Tigers' Joel Zumaya to Have Surgery

Though the Tigers initially hoped he wouldn't have to undergo a procedure, injured reliever Joel Zumaya will have surgery on his fractured right elbow after all. He'll go under the knife next week and will have a screw inserted in his elbow to stabilize the fracture.

Zumaya's season ended a week ago when he suffered a non-displaced break of his olecranon, the curved tip of bone at the end of the ulna, on a pitch to outfielder Delmon Young in the eighth inning of a win over the Twins.

Given the apparent severity of the injury at the time and his poor track record in the health department, Detroit feared the worst, but the initial diagnosis was greeted positively, particularly because it meant Zumaya might be able to escape the operating table.

Though that isn't going to happen, the team is still optimistic about Zumaya in general, especially because there was no ligament damage along with the fracture.

"It's a very, very common surgery, really, to be perfectly honest with you," Tigers head trainer Kevin Rand said. "With the olecranon fracture through the bone, [it] was probably the best option as far as stabilization and to strengthen that area for him to pitch in the future."

Said manager Jim Leyland: "It is what it is. They just felt that was the best thing to do, I guess. ... I think we got the best of the worst news when we found out what it was."