As an outsider looking in (one who has virtually no knowledge of medicine), my biggest problem boils down to "learning from mistakes". We make jokes about TJ surgery based on past results and two months later, boom, the player is getting TJ surgery. Is this normal? I have no idea but it sure seems like they should be learning from previous incidents and jumping on these injuries more quickly at this point. But, again, like almost every other poster on this board, I'm not in the position to make a truly qualified statement on the subject. I guess my question is what is considered the medical standard for treatment in these cases. In most areas of medicine, surgery is considered the option of last resort, because of the potential for complications for even a routine surgery. If there is a chance the injury can be healed without it, it's usually best to try. The complicating factor here, of course, is the lost playing time. In these cases the speed of recovery becomes a factor along with the completeness of the recovery. Should the medically standard treatment plan be different for ballplayers than for the rest of us? I don't know - it's a valid question.