Your Thoughts on Bartolo Colon's Surgery?

[jeffx]

One of the few doctors who performs this procedure was just on WFAN with Joe & Evan. He said HGH is used in some of these surgeries, but not in Colon's case. The risk is minimal, recovery time quick and he can't see why MLB(or any sports league) would be against it as long as no HGH is involved. According to him, this new 'regenerative science' will revolutionize sports medicine. He's right. Athletes will flock to this. There's no cheating - you're using your own body to heal.

[PP]

What surgery? Didn't I just see him last week vs the Red Sox hitting 95MPH on the gun?

[Lanteri]

Depends on where/who does the operations, IMO.

Colon's is kind of sketchy because, IIRC, it was done in the Dominican by a doctor who has a reputation of using HGH in these types of surgeries. Honestly, until they come up with some way for testing for HGH, these kinds of operations will always seem sketchy at best since you can't prove it.

The operation and research itself I have no problem with, it's just the means to that end that can get into a bit of grey area.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

It WILL be cheating when they declare it a "performance enhancer" and even though its elective surgery, they'll outlaw it soon enough.

[NAHSTE]

I don't even see how it'd be wrong even if HGH was used, considering there's no scientific evidence linking HGH with enhanced performance. Either way, the procedure seems no different than Tommy John, IMO.

[strahanfan92]

He's better than he was before.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I don't even see how it'd be wrong even if HGH was used, considering there's no scientific evidence linking HGH with enhanced performance. Either way, the procedure seems no different than Tommy John, IMO.

Well, you could argue there is no scientific evidence linking anabolic steroids to enhanced perfomance, either.

HGH produces the same benefits of certain steroids, without the main drawback. Its undetectable at the present time. The can measure hormone levels, but you would have to get a baseline for everyone every few months in addition to the testing. The cost would be outrageous.

At this point, I don't even care about PED's anymore. If you ain't cheating you ain't trying. Who cares. See no evil. I just want to watch games.

[NAHSTE]

Well, you could argue there is no scientific evidence linking anabolic steroids to enhanced perfomance, either.

HGH produces the same benefits of certain steroids, without the main drawback. Its undetectable at the present time. The can measure hormone levels, but you would have to get a baseline for everyone every few months in addition to the testing. The cost would be outrageous.

At this point, I don't even care about PED's anymore. If you ain't cheating you ain't trying. Who cares. See no evil. I just want to watch games.

Yeah I guess the HGH debate is another issue entirely but at its surface this surgery seems no different than Tommy John to me.

It sounds radical now but once it becomes more common place people will be less wary of it.

[MvP]

As a Bartolo Colon fantasy owner I am all for this surgery. He pitched his best game in years yesterday.

[Guest]

Yeah I guess the HGH debate is another issue entirely but at its surface this surgery seems no different than Tommy John to me.

It sounds radical now but once it becomes more common place people will be less wary of it.

Agreed- its been very effective for Colon, and it could be for other pitchers as well. I would like to see it tested on a few other players to see if its viable as it might be just plain luck, or Colon's experience is also helping him pitch well.

[Mogriffjr]

what surgery did he get?

[NAHSTE]

what surgery did he get?

Replenished his damaged shoulder by injecting healthy stem cells from elsewhere in his body into the area. The healthy cells then start multiplying and essentially re-build the joint.