I spoke with Wandy Rodriguez this morning, and he said that he has been told he has arthritis in his left elbow (his pitching arm). This throws another wrinkle into Rodriguez’s injury saga that has been going on since the beginning of June, and really has no end in sight.
“I’ve had inflammation before,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve had that before, and this doesn’t feel the same.”
Rodriguez has been on the disabled list since June, and his last start came on June 5 against Atlanta when he pitched only a third of an inning and allowed a run on two hits. He was pulled from the game with forearm tightness, which later was learned to be inflammation in his elbow.
“The first time, the team doctor, I go to the team doctor and he said you have inflammation,” Rodriguez said. “Later, I said let me go for another doctor…He said you have arthritis, inflammation.”
The other doctor was Dr. James Andrews, who also told Rodriguez he will not require any surgery which was a relief on Rodriguez’s part.
“When I go [to the doctor] it’s scary because he might tell me you need surgery,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez says that he has been throwing hard lately, and that people have told him he looks good. But, he said he still feels pain in the elbow.
“It feels like it’s in the bone,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said the Pirates have had him on a regiment of alternating hot and cold compresses and using an ultrasound on his elbow, but that nothing has really helped him improve that much.
“It’s getting a little better, but I’m not ready to go,” Rodriguez said.
