Duchscherer set for elbow surgery

Justin Duchscherer will have arthroscopic elbow surgery next week, likely causing the Oakland Athletics' two-time All-Star to miss at least the first month of the season.

Manager Bob Geren announced the surgery Friday, but he said the team has not yet determined when or where Duchscherer will have the operation. He also said the team won't know how long Duchscherer will be out until after the surgery.

Typically, a pitcher would miss at least six weeks with an arthroscopic procedure on his elbow.


"Anytime you lose a guy it's disappointing, especially when the player is a possible No. 1 guy," Geren said.

The 31-year-old Duchscherer had been bothered by a sore elbow almost the entire spring. Last week he had two encouraging bullpen sessions, but when he tried to pitch in a minor league game on Thursday, he had to leave in the first inning because of elbow pain.

An All-Star in 2005 and 2008, Duchscherer was 10-8 with a 2.54 ERA. He missed the end of the season with a hip injury, his second stint on the disabled list.

Without Duchscherer, Dallas Braden likely will start on opening night.

A-ROD WON'T SEE TEAM: Alex Rodriguez's rehabilitation from right hip surgery will keep him from returning to the Yankees' spring training complex until after the team heads to New York to play two exhibition games.

Rodriguez has been rehabbing in Vail, Colo., where he had surgery on March 9. Rodriguez is working out in a pool, doing a range of motion drills and lifting weights.

"He'll be back after we're gone," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "All is going good."

Rodriguez is expected to be out until May.

DICE-K THROWS: Daisuke Matsuzaka had his first bullpen session of the spring with the Boston Red Sox after being named the MVP of the World baseball Classic.

Matsuzaka struggled with his control in the 54-pitch session ahead of his first Grapefruit League game of the season Monday against the Braves in Orlando.

Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell said Matsuzaka's wildness was understandable considering all the traveling he has done.

"I think, all things considered, it was kind of what we had expected, worldwide travel, west coast travel, getting in late the other night, still adjusting to the east coast," Farrell said. "So, he had a chance to throw all his pitches ... in his bullpen session. So, he'll go Monday and we'll look to be in that 70- to 75-pitch range."

TABATA DIDN'T KNOW: Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Jose Tabata said Friday his much older wife lied to him about being pregnant with his child before she was accused of abducting a 2-month-old baby girl, who has since been returned to her parents.

Tabata, speaking publicly for the first time since his wife's arrest earlier this week, also said 43-year-old Amalia Tabata Pereira never told him she was incarcerated for more than two years in an arson case years before they met.

According to Pirates general manager Neal Huntington, Tabata's wife showed off pictures of an infant and told the player that the baby was his, only to have Tabata learn hours after seeing the baby that the girl had been taken from her parents in Plant City, Fla., about 60 miles from Bradenton, where the Pirates train.

Pereira, arrested after the baby was handed over to authorities at a Bradenton shopping center on Tuesday, was taken Wednesday to the Hillsborough County Jail and is being held on $750,000 bond on an abduction charge.

from: newsobserver.com