will be sidelined at least a year and possibly up to two years.
"Octavio does not feel he can pitch with the level of pain he was pitching with," A's trainer Larry Davis said Thursday. "Everybody's tolerance level is different. Octavio feels like he's tried long enough. ... He's been throwing a long time and is tired of recurrent tendinitis."
Dotel, who blew four saves in five outings from April 30 to May 11, had the elbow examined by Angels doctor Lewis Yocum and Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala. Andrews will perform the ligament replacement surgery.
"It's not anything anybody is doing handsprings over," Davis said of Dotel's decision. "In our estimation, you'd like to have everybody give it another try before you do this, so you think you've done everything possible to avoid this."
Dotel is 1-2 with seven saves and a 3.52 ERA, walking 11 in 15 1/3 innings. Davis hasn't seen such a situation before where a player was so adamant about having surgery in spite of doctors' advice.
"You don't try to talk someone out of surgery, because if you do and they don't do well, you're in a no-win situation," Davis said. "There's no guarantee with any surgery. Nothing's 100 percent."
Dotel was placed on the 15-day disabled list May 20 with a strained right elbow. The elbow also bothered him late last season, causing him to rest much of the winter.
Dotel is missing the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, which Davis said he tore at some point. The surgery will entail removing a tendon from elsewhere in his body and weaving it into the elbow area to alleviate some of the muscle strains he's been having.
Oakland acquired the 31-year-old right-hander from Houston in a three-team trade last June 24. The A's worked him in slowly in spring training after Dotel dealt with various injuries last season.
He will do his rehab in Miami, closer to his Dominican Republic home. The A's plan to contact the Florida Marlins to determine where he will be treated.
Dotel is signed through this season, so the A's will finance his rehab until his contract expires. He is unlikely to do any baseball work for at least six months after surgery.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2074677
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Athletics closer Octavio Dotel will have reconstructive elbow surgery as soon as possible, despite receiving recommendations from four doctors that he try to rehabilitate the injury first.
Dotel will be sidelined at least a year and possibly up to two years.
"Octavio does not feel he can pitch with the level of pain he was pitching with," A's trainer Larry Davis said Thursday. "Everybody's tolerance level is different. Octavio feels like he's tried long enough. ... He's been throwing a long time and is tired of recurrent tendinitis."
Dotel, who blew four saves in five outings from April 30 to May 11, had the elbow examined by Angels doctor Lewis Yocum and Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala. Andrews will perform the ligament replacement surgery.
"It's not anything anybody is doing handsprings over," Davis said of Dotel's decision. "In our estimation, you'd like to have everybody give it another try before you do this, so you think you've done everything possible to avoid this."
Dotel is 1-2 with seven saves and a 3.52 ERA, walking 11 in 15 1/3 innings. Davis hasn't seen such a situation before where a player was so adamant about having surgery in spite of doctors' advice.
"You don't try to talk someone out of surgery, because if you do and they don't do well, you're in a no-win situation," Davis said. "There's no guarantee with any surgery. Nothing's 100 percent."
Dotel was placed on the 15-day disabled list May 20 with a strained right elbow. The elbow also bothered him late last season, causing him to rest much of the winter.
Dotel is missing the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, which Davis said he tore at some point. The surgery will entail removing a tendon from elsewhere in his body and weaving it into the elbow area to alleviate some of the muscle strains he's been having.
Oakland acquired the 31-year-old right-hander from Houston in a three-team trade last June 24. The A's worked him in slowly in spring training after Dotel dealt with various injuries last season.
He will do his rehab in Miami, closer to his Dominican Republic home. The A's plan to contact the Florida Marlins to determine where he will be treated.
Dotel is signed through this season, so the A's will finance his rehab until his contract expires. He is unlikely to do any baseball work for at least six months after surgery.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2074677