Barton, Smith Go Under The Knife

[love_that_reefer]

Oakland Athletics first baseman Daric Barton has undergone surgery on his right hip, while left-handed pitcher Greg Smith had an operation to removed loose bodies from the elbow on his throwing arm.

Both procedures were performed Friday, the team said Tuesday.

Barton batted .226 with nine home runs and 47 RBI in his first full major league season in 2008, playing in 140 games. The 24-year-old Smith went 7-16 with a 4.16 ERA over 32 starts and 190 2/3 innings in his first big league season.

Barton had a really disappointing rookie year after showing promise in the 18 games he played the previous year and hopefully it can be attributed to having a bad hip. The good news is he is only 22 and plenty of room to grow as a player. Smith had a better season than his record showed. He had a surprising rookie year leading the team in innings and sporting a 4.16 ERA. Hopefully they have speedy recoveries.

[Providence A's]

Barton never even had a full-season at AAA. I think they rushed him. What was the point in calling him up so early? Let him get some experience at AAA and call him up when he's ready. Smith, meh...irrelevant to me.

[love_that_reefer]

Greg Smith underwent surgery Friday to remove what the A's called "loose bodies" from his pitching elbow.
According to assistant general manager David Forst, Smith suffered the injury while at home recently. "Apparently, he was going to sit down and braced himself on a chair when he felt a pop," Forst said. "The doctors speculated that maybe he had a bone spur that became dislodged, so they went in and cleaned some things out. It was kind of a freak thing." Smith is expected to need 6-8 weeks of recovery time, but is scheduled to be ready for spring training.

You have got to be shitting me!!

[Providence A's]

ummmm, time for more calcium and vitamin D?