Robertson To Visit Dr. Andrews

Just before game time yesterday came the news that David Robertson was off to see Dr. James Andrews. As the news trickled out, it was reported that Robertson has been battling "tightness" in his elbow for about two weeks. It doesn't appear to have had any effect on Robertson's pitching over that time, as he's been getting better as the season wears on. However, Robertson apparently has pain after pitching, and at this point, the prudent thing to do is to have it checked out.

After the initial shock of the news the passed and more details leaked out, there is reason to be cautiously optimistic. D-Rob has already had an MRI on the elbow and it came clean. He has no history of elbow problems. He's been able to pitch effectively and uninhibited since this issue cropped up. He told Peter Abraham "I'm confident it's going to be nothing". Interestingly, Robertson will be traveling to Andrews' Pensacola, FL office rather than seeing him in his native Birmingham, AL.

In my opinion, Robertson sits behind only Mo and Hughes in the bullpen pecking order at present. He's steadily improved over the course of the season and his current 13.39 K/9 is tops in the American League and second in MLB (behind Jonathan Broxton).

Robertson will be the third Yankee pitcher to visit the famed orthopedic surgeon this year, following Brian Bruney in May, Damaso Marte in June, and Chien-Ming Wang in July. Bruney and Marte left with clean bills of health; Wang had shoulder surgery the day after his visit. Let's hope Robertson winds up in the same group as Bruney and Marte.

I had initially planned to take a look at the state of the Yankee bullpen without Robertson, but in light of the semi-positive outlook and in the interests of good karma, I'll put that off unless it becomes necessary.