The Doctor did come out and say that he is not suggesting that surgery must be done. But that if it is not, Nomar will stay in considerable pain, and will most likely need a daily cortisone shot. The team has said that they are going to wait another 5-7 days and then look at all the options if the wrist hasn't improved.

Basically what that says to me, is the appointment has already been made, and the surgery will take place in about a week. But for some reason (probably for bargaining power in a trade) the Sox front office seems content to keep us in the dark, and drag this out even further.

Obviously it's easy to look back and criticize when things go wrong. But it seems that this was going to have to be the course all along. Were the Sox just stalling (and still are) until they were able to locate a satisfactory replacement, or did they really think the wrist would miraculously heal in a few weeks?

All I know is, from the day of the Surgery, it's going to take 10-16 weeks for Nomar to recover, rehab, and then get back into playing shape. Best case scenario we get him back after the All-Star break. Worst case, maybe he's ready by September. Either way this is a huge blow and Nomar is going to be sorely missed for whatever amount of time he is going to be out.

Had the surgery taken place immediately or if Nomar had reported the pain earlier (like after last season), we'd have him back already, or within a month or so. But of course, hindsight is 20-20.

Losing Nomar is beyond HUGE, but it's not as bad as it may seem. Yes, we have a problem filling short, and I'm hoping against hope we just get solid defense out of whoever the fill-in is (looks like Lou Merloni right now). But other than defense (which is huge), we're really no worse off than last year's team.

For the sake of argument, lets say that Nomar left the team last year (AHHH Blasphemy!), and we still signed everyone else we have now. As far as offense is concerned, his bat is replaced, and then some by Ramirez, so there should be no drop in offense. Couple that with the absolutely horrid offense we got out of Catcher, Firstbase (2nd half) Second, Third, Left Field (1st half), and Right Field (2nd half), last year, and the bats cannot help but improve. Think about it. As long as they stay healthy, Jason Varitek, Brian Daubach, Jose Offerman, Troy O'Leary, and Trot Nixon can only improve on last years mess. So even without Nomar, we should still be able to score some runs.

It's the pitching and defense that things will come down to in the end, as it always does.

paul@redsox2000.com