May 5th, 2019 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka I’ve got some good news and some bad news.
The good news, at least for fans of struggling Dodgers center fielder A.J. Pollock, is that he came through his surgery on Thursday successfully; a procedure to remove metal hardware that had been inserted in the growth plate of his right (throwing) elbow during a surgery in 2016. (He also had surgery on the same elbow in 2010).
The bad news, at least for fans of struggling Dodgers center fielder A.J. Pollock, is that he is expected to be out for what is being called “the foreseeable future”
“Right now, successful surgery, taking out the hardware, on the antibiotics, had the surgery [on Wednesday] night, was able to get out of the hospital today, so he’s back at home resting, recovering,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters prior to Friday’s game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. “I think now we just sit and wait, understanding that the bone structure is still in place, which is really important, and the time-line to return, that’s going to be contingent on the healing.”
Asked if we’re talking about an extended period of time, the Dodgers skipper was rather forthcoming.
“Yeah. I think that right now as far as he’s got to heal up and at some point in time he’s going to start playing catch and doing all those other things,” Roberts answered. “That’ll kind of tell us more about when we expect him back, but right now, for the foreseeable future, he’s in recovery mode.”
As Dodger fans know, the longtime pain in the Dodgers neck during his seven seasons with the division-rival Arizona Diamondbacks got off to a very slow start after signing a very lofty (and very creative) 4-year / $55 million contract through the 2022 season with a player option for 2023 and a boatload of performance bonuses:
Now for the cold, hard, painful truth. In the 28 games that the 31-year-old Hebron, Connecticut native and Dback first-round draft pick in 2009 out of Notre Dame, played in for the Dodgers, he was 23-for-103 (.223) with two home runs and 14 RBI. But here again, that’s the good news (if you care to call it that). The bad news is that prior to Pollock being placed on the Injured List on April 29 for what was initially called an elbow infection, he was three for his last 19 at-bats (.158). In other words (and I apologize if this sounds harsh), he sucked.
The real good news is that with Pollock out “for the foreseeable future,” extremely popular soon-to-be (on May 15) 23-year-old outfielder Alex Verdugo is seeing a lot more playing time, as he well should. All the young Tucson, Arizona native and Dodgers second-round draft pick in 2014 (out of Sahuaro High School in Tucson) has done is post a .346 batting average (second on the team to only Cody Bellinger‘s ridiculous .415), a .376 on-base percentage, a .605 slugging percentage, for an excellent .981 OPS. He has also hit five doubles, two triples, and four home runs, while driving in 17 runs.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)
A.J. who?
Play Ball!
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“Foreseeable future”, lol. Dodger brass’ way of saying they’re relieved they don’t have to hold Verdugo back from being a big-league regular anymore. Pollock’s injury only hurts Pollock himself because he might not have a starting job the moment he comes back from rehab later this season (if he does manage to return this season, that is).
I’m thinking of both Pollock and Kelly, which the situations are similar, in the way that they were both what you would call “Dodger killers”. We hated to go against Kelly in the World Series and to face Pollock during the regular season. Now that they are both Dodgers, I guess the only good thing about it is we don’t have to face them again. Otherwise they’ve not been helping us much, at least right now.