Mariners’ Charlie Furbush to have surgery after failed rehab attempt
Aug 10, 2016, 4:41 PM | Updated: Aug 11, 2016, 9:19 am
Mariners reliever Charlie Furbush, who has been out since July 2015, will be out another 12-18 months. (AP)
(AP)
Mariners reliever Charlie Furbush will have surgery Tuesday to repair a partially torn rotator cuff, an injury he has spent a year attempting to rehab. After stops and starts since his initial injury in July 2015, an MRI revealed the tear had not healed and it has been determined that surgery at this point is the best course of action.
“After my back-to-back (outings at Triple-A in late July), I just had some achy-ness in there,” Furbush said Wednesday afternoon. “They thought it was a good idea to get an MRI done and it still revealed the same tear I had last year. We decided it would be best to move forward and get it fixed.”
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Team medical director Dr. Edward Khalfayan will perform the surgery, and noted shoulder specialist Dr. James Andrews agreed with the assessment. The recovery time for rotator cuff surgery is 12-18 months and Furbush said a realistic goal for return would be spring training 2018.
It’s clearly disappointing news for Furbush after spending over a year trying to return. He’s taking the approach that surgery will fix the problem once and for all, though.
“It is what it is,” he said. “I knew the whole time going into it either the rehab was going to work or it wasn’t. I just kept it simple as that. I tried to work as hard as I could. Unfortunately it didn’t work out but at the end of the day, part of me is somewhat excited to get it done. I know now this is the real road to recovery.”
The Mariners had been hopeful that they would have Furbush in the bullpen, if not right out of spring training then shortly after. While he took steps forward and showed progress, he often had trouble bouncing back after throw days.
“I saw flashes of it, I did,” he answered when asked if he saw what he wanted when he was on the hill. “I still felt like I was competing, giving it everything I had. I felt comfortable. I think overall the (velocity) was down just a couple of ticks, 88-89, and still had some kind of success, but overall I think the recovery was the one thing that nipped me in the bud. I have got to be able to bounce back quicker than I was.”
