Phillies right-hander Brett Myers will have hip surgery, could miss season

Myers to have hip surgery, could miss season

PHILADELPHIA — Phillies right-hander Brett Myers will have hip surgery, and he could miss the rest of the season.

Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said Myers has a torn labrum and no date has been set for surgery. Myers was examined by Dr. Bryan Kelly in New York on Friday and Kelly recommended the surgery.

Myers, who spoke after the Phillies’ 5-4 win over Washington on Friday, said Kelly was “shooting for Thursday” for the surgery.

Myers said he was resigned to having the surgery.

“(Kelly) just flat-out told me he could give me a cortisone shot, but that’s just going to make it worse,” he said.

The Phillies placed Myers on the 15-day DL after Friday’s game and called up left-handed reliever Sergio Escalona from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to replace him on the active roster.

Torn hip labrums have seemingly become a common injury around the majors. Several prominent players have had hip surgery recently, including teammate Chase Utley, Alex Rodriguez, Mike Lowell, Alex Gordon and Carlos Delgado, who had his operation on May 19.

Phillies team doctor Michael Ciccotti said Myers could return to mound to begin throwing 10 to 12 weeks after the operation and it would be another three to six weeks before the pitcher would be ready.

“We’re pretty concerned about it, obviously,” Amaro said. “We don’t know how rehab will go but we have to operate under the assumption that he’ll miss a significant amount of time, if not the rest of the season.”

Said Myers: “I told (Kelly) I wanted to be back in September, but he said it’s a long shot.”

Myers (4-3) left in the sixth inning of Philadelphia’s 6-2 loss to the Florida Marlins on Wednesday after giving up five runs. He had allowed just six runs in 21 innings in three previous starts.

An MRI on Thursday revealed fraying and possible tearing in the labrum of the hip joint.

Amaro said the team would replace Myers’ spot in the rotation with someone in the organization. He was scheduled start on Tuesday at San Diego. Long term, Amaro said the Phillies would look into trading for a starter.

“If there’s a deal to be made that makes sense, we’ll move on it,” Amaro said. “But it takes two to tango.”