Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Detroit Tigers left fielder Andy Dirks had back surgery yesterday. All seems well according to the Tigers’ PR department Twitter…
Andy Dirks underwent successful microdiscectomy surgery to repair an injured back yesterday morning. (1/3)
— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) March 11, 2014
So I’m not a doctor, saw the word “microdisectomy” and wondered (aloud) “Huh?”. Here’s what I found.
According to Spine Universe, a disectomy is performed in order to “remove the part of your intervertebral disc that’s putting pressure on your nerve and causing you pain”. The back muscles are also cut during this process. There is the possibility for significant damage to occur to the back muscles.
With a microdisectomy, the goal is the same, but it is a minimally invasive procedure. The incision is smaller due to the specialized instruments and tools used. The injury to the back muscles are lessened and the time required for rehab is decreased. The Tigers PR also tweets that after six weeks of rest and rehab, Dirks will be able to resume baseball activities.
That would be the end of April, so Dirks will be missing some significant time, but we pretty much expected that. We’re probably looking at Dirks missing a couple of months – purely my speculation.
The Rajai Davis signing is now looking like a big off-season move by Tiger GM Dave Dombrowski. Sure, the Tigers will be looking for a lefty bat to fill Dirks’ void, and currently the options don’t appear all that impressive.
Will Dombrowski make another deal? Can the Tigers withstand missing Dirks’ glove for a two month (maybe more) period?