Tampa Bay Rays' B.J. Upton has surgery to repair labrum
As expected, Rays centerfielder B.J. Upton underwent surgery Tuesday to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
The surgery was deemed successful, and Upton is expected to be "100 percent" sometime during spring training, according to Rick Vaughn, Rays vice president of communications. Executive VP Andrew Friedman said it's too early to give a timetable on Upton's return, but he said Upton should be in position to be in the Opening Day lineup.
The surgery was performed by Dr. James Andrews in Alabama.
Upton is coming off a stellar postseason, in which he hit seven home runs and had 16 RBI. Upton had hit just nine homers in the regular season, but reluctantly revealed late in the year that he was playing with the labrum injury.
Upton made some mechanical adjustments and had said he was feeling better during the postseason, but acknowledged he'd likely need surgery to fix the problem.
Friedman said that the Rays are still going through tests and scans to see whether veteran RHP Troy Percival will indeed need surgeries on his back and knee, which the 39-year-old thought he might require in the offseason.
Joe Smith, Times Staff Writer
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Follow Tampa Bay Rays baseball from spring training to the World Series with Marc Topkin, Joe Smith and the St. Petersburg Times sports staff. From Evan Longoria to B.J. Upton and James Shields, we're your source for Tampa Bay Rays scores and schedules.
I am always amazed with bloggers. They are the most fickle people in the world. Three months ago they wanted BJ's head calling him lazy, stupid and clueless. What a difference a post season makes. I think BJ has matured and will be a great player next year but you have to be careful not to put your expectations to high or just a good year could be deemed a failure.
Posted by: CharlieRay | November 14, 2008 at 09:37 AM
MVP in 2009!
Posted by: Rick | November 13, 2008 at 03:38 PM
Gimme a B!
Gimme a J!
Now GIMME A BJ!!!!
^^^ Best chant ever.
Posted by: McLovin | November 12, 2008 at 08:43 PM
if Bj comes back to play anything close to what we saw in the playoffs, he will win the MVP next year. What an impressive talent and the guy I am most excited to see play next year(closely followed by price and longoria).
Posted by: mike | November 12, 2008 at 05:28 PM
i'm pretty sure professional sports will stop being played once dr. james andrews retires.
Posted by: skp | November 12, 2008 at 04:54 PM
If Upton will not sign long term with us by the time CFer Desmond Jennings is ready in 1 to 1 1/2 years,trade him for someone like Jay Bruce,who could play RF.
Posted by: Gene | November 12, 2008 at 04:53 PM
We should get two stellar years from BJ. I'm talking 30/100/40. Then comes the decision to resign.
Posted by: nick | November 12, 2008 at 04:29 PM
how rich is dr. james andrews?? seriously he does every pro athletes' surgery
Posted by: | November 12, 2008 at 03:56 PM
Heal quickly and completely BJ. Looking forward to you playing at 100% in 2009. That should be something to see!
Posted by: PTownFan | November 12, 2008 at 03:50 PM