There is no context given as to what "ready" means. Ready to pitch in a real live game against real live opponents in the regular season? Ready to start throwing and getting back into game shape and maybe rejoining the rotation around June? Ready to have a second procedure that will force him to miss the entire season? It's hard to say.
The definition of "ready" is nearly as important to the Cubs season as the performance of Dr. Lewis Yocum during the procedure itself. My guess is somewhere in the middle. I doubt the surgery is career threatening, but you never know with shoulders. I'm not expecting to see Ted in a game that matters until about Memorial Day. Anything before that is a bonus.
Of course, anytime Cubs fans hear about surgery for their pitchers, the looming spectre of Mark Prior and his towel drill haunts our sleep and causes us to wake up in a cold sweat.
Personally, I'm going to try to believe that his surgery will actually tighten the muscles in his arm to such an extent that he will be able to sling a ball with such velocity that no hitter will be able to touch him, and thus lead a rag-tag bunch of underachievers and their long-suffering fans to World Series immortality. I'm looking to turn this idea into a movie.
Of course, I may still just be delirious with fever.
--------------
UPDATE
--------------
Bruce Levine re-iterates the original report by the Chicago Tribune, but adds this nugget to give a little context to what "ready" means:
"The Cubs sources also said Lilly is projected at this point to be back in the rotation in April."
This may finally be the good news he promised us about a week ago.
Posts
4 comments:
Can I add in some plot to your movie? You should make one of the young-yet-long-suffering fans prays for the Cubs to win the World Series (screw the pennant) in order that his family can be reunited? If we get a storyboard going, I think this could turn out to be a blockbuster.
rich harden's agent is smiling...
I'm thinking of casting the one kid from the American Pie movies that has never really showed up in anything else. He seems to have a certain innocent quality that might be more of an easy sell to families than Ted's serial killer cold-bloodedness. I think we really have something here.
wpbc, probably, but I still don't think the Cubs bring him back. They'll break camp with Zambrano, Dempster, Wells, Marshall, and Gorzelanny with either Sean or Gorz heading to the bullpen upon Ted's return.
Post a Comment
The easiest way to comment is to choose the Name/URL option from the Comment As dropdown menu below. You do not need to put in a URL for this option to work.
Sometimes upon submitting the comment, you will get an error saying there is a problem. Submit the comment again and it should work. I am looking into correcting this glitch.