By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
Seattle Mariners pitching coach Bryan Price hasn’t thought much this week about the state of his pitching staff and the holes that have developed in it since October. That would be a selfish act in the midst of personal crisis that two of his favorite left-handers are facing.
On Monday, Price learned that former Mariner Rob Ramsay will undergo surgery today for a brain tumor.
Tuesday, word came down that veteran reliever Norm Charlton has a torn rotator cuff in his pitching shoulder and will have surgery on Monday.
Charlton won’t throw a pitch this year and, at age 38, possibly ever again.
“If you stick around this game long enough, things like this are going to happen,” Charlton said in a radio interview Tuesday night.
“I realize I’m not any younger. Hopefully, Dr. (Larry) Pedegana will work some of his magic and I’ll be ready for spring training a year from now.”
Charlton also had career-threatening surgery in 1993, on his elbow, but he rejuvenated his pitching prowess with the Mariners in the magical 1995 season.
Charlton started playing catch recently and felt discomfort in his shoulder. A magnetic resonance imaging exam administered on Monday revealed a tear.
“The recovery time from this type of surgery is approximately one year for the type of tear Norm has,” said Pedegana, the team’s medical director. “We will know more after the surgery.”
Ramsay, claimed off waivers in November by the San Diego Padres, experienced headaches the past two months and tests revealed a tumor. The surgery today in San Francisco will determine if it’s cancerous.
“I never like to say the words, ‘It’s something like this that keeps things in perspective,’” Price said. “But in Rob’s case everybody is hoping for good things when he comes out of the hospital. And what I feel for Norm is more than what I feel for our team.”
Charlton resurrected his career last year when he came out of retirement, made the team in spring training and provided valuable service as a second left-hander in the bullpen. He was 4-2 with a 3.02 earned run average in 44 appearances and held left-handed hitters to a .169 batting average. He pitched 3 1/3innings in the postseason and didn’t allow a run.
“His contributions to the team were so much more than what you saw on the mound,” Price said. “We’re losing his unbelievable professionalism and how it rubs off on the team, including myself. Losing Norm is big. It’s a big loss in every way possible.”
It creates yet another opportunity for a youngster in the organization to make the pitching staff, which already has an opening for a fifth starter.
Unless the team signs a free agent, the leading candidates for the second left-hander in the bullpen are John Halama, Matt Thornton and Ryan Anderson.
“We’re going to look both inside and outside the organization,” general manager Pat Gillick said. “We’ve got some young guys who might step up.”
The most likely scenario, by process of elimination, is that Halama will return to the bullpen. It’s a role he dutifully served last year, although he made it clear his career ambition is to be a starter.
Anderson is coming off shoulder surgery and would be better served pitching regularly in a rotation, probably in the minor leagues to start the season.
“He’s not going to be ready at all,” Gillick said.
Thornton, who pitched two games with the Everett AquaSox in 1998 before having elbow problems, went 14-7 with a 2.52 ERA at San Bernardino last year, but has never played above the Class A level in four pro seasons. “He would be a long shot,” Gillick said.
That leaves Halama.
“When John comes to camp, he’ll be pitching as a starter and going head-to-head with Ryan Franklin for the fifth starter,” Price said. “But the decision may be that we want John to be our second lefty. That’s something we’ll have to think real hard about.”
Price also has thought hard in the past 24 hours about where Charlton’s career is headed.
“His shoulder is telling him now that it’s been a long productive career and it’s going to need some maintenance. Now he’s got some choices to make,” Price said. “I’m kind of a positive thinker here. There’s too much technology out there and too many ways to get yourself back into shape.
“It’ll come down to what Norm chooses to do. He’s a strong guy. He’s always been resilient. If he chooses to go through a rehab and wants to pitch, I have no doubts that he’s going to pitch again.”
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