Tim Byrdak Has Anterior Capsule Tear, Surgery Likely

Mets reliever Tim Byrdak, who was placed on the disabled list on Saturday, has been diagnosed with an anterior capsule tear in his left shoulder, which is the same injury that sidelined Johan Santana for more than a year. It's not yet known if Byrdak will seek a second opinion, but if the diagnosis holds he'll be looking at major surgery that will likely necessitate a considerable recovery timeframe.

Apart from Santana, the following pitchers have also undergone anterior capsule surgery and their collective post-surgery performance and stability leaves much to be desired:

Bret Saberhagen
Mark Prior
Chris Young
Chien-Ming Wang
Rich Harden
Dallas Braden

Byrdak, who will turn 39 on Halloween, appeared in 72 games for the Mets in 2011 and another 56 so far in 2012 before his arm became infirm. He has only logged 335 big league innings in an eleven-year career, but total innings don't always tell the whole story. The mounting number of appearances is indicative of pitching activity — how many times he got up in the bullpen, threw warm-up tosses, got loose, came into a game, and then pitched at maximum effort. Those numbers tell a different story altogether.