Mori is lost for the season
The Japanese reliever tears his labrum during a minor-league game and will have surgery.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published March 21, 2006
ST. PETERSBURG - Shawn Riggans said he knew something was seriously wrong even before the wild pitch bounced in the dirt and Shinji Mori fell to the ground in pain.
Riggans, who caught Mori during Monday's minor-league game, said he saw the body of the Devil Rays reliever go one way as he threw what was supposed to be an inside fastball while his arm seemed to go another.
"It looked like his whole shoulder popped out," Riggans said.
Hours later, Tampa Bay executive vice president Andrew Friedman delivered the grim news:
Mori, the five-time Japanese All-Star who was going to solidify the bullpen as a closer or late-inning setup man, has a torn labrum in his right shoulder, needs surgery and is out for the season.
The labrum is a ring of cartilage that helps stabilize the shoulder as an attachment site for ligaments and tendons. Friedman said a date for surgery has not been set.
He said the usual recovery time for such an injury is 12 months, but added, "Until they get in and see the extent of the injury, it's one of those things, it's a guesstimate at this point."
It is clear, though, Mori will not pitch for the Rays until at least next spring. What is unclear is whether the injury is related to the soreness Mori said he felt since the start of camp and kept him from pitching in a major-league game.
Mori said through an interpreter the pain of the injury and the previous soreness "are two totally different things."
Friedman said he was told by orthopedic team physician Koco Eaton, who administered an MRI exam, the injury was "acute," meaning it is the result of an isolated incident: "It's one of those things with the unnatural motion that pitchers go through."
Asked if he believed other factors could have contributed, Friedman defered.
"I don't have the medical background," he said. "If you ask the doctor and he says it's acute, then he'd say no. Acute means it happened on that one particular pitch."
Friedman said Mori was not given an MRI exam during the spring but did have one after pitching in 2005 for Seibu in Japan. Friedman said Tampa Bay's doctors examined Mori and signed off when he visited in December.
Mori said Monday he never before had a serious injury and only twice experienced the soreness that bothered him this spring.
"I am," he said, "100 percent disappointed."
"It's frustrating," Friedman said. "Shinji was someone we were looking to to give us a different look out of the bullpen."
Because Mori had yet to establish himself, the bullpen situation remains pretty much the same with Dan Miceli, Chad Orvella, Shawn Camp, Chad Harville and Jesus Colome in the mix for the closer's job.
Asked if he needed to acquire another arm, Friedman said, "We're always looking for potential upgrades everywhere. We'll continue to make phone calls and survey the landscape and see if we can make any type of move that will improve the club."
The Rays have about $2-million invested in Mori. The team paid $750,000 to acquire his negotiating rights and signed him to a two-year, $1.2-million deal with either a $200,000 buyout or a two-year, $2-million team option.
Mori, 31, was the first player the Rays signed directly from the Japanese leagues. Friedman said the team's commitment to pursue overseas players will not change.
"This will not impede any moves we would make in Asia or Latin America or anywhere else," he said. "The outcome wasn't good, but we still trust the process that brought us Shinji."
With a decent fastball and a nasty slider, Mori was a power pitcher in Japan, where in nine seasons he was 44-44 with a 3.39 ERA and 50 saves in 431 appearances.
His major-league debut was to be March 3 but was postponed by shoulder soreness.
Mori threw four bullpen sessions as part of his rehab. Monday's game at the Naimoli Complex was the first of two this week that were to help determine when Mori would pitch in an exhibition.
The team wanted Mori to cut loose with his fastball. Riggans said that was Mori's first pitch. His second was a breaking ball on which Riggans said Mori "seemed like he labored."
The third pitch, another fastball, was Mori's last, his right arm flailing as he went down.
Mori spent several minutes sitting next to the mound being checked out. He walked off the field, right arm extended on a downward angle and supported by his left hand.
He grimaced as he got into the golf cart that drove him to the trainer's room.
Five hours later, Mori sat at his locker at Progress Energy Park still wearing the pants in which he pitched.
He said he felt his shoulder pop when he threw. He said his first thought was the shoulder was dislocated, the preliminary diagnosis provided by the team.
"I was trying to throw my fastball a little bit harder, but I felt pain," said Mori, who added of his resolve to recover, "No problem. I can get back to it."
"He's going to work hard and rehab hard to get back fully healthy," Friedman said. "I think we'll see him pitch in a Devil Rays uniform."