I heard from Larry O'Brien.
You remember Larry, he's Ted Lilly's agent.
He looks like The Most Interesting Man In The World, and has a billion stories that go with the look.
We keep in touch.
Anyway, if you were following Mr. Lilly at all, you know he was injured in Los Angeles and designated for assignment in late July.
Well it turns out he had some kind of neck thing that a doctor was able to diagnose and fix.
Here's basically what Larry said:
First off, Ted Lilly hates the idea of leaving the game pretty much being on the DL.
We all remember what kind of guy he is.
Competitors like that want to go out when they say so.
Ted had this thing where he'd pitch and the next day couldn't move his head.
Couldn't look left or right.
Finally, he goes to see a spine specialist.
That guy determines that Ted is stronger on his left side than his right, and that nerve endings in the right side of his neck are sending signals to the muscles on that side, which made Ted unable to move his head.
So it isn't a spine thing.
Ted went through a procedure, and now his neck is happy.
He's throwing without pain and heading to the Dominican Republic (EDIT: actually, Larry says it's probably Venezuela - better competition) to pitch some winter ball.
Larry didn't say for whom, but I don't care.
I care that Ted Lilly is feeling better and, you know, hopefully he gets back to the Bigs and we get to see Terrible Ted again.
ps: this illustration is pencil and chalk on a piece of really really expensive hand-made paper I bought easily 15 years ago at some weird art place on Armitage. Just found it in a drawer.
