Another Reason for Optimism Concerning Freddie Ljungberg

You may recall that back when the panic started concerning Freddie Ljungberg's hip labrum surgery I decided to do a tiny bit of research concerning the Doctor and his history with the procedure.

Well today we get to find out that the richest baseball team in the world, and their absolute richest player will also be going to Dr Marc Phillippon.

Rodriguez is undergoing what amounts to a partial endevour, and so will heal into baseball shape in 6-9 weeks. But Alex Rodriguez is older than Freddie as well.

"The goal here is to allow Alex to rehab rapidly in a safe manner," Philippon said. "The approach we're using is much safer than letting Alex play the way he is now."

In medical terms, Rodriguez's labrum tear is a femoroacteabular impingement, which causes friction in the hip joint. Rodriguez has two types of impingement, "pincer" and "cam" -- Philippon will repair only the pincer impingement on Monday.

"Because of all the tests, findings, analysis and function of Alex, I feel it's in his best interest to have his labrum repaired, remove part of his impingement at the same time and, therefore, stabilize his labrum," Philippon said. "[The procedure will] remove a little bit of the impingement, and by doing this, we will contain the cyst. The goal here is to stabilize Alex's labrum, remove a little bit of the impingement and allow him to have more freedom of movement in his hip."

Philippon has performed similar procedures on and treated such sports stars as golfer Greg Norman and figure skater Tara Lipinski. Cashman said that Philippon's expertise gave Rodriguez comfort "that this was not only a legitimate option, but the best one."

"In a situation like Alex's, when we're trying to return him rapidly to his high-level function, it's certainly a very good option," Philippon said. "It's a little more demanding on the patient, but Alex is very athletic and has overall very good muscular strength. I firmly believe that this approach will be successful."

Another link on the ARod surgery.

Good enough for Cashman, A-Rod and Boras, but not good enough for Seattle? I don't think so. Again, Sounders FC goes top notch in everything.