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Johnson is Alabama bound

As reported by Bumppo in last night's Open Thread, Josh Johnson has had a setback.

Josh Johnson has encountered another setback, and this one may result in the Marlins' right-hander missing more than a year.

The Marlins on Thursday afternoon announced that the 23-year-old right-hander has right elbow stiffness. Johnson was examined by team physician, Dr. Dan Kanell on Thursday, and sometime next week he will pay a visit to orthopedic surgeon, Dr. James Andrews, in Birmingham, Ala.

If Tommy John ligament replacement surgery is needed, Johnson could miss a substantial portion if not all of 2008.

With any luck, Dr. Andrews won't find anything structurally wrong with his arm that will require surgery.  But I wouldn't get my hopes up.

This really isn't a surprise since he has been troubled with roughly the same injury for a few months short of a year now.  If he needs surgery, then so be it.  But if he does, that idea the club had about making a title run in 2008 will be looking further in the distance.