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| 25th April, 2006 - 12:08 am | The Toronto Star - An examination by Dr. James Andrews found no structural damage in A.J. Burnett's right elbow Monday and the Toronto Blue Jays hope the diagnosis will end their starter's doubts about the health of his arm.
The club said Andrews, who performed ligament-replacement surgery on Burnett's elbow in 2003, found a mild sprain of Burnett's ulnar collateral ligament and slight straining of scar tissue in the elbow during the exam in Birmingham, Ala.
It is a reoccurrence of the same injury Burnett suffered during spring training and forced him to start the season on the disabled list, although the Blue Jays kept the ligament sprain secret at the time.
A team official said Monday that the sprained ligament wasn't cause for concern and that Burnett can pitch to his pain threshold without damaging it further. Other officials privately feel Burnett needs to suck it up and pitch through the pain without worrying about blowing out his elbow again since there are no major problems.
They won't put any pressure on him to rush back, however, preferring to let Burnett get comfortable with the injury before activating him from the disabled list.
"We're doing everything we're supposed to do," general manager J.P. Ricciardi said Saturday. "If the guy tells you he's hurt, you have to respect that, you've got to go with it.
"But we're not alarmed."
The team will re-evaluate Burnett when he's eligible to come off the disabled list May 7. [READ] |
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