The good news from Sean Burnett‘s Monday visit with Dr. James Andrews is that he won’t require surgery — not yet, anyway.
The bad news is his left elbow, which has landed him on the disabled list twice and limited him to 13 appearances in the first 10 weeks, will be shut down. Burnett was ordered to stay away from throwing for a month. If he feels good after that, he can activate his arm again, and if that goes well, he can start throwing off a mound a few weeks later.
In short: Burnett won’t be back any time soon.
The 30-year-old left-hander, signed to a two-year, $8 million deal in December, was “devastated.”
“The way I try to go about my business is to be available every day and do the best I can,” Burnett said. “Right now, I can’t do anything. Coming into a new team, it’s disappointing. I feel like a huge disappointment, to tell you the truth.”
On Monday, Burnett traveled to Birmingham, Ala., to visit Dr. Andrews, the noted orthopeudic surgeon who performed his Tommy John surgery in 2004 and removed two bone spurs from his left elbow this offseason. He was given a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) shot and told to be patient.
Burnett, signed to a two-year, $8 million contract in December, missed 22 games while on the DL from April 28 to May 21 with what the team called left forearm irritation.
During that time, on May 4, he visited with Andrews, who confirmed the diagnosis, and Burnett was told there’s no structural damage around his elbow and was given an anti-inflammatory. A week after returning, he landed on the DL once again, this time with a left elbow impingement he said was unrelated to the previous ailment. He was expected to be activated this past Monday — the first day he’s eligible — but has been relegated to throwing only from flat ground.
“I went down there [on May 4] to try to get back as soon as possible, and get back and try to help the team win, and it didn’t work out,” Burnett said. “So, instead of trying it my way, we’re going to try it the doctor’s way this time and hopefully this is a better outome. Still a bit of a question mark, but it’s looking very positive.”
Asked if he’s worried he’ll need a second Tommy John surgery, Burnett said: “It’s popped in my head over the last couple of weeks, yeah. That’s the biggest scare. But I did take the doctor’s word. He was very positive on it, he’s a guy I deal with all the time. I have to take his word on it.”
– Alden
