"It's something that I kind of battled with in August and Septemeber," months where he permitted opponents to hit a .162 average and crafted a 0.42 ERA. "I felt good coming into mini-camp [a month ago]; probably cranked it up a little too much there. I tried to psyche myself out and say it wasn't anything. I took about a week off after mini-camp. Didn't feel great. I felt like I could throw, but I wouldn't do any help to myself or the team. Got it checked out. Just got a little setback."
"Nothing structural. It's like tendinitis -- a little strain in the forearm."
"Hopefully, it won't be anything that lingers around all year. Get it taken care of now. If I miss two weeks to a month, it's better than missing the whole year. This is the first time I've really dealt with any elbow [problem]. I mean, I've never had surgery on anything. That's not even in the question right now -- that's a positive. I just kind of want to make sure it's gone and be healthy for the rest of the year."
UPDATE, 10:40 a.m.: Huntington dmitted that he's continuing to look at what free-agent relievers remain available, but the Pirates are "content" with what bullpen alternatives they have on hand.
"We'd go get somebody else now, if we were that panicked about our bullpen. We like the options that we have. Especially as you start looking at Ascanio, Cotts and Yates coming at some point this summer. And Joel, we still think he's going to come back relatively quickly -- it may be a month, it may be two months, it may be two weeks. We don't really know yet.
"There are still some guys out there we've talked to. But, at this point in time, we're content with the bullpen. We like [Octavio] Dotel at the back end, we like [Brendan] Donnelly and Evan Meek pitching late in the game. We'll have enough options internally to fill the middle of our bullpen, and look forward to Joel getting healthy and coming back.
"Now somebody will step up. We got some guys that have done that before. We got some guys with the stuff to do that now. We got some guys who can mature in. We feel good about where we are.
"The reality is, Joel's probably not going to be ready for opening day. Is it May 1? Is it June 1? We'll know more as we get more doctor information. . . .He is very likely to start the season on the DL and may even miss some time during the season."헬러한이 부상으로 오프닝데이는 물론이고 언제 돌아올지 장담하지 못하겠지만, 도텔과 도넬리를 영입했기때문에 당장 급한 입장은 아닙니다. 여차하면 복귀가 예상되고 있는 케빈 하트(Kevin Hart)까지 릴리프로 활용할 수 있으니...일단 헬러한이 부상당한 부위가 flexor pronator strain라고 하던데, 이 것은 J. J. 푸츠(J.J. Putz)가 당했던 부상부위와 흡사하다고 합니다.그리고 내야 유틸리티인 라몬 바스퀘스(Ramon Vazquez)가 지난 11월에 arthroscopic surgery를 했다고 합니다. 이 수술은 메츠의 카를로스 벨트란이 받은 수술과 동일한데, 이렇게 되면 포수훈련을 하고 있는 닐 워커(Neil Walker)가 트리플 A가 아닌 빅리그에서 시작할 수도 있을거 같네요.
by akira8190
