By Victor Varadi - AngelsWin.com Columnist
(Anaheim, CA) Reporting from Angel Stadium - Victor Varadi from AngelsWin.com joined the members of the media who met with Kendry Morales' doctor to discuss the current prognosis of the injury. Here's the questions which were asked and the answers.
What’s the latest On Kendry Morales?
“ Well, we saw Kendry this morning. The injury yesterday was a fracture of the ankle, he broke the fibula as a result of hitting the base and sliding and twisting the ankle. As a result of that, we tentatively had surgery scheduled for this morning. But when we saw him at the hospital it became apparent that it was premature to consider surgery. He had an awful lot of swelling. We thought it was the best decision to wait to have surgery until it was appropriate.”
Is there a timetable? What does it take normally for the swelling to go down? A few days? A week?
“We’re hopeful that within the next week it will be able to be approached surgically.”
And once the surgery is successful and he gets back on the road, can you give us an idea of what type of rehab he’s looking at? How long before he’s able to run, things of that nature?
“it’s contingent on what’s found at the time of the surgery. But, in general, it will be non-weight bearing, won’t be able to put any weight on the leg for 4-6 weeks. Then after that it will be a matter of getting his motion back, getting some strength in the leg and seeing how we go.”
You’ve seen a lot of fractures in your career, how good/bad do you rate this one?
“There’s never a ‘good’ fracture for a professional athlete, but this is probably one of the better ones to have if you had to have one. We’re optimistic, we’re hopeful he can get back this season.”
Do you know what type of surgery Morales will have to go under, or do you have to wait and see until you get in there to determine what exactly needs to be done?
“no, it’s going be an open reduction, internal fixation; in other words, we’re going to have to open up the fractured part of his leg and take a look at it, probably put a metal plate and some screws in there to hold it together."
How long will the screws stay in there?
“Some people leave it in forever, some people take it out if it becomes symptomatic. [Juan] Rivera’s had his rod in there since his fracture and he’s had no problems with it; each player’s a little different.
What’s the best case scenario for a return? September?
“I think the best case situation is to get the fracture to heal as soon as possible. I don’t think September is out of the question, but there’s always the situation of getting the fracture to heal as well as getting him baseball ready.”
