AP Photo/Duane Burleson
I think I'm the absolute last person in the Detroit Tigers blogosphere to post something on this today, so I'll understand if you read this with glazed eyes while you go over your Saturday night plans. I've always thought if you can't finish first, you might as well come in last, so you can get that nice draft pick.
When reports began to circulate (oooh, maybe that's a poor word choice) last night about Jeremy Bonderman going on the disabled list due to circulation problems in his shoulder, it seemed likely that this story wasn't going to end well. At the very least, he was probably going to be out for a while.
Unfortunately for Bondo and the Tigers, the news is pretty bad. Bonderman will miss the rest of the season with a condition that apparently can't be explained in layman's terms. Here's a description from The Detroit Tigers Weblog:
Bonderman was examined yesterday at the Detroit Medical Center and it was determined he has a blood clot of the axillary vein due to thoracic outlet compression syndrome. Bonderman underwent a thromblysis last night, followed by an angioplasty this morning at the Detroit Medical Center, performed by Dr. Monte Harvill under the supervision of team physician Dr. Stephen Lemos.
Any time you have to use Google to figure out how serious something is, or find yourself needing to consult a medical journal or anatomy book (or in my case, calling up my sister, the doctor, and asking her if she's ever heard of this stuff), it just can't be good. Bonderman might even need to undergo another procedure (perhaps the removal of a rib), depending on what caused the blood clot to form in his shoulder.
According to Will Carroll, Bonderman's condition is similar to an affliction Aaron Cook dealt with a couple of years ago. (However, it appears that Bondo's problems were addressed before they became as dire as Cook's.) For what it's worth, Cook seems to have recovered nicely.
In lieu of this development, Armando Galarraga can probably rest assured he's not going back to Toledo this season (barring a collapse in his performance). And Dontrelle Willis rejoined the Tigers' pitching staff just in time. But this is most certainly a blow to a pitching staff that's already been stretched quite thin, with not a lot of help available in the minors. Withstanding another big injury will be difficult if it comes to that.