Ricky Romero Phone Conference

Ricky Romero talked to the press this afternoon about his surgery, there wasn't all that much news, but some quick notes:

• Ricky said the surgery took place 2 weeks ago. That it was his choice, that the Jays didn't have much input.
• Dr. Yocum did an MRI on his arm and said they could either give him a cortisone shot or he could have surgery. But he was told that cortisone might just cause temporary relief and he might have to have the surgery later, so he decided to have it done now.
• Ricky said that he didn't know if the elbow had any effect on his season, that he had no excuses for that. He said 'I stunk'.
• Asked when he noticed the pain, he said there is always soreness after a start, but the soreness progressed as the season went on and that no starter makes more than half his starts at 100%. The soreness was 'on the outside of his elbow' and something that wasn't normal.
• He felt that with the off-season of rest that he would be fine, but decided to get an MRI anyway. He said the MRI didn't show much but that when during the surgery they found scare tissue and some other minor problems.
• He talked to Alex, Bruce Walton, John Farrell and the trainers about it, but they "left it up to me".
• "Glad I did it". "Sometimes pitchers just need this".
• Ricky said that there wasn't pain, but his elbow was "more sore than normal".
• They would "have to chop off my left arm" to stop him from making his starts. That the soreness wasn't near bad enough that he felt he shouldn't take the mound
• He said that Dr. Yocum said his ligament was 'the best he had seen it".
• Shi Davidi compared it to getting your car a tuneup rather than a repair and Ricky agreed. The question of what kind of car he was wasn't answered.
• Ricky said his recovery is going well.
• The platelet-rich plasma injections, on both knees, were done because his left knee was sore, but thought he might as well get both knees done.
• Asked if Jesse Litsch's troubles made him think twice about the PRP injections, he said no.

That was about it. Ricky made it clear that he didn't want to use this as an excuse for his lousy season, that his velocity wasn't down, that he 'stunk'.