Luke Scott Progressing; Avoids Surgery
By Editorial Staff
The Orioles received some good news this week on injured left fielder Luke Scott.
Baltimore placed Scott on the disabled list last week with a tear in his labrum and it was feared the slugger may require season ending surgery.
But reports were positive Monday as Scott met with team orthopedist John Wilckens. Wilckens confirmed that the tear in Scott’s shoulder is progressing and that surgery will not be required at this point.
Scott will receive another cortisone shot and hopes that is enough to hold him over for a while. As the Braves and Nationals have seen with Chipper Jones and Adam LaRoche, the injections can lose their effectiveness over time so surgery may still be required down the road.
After the diagnosis, Baltimore is expecting Scott to return on or around the day he is eligible to come off the DL, July 19th.
That won’t give Scott much time on the field before the trade deadline arrives, as his name’s been floated as a possible trade piece. He’s shown ability to be productive in the past, but has struggled this season so the Orioles will be selling very low on Scott if they did decide to move him.
Baltimore does have some depth in the outfield to allow a deal to be made. Felix Pie and Nolan Reimold have taken over in left while Scott’s been on the shelf. Both have shown flashes of potential in the past, and Reimold’s posted a .780 OPS with 4 home runs and 12 RBIs over 27 games with this O’s this season.
Still nothing is likely to happen with Scott’s down year and injury. At this point I’m sure Baltimore will be happy with continued progress and some resemblance of production out of Scott
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