As we learned yesterday, Chicago Cubs pitcher has opted for surgery on his right shoulder. The procedure, he believes, gives him the best chance of having a Major League career going forward.
”I’ve always been a positive guy,” Guzman, 28, said Thursday. ”I consider myself a hard-working guy. And I’m just going to keep it that way and hopefully come back next year 100 percent.”
Guzman has a badly torn ligament in the shoulder near the armpit. The surgery can’t repair the ligament, but it might correct some of the instability in the shoulder. Either way, it’s said to be a career-threatening procedure.
But Guzman is staying positive and said Andrews agreed that surgery might give him the best shot of resuming his career.
”He told me not to think of [the odds], not to worry about it,” Guzman said. ”It’s something that a lot of pitchers have done before, and I’m just one more of them. It makes me feel better, and I think that’s a good start.”
Guzman, who was the Cubs’ best reliever last season, had two surgeries earlier in his career. One was on his right elbow and the other on his right shoulder, each performed by Andrews.
”It’s life, you know,” he said of his positive outlook. ”As long as you come back, you learn about life. And sometimes when life doesn’t go your way, you have to find the way to make those situations work in your favor.” CHICAGO SUN-TIMES.
Nobody expects Guzman to come back from the surgery, which will be on Tuesday, any time soon. In fact, you can pretty much just assume that his season is over.
But what about his days as a Cub?
Hard to predict. The Cubs will have to decide at the end of this season whether to tender Guzman a contract, as he has two years of arbitration left. A player can only have his salary reduced by a maximum of 10% in arbitration, so Guzman would stand to make close to $1 million again in 2011, even though he wouldn’t have pitched in over a year. That means it’s likely he’ll be non-tendered – and then what happens is anyone’s guess. It will depend on how his recovery is going; how much other teams are willing to risk on him; how much he wants to return to Chicago.
So many questions. But we may have seen the last of Angel Guzman as a Chicago Cub. If so, I’ll gladly wish him the best of luck.