As Hoboken reported in the Open Thread, Josh Johnson will join the other Marlins pitchers in the Tommy John surgery club.
Johnson, one of the Marlins' promising young starters, is scheduled to undergo elbow ligament replacement surgery, commonly referred to as Tommy John surgery, today in Birmingham, Ala.
The procedure will be performed by Dr. James Andrews. The surgery means Johnson will be out for at least the next calendar year and might delay his return until the start of the 2009 season.
This really comes as no surprise that he will be undergoing surgery but what does raises an eyebrow is the point Hoboken brought up: "How the heck didn't any doctor realize that Josh Johnson needed Tommy John before to day. Does Doctor Andrews have a special X-Ray finder that can only check for certain ligaments?"
I guess Dr. Andrews was an A-student in med school and the others got C's. Actually, the probably explanation is that Dr. Andrews is a specialist in the field and is considered the best. The other doctors, while quite capable, don't concentrate just on these type of injuries in their practices.