Tom Glavine has elbow and unexpected shoulder surgery
Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 1:38 am
While Braves veteran Tom Glavine was under anesthesia for elbow surgery Thursday, Dr. James Andrews also did a relatively minor shoulder surgery on his pitching arm.
That was the only surprising news out of Birmingham, where the 42-year-old left-hander went in for elbow surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon. Well, surprising for everyone except Glavine, Andrews and Braves officials.
Turns out, Glavine and the Braves knew before Thursday that he would also have the arthroscopic procedure to “clean up” the labrum in his shoulder, although neither he nor the team announced it until after the operations were completed.
Glavine had discomfort in his shoulder during the season and asked Andrews to care of that while Glavine was on the operating table.
Braves manager Bobby Cox said the surgeries went “very well” and that Glavine should be ready for spring training, provided he wants to continue pitching and the Braves want him back. The 305-game winner said he would retire rather than pitch for another team at this point of his career, and Glavine also said he doesn’t expect to make a decision about his future until five weeks or so when he’s back at the ballpark doing rehab work on his arm.
The Braves have declined to address whether they have discussed or made any decisions involving Glavine’s possible future with the club.
In a statement from the team, general manager Frank Wren said: “We were pleased by the report that there was not a significant injury to the elbow or shoulder that would prevent Tom from pitching in the future.”
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