my friend had this same exact surgery with brian kelly in ny over the summer in july. he is still not allowed to run. he is a d1 athlete as well, not your average joe.

Jason Donald, please report to the manager's office.

I'm still in the "we just won the World Series" mode.

save us manny

World f'ing champions!

Hip f'ing surgery!

No Nick Punto.

Bruntlett will hold down the fort.

CalvinBall wrote:Bruntlett will hold down the fort.

Unfortunately he'll play over Donald.

This could be the perfect opportunity for the Brunt dog to earn the redemption he not only seeks but in fact craves. Also he is an able holder downer of forts as per his Civil War experience

is that what you're hearing?

ek wrote:he may be back though around the start of the season, right?

Well, if it's the 4 month estimate, then yes. I really can't envision he'll miss opening night.

I have a feeling we're starting with the absolute best case most optimistic prognostication here ek

iguchi

My reaction:

My reaction was mostly disappointment, but a sense of relief. I knew he was hurt by the time August rolled around. I was just waiting for the announcement. Oh well. Get 'em in 2010.

this is not a huge issue.

we have 2 minor leaguers who are capable of at least playing replacement level baseball in harman and donald. (though i'd really like cardenas back now) and utley will be back before we get too deep into the season.

and if he comes back healthy and is playing anywhere near the level he was before the injury, he'll be so much more valuable than he was in the latter half of this past season anyway.

Utley will be there on Opening Night. Book it.

It's pretty clear that Utley's 2nd half power shortage (compared to his first half) was due to the hip injury. That Utley actually played with this at a very high level is amazing.

Utley is obviously a tough guy, which is good. He might very well be recovered by the beginning of the season. And if this thing is something that is truly fixed by surgery, he may have a monster year. He played so well with a bad hip, he might very well revert to his pre-injury master blaster form. (we might call this the Lidge effect). That would be cool.

Ideally, this opens the door for Donald and he does well. Then, when Utley comes back, you have a great 2Bman and perhaps a "super utility"/3Bman type who really strngthens the lineup and bench.

Of course, the worst case is that this injury isn't really fixable and Utley isn't the same again and Donald falls on his face. That would be a bad thing of course.

Brunt kinda proved last year he's not really suited for every day use. He hits lefties OK at times but he doesn't have enough bat or glove to be all that valuable as an everyday guy. I really hope they don't think Nick Punto is any kind of solution.

I have an concern that hip surgery at 30 might lead to diminished range for him at 2B.

Hopefully the procedure only goes as far as an arthro-fucking-scopic procedure.