Cory Wade will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder, and likely miss three months. Wade, who was on the disabled list twice last season with right shoulder problems, will have the surgery performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles on Wednesday, the team announced today.
Ken Gurnick of MLB.com has some details:
"If they don't find anything major, I'm looking at a three-month time frame," Wade said. "Nobody wants surgery, but it's come to a point where we need to figure something out."
Wade said he will return Thursday to rehab at Camelback Ranch-Glendale. The Dodgers are off Tuesday.
Gurnick also gives us an update on Hong-Chih Kuo, who missed his scheduled start in Taiwan with elbow soreness:
Meanwhile, manager Joe Torre said he's relatively confident that Kuo will be ready for the start of the season, even though last week Kuo developed soreness in a left elbow that has undergone four operations already.
"He made 15 throws Sunday in Taiwan, just testing to see how it felt, and he was OK," said Torre. "I think he'll be ready [for Opening Day]."
Coupled with the likelihood that Ronald Belisario, currently in Venezuela still battling visa problems, won't start the season with the club, the Dodger bullpen depth is being severely tested this spring.
The Dodgers' 40-man roster currently has 39 players, and with the likelihood of adding two or more non-roster invitees to the active roster by opening day -- from the group of Garret Anderson, Doug Mientkiewicz, Jeff Weaver, Ramon Ortiz, and the like -- another roster move or two will likely be needed to create room on the 40-man roster. With Wade's injury, he can be placed on the 60-day disabled list, which would open up a spot on the 40-man.