Everyone step back and take a deep breath about Zimmerman. If it's tendonitis, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, Zim will be fine with rest. It may take a while, but I am sure that the elbow will be isolated to reduce elbow strain and repetitive movement. I would fully expect a minimum time period of 4-6 weeks of rest to fully recover from non-advanced tendonitis and then to get the arm back into throwing shape. The arm will be weaker due to immobilization and should take a week or so to get back into the swing of things after the rest period. The underlying question is why did he develop tendonitis? Obviously throwing the ball is the first culprit. Elbows just weren't designed to throw baseballs at the speeds and torque that major leaguers throw. If it's just a throwing issue, it will pass with rest. Acosta will be charged with help from Danny Wheat to slightly modify the delivery to avoid recurrence. If it's not throwing related, then a plethora of other issues arise. Is there a bone spur? Is the tendon fraying? How is the blood supply to the region? etc, etc, etc. This would be the bad news. I am not worried too much about it right now, because what I am hearing from the reports is that it's tendonitis. They are saying all the right things that are consistent with a normal recovery. The bad news is that Zim will likely be shelved for a while. I would expect a stint on the DL to start the year. I'm just glad it's not worse and that we were fortunate enough to get Rocker's talent to fill in until Zim returns and resumes the closers role. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Zim!
Doc
|