.

Checkin' round the blog-o-sphere, we see that the mood covers the entire range of human emotion:

• UP - Iwakuma will merely miss the first half of the season, and give us 80 subpar innings later
• MID - His injury will linger, meaning they'll decide to operate in June
• LO - Iwakuma will never be able to grip the baseball again, not for shuutos

I'll defer to Gordon Gross on the rehab thing, but here are a few things we notice about Extensor Tendons in the literature:

(1) They can occur in XII different zones, from joint to fingertip or over the wrist, or along the thumb, or ... when did Super Bowls get in here again?

(2) You and I obviously know doodly squat about Extensor Tensons, particularly Iwakuma's.  Comparing his Extensor to some other pitcher's is like comparing Richard Sherman's smack talk to Russell Wilson's

(3) Doctors use two basic approaches:  they operate on ruptures, and they immobilize sprains.  Doesn't seem complicated.  I'll just bet you that the doctors were able to manage the right procedure on this one.

(4) Sprains to this tendon respond very well to COMPLETE rest.   Like, splint the hand and don't move your elbow and in 6 weeks it's as good as new.  (Y'know.)

(4a) So this breathless talk about "He won't even be able to TOUCH a baseball for THREE WEEKS!" ... well, Gordon is probably smiling about that.

(5) When Zduriencik says "We expect him in the rotation in early April" ... sure, this could be for the benefit of Ubaldo's agent, but I'll take it to mean that's what the doctors actually think.  

The injury itself is very straightforward, almost a binary diagnosis.  We are not talking about "Cole Hamels mysteriously can't throw without pain in his arm."  SSI is not freaking out here.

.........

(6) After last year's 300 innings ... a little extra time off IS a blessing in disguise.  Dr. D remembers breathing a sigh of relief when a young Freddy Garcia broke a leg bone.  This is in that category.

Hey, we'll need Iwakuma fresh for the ALCS.  C'mon now.

(7) Perhaps this will add a BIT of urgency to the M's.  If so, great.

.........

We all reserve the right to freak out.  Later.  As we stand, it's not that big a deal.  Great, great roto opportunity, kiddies.

BABVA,

Dr D