Is basically spot on, IMO. See here.
Now granted, I'm the same guy that told you that there's no way Tavaris comes back in a month from a grade 3 strain (read: tear) of the pec muscle. I still stand by that, so IMO that's not what he had.
But this?
So, in reality, as Spang said, if all is clear for Gutierrez by, say, April 1, you're still looking at about the third week in April before he's throwing up to professional grade.
At that point, you maybe send him out on a minor league rehab assignment, which carries him well into May.
No quick fix for this.
The good news, which Wahl noted, was that there is about a 70 percent athletic recovery rate from these types of injuries where the player comes back as strong.
That's about right. And that's for a partial tear, not a complete tear as Tavaris reportedly had. Pec muscle injuries are tough ones, especially for outfielders. One of the reasons Ackley moved to 1B in college was because he couldn't throw from the OF while he recovered from TJ surgery. Similarly, Franklin will be able to swing a bat before he'll be able to uncork a throw to home plate from CF.
So we can hope again that the diagnosis is a bit pessimistic.
I'm just glad we've prepped for an ineffective Guti with some of our roster moves, so we'll be able to handle a missing Guti. And better the first day of March than the first day of April for this injury.
~G