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It's official: Dylan Bundy has a partial tear in his elbow and will undergo Tommy John surgery on Thursday in Florida.
Here's Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun, who was the first to have the news:
Doctors found a partial tear in Bundy's right elbow and it had worsened, according to his agent.
— Dan Connolly (@danconnollysun) June 26, 2013
Given that today is the first day we have heard the word "tear" - or, for that matter, "elbow" - in relation to Bundy's injury, it's curious to hear this reference in past tense. If they knew about a tear all along, why the charade about platelet-rich plasma treatment and rest and resuming throwing? Why let him resume throwing at all if all parties were aware that there was a partial tear?
The above tweet seems to indicate that our worst fears were true, and all that's been done is wasting time. They have known something was off about Bundy since spring training. It's easy for me to say since I don't have to have a knife taken to my elbow ligaments, but any time there are mystery forearm injuries, it seems like that surgery is inevitable.
Now, instead of Bundy returning during spring training next year, he won't be back to where he can resume his work until around the All-Star Break next year. Twelve months is generally the expected recovery time. Dreams of Bundy bolstering the rotation down the stretch this year are long gone.
Everything we've ever seen and heard about Bundy indicates that he'll work hard to come back at his previous strength as soon as is biologically possible. He is still a young man, just 20 years old, and could have a long and great baseball career ahead of him.
As long as he is on the 40-man roster but assigned to the minor leagues, Bundy will not accumulate MLB service time while recovering. So unlike Stephen Strasburg, the Orioles don't lose a year of Bundy as a result of the Tommy John.
Best of luck to Dylan on the surgery and recovery. The Orioles will still be there when he's ready to play again. Hopefully they'll even still be winning.