"If he was a horse, we'd have shot him." Those were the words of GM Josh Byrnes, announcing the release of Brandon Webb this morning. It appears his shoulder has not been making the progress the team had hoped, and it was decided that the best thing was to avoid a long, drawn-out process and cut ties now. The team will eat the remainder of Webb's salary for the season, but hope to recoup some of that from the glue factory to which Webb has been sold.
His position on the roster is expected to be taken by Kris Benson. An un-named team source said, "I'm pretty stoked. about that - I heard he's got a hot wife." More reaction after the jump.
April Fool!
Sheesh, you guys are just so gullible. I couldn't resist, especially after the news that Webb saw team doctor Michael Lee yesterday. Fortunately, early reports that he had undergone an MRI appear to be have been retracted since, with Webb saying, Lee "reassured me as [surgeon Keith] Meister and [team trainer Ken Crenshaw] that this stuff just takes time and not to push myself too hard."
Nick Piecoro notes that, "Recovery from shoulder surgery is hard to predict, but Webb looks to be behind schedule," giving a couple of examples of pitchers who had similar clean-up work performed on their shoulder, and were back throwing in 6-7 months. Of course, no two operations are the same, but I do wonder - and Nick mentions it too - whether this is as much a psychological issue as anything physical. Here's to a quick recovery, and me not having to use this headline for real later in the season... :-(