Pena’s Injury Is Found to Be Severe--His Career Threatened

The cartilage damage in pitcher Alejandro Pena’s right shoulder is so severe that his career is in jeopardy, Dr. Frank Jobe, the Dodgers’ physician, said Friday.

Even if Pena is able to pitch again, he may have to alter his style and rely less on the fastball that made him one of the dominant right-handers in the National League, Jobe said.

“Is he going to need another operation? Is he ever going to pitch again? I can’t be sure,” said Jobe, who performed arthroscopic surgery on Pena Tuesday in Los Angeles.

At the time, Jobe said he expected Pena to be out of action for several months, but gave out few details of the operation, something he said he has since regretted because of public speculation that the Dodgers had been negligent in their treatment of Pena.

“He throws awfully hard. People who throw that hard can tear up the (shoulder) joint,” Jobe said.

“I was surprised at the amount of damage. He’d worn off a lot of cartilage from the rim of the socket, in both the front and the back, and the biceps tendon looked like it had been pounded fairly hard.”

Jobe could not recall treating another big-league pitcher with a similar condition. Pena, 25, completed his second full season with the Dodgers last year.

“Most of the time that affects your younger pitcher trying to show off to the coaches or, let’s put it this way, trying to get a job,” Jobe said. “He throws so hard, he damages a shoulder.”

The effect on the ball and socket of the shoulder was similar to a mortar and pestle, Jobe said. “There’s damage to both surfaces.” Pena was particularly susceptible to such damage because his shoulder is so loose, Jobe said.

Even though cartilage is regenerative, Jobe does not believe it can stand up to the pounding it must take when Pena is throwing his 90-m.p.h.-plus fastball.

“I’d sure like for him to (change his style) and maybe learn to pitch--that’s not a good way to phrase it--learn to throw other pitches and not depend on the canned heat, as he calls it.”

Jobe, disputing the suggestion that the Dodgers were negligent, said: “I don’t think there’s anything we could have done that would have changed his course.

“You can’t operate on everybody who says he has a sore arm. The symptoms were so typical of a pitcher’s natural soreness I would have been remiss to operate.”

If the Dodgers had operated sooner, Jobe said, it would not have affected Pena’s condition.

Pena, who led the league with a 2.48 earned-run average last season, first complained of soreness last Aug. 7 after throwing a fastball to Dale Murphy of the Atlanta Braves.

“I remember throwing the fastball to Murphy and pulling something in my back,” said Pena, who was at Dodgertown Friday but did not participate in the team’s first workout of the spring.

“I found the next time I came back (to throw the fastball), I couldn’t do it again.”

Pena made only one start in September, pitching just four innings. Meanwhile, Jobe prescribed rest, gave him an injection in the muscle in the back of the shoulder, and examined him with an arthrogram, an X-ray procedure involving an injection of dye. All signs, he said, pointed to common soreness caused by overuse of the shoulder.

“The X-rays showed nothing,” Jobe said. “We examined his range of motion; it was perfect. We examined his strength; perfect. What are you going to do?”

Part of the problem, too, Jobe said, was Pena’s inability--or reluctance--to discuss the condition of his arm. Pena, who is from the Dominican Republic, speaks limited English.

“I only found out later it was hurting him quite a bit,” Jobe said. “He’s a tough guy and he didn’t say much.”

Jobe fully expected more rest and rehabilitative exercises to alleviate the problem over the winter. Pena went back to the Dominican Republic and began throwing there.

“It felt much better,” Pena said. “I thought it would be all right for me.”

It wasn’t, but how serious it was did not become known until Jobe went into the shoulder with an arthroscope. “I thought he was going to be fine up to within a week or so,” Jobe said.

So, too, did other Dodger officials, such as vice president Al Campanis, who suggested that Pena’s problem might have been an inability to tell the difference between soreness and stiffness.

Asked if he thought the Dodgers questioned his soreness, Pena said: “I don’t know if they believed me or not. All I know is that I felt pain.”

Even though Pena traces that pain back to a specific episode--the pitch to Murphy--Jobe said the damage was done over time.

“Baseball injuries are usually microtraumas, repeated small insults that accumulate over a period of several years and develop into a condition that disables a player,” he said.

Pena, the Dodgers and Jobe all are hopeful, however, that the disability is not a permanent one. Pena began a series of exercises Friday with team therapist Pat Screnar.

“The plan is to try to tighten the shoulder as much as possible, then stretch it out again, and increase the range of his pitching motion,” Jobe said. “Hopefully he can come back and throw other types of pitches besides the fastball.”

Jobe, asked if anyone could have foreseen that Pena would hurt his arm so seriously, said: “It’s hard to predict, hard to see that coming. What are you going to do, say that nobody can throw harder than 85 miles an hour? You think you could get Al Campanis to agree to that? Do you think a pitcher will agree to that?”

Meanwhile Pena, who recently signed a one-year contract for a reported $360,000, awaits an uncertain future. Asked if he were afraid, he said quietly: “A lot. Yeah.”

Dodger Notes A problem with his immigration green card in the Dominican Republic delayed Alejandro Pena’s return to the United States last month. Dr. Frank Jobe had to write a letter to authorities there, explaining the need to examine Pena, before the pitcher was allowed to leave his native country. . . . Pena had been mentioned in numerous trade rumors this winter. Had a deal been made, “everybody would be yelling about trading for damaged goods,” Jobe said. . . . Jobe also said that Pena’s injury was similar, in principle, to that suffered in 1983 by catcher Mike Scioscia. The difference is that Scioscia overused his rotator cuff, Pena the articulating cartilage.

Other injury updates from Jobe: On Steve Howe, who had elbow surgery: “He really looks good. I’m really pleased with him. His psyche seems to be pretty good, don’t you think?” On Rick Honeycutt, who had surgery for an arthritic condition in his shoulder: “He looks good. It’s not healed as solidly as it will be a year or so from now, but it should be good enough.” On Jerry Reuss, who had surgery on both heels: “He may have a few weeks here of being slowed, but otherwise should be ready.” On Tom Niedenfuer, who has had recurring elbow trouble: “It’s healed up good. But it’s my personal opinion he can’t be an everyday reliever. He has to be every other day, every third day, for just an inning or two.” On Steve Yeager, who had a broken leg: “I think he’s going to be all right, but we didn’t take the pins out. He has two big screws all the way across the tibia (shinbone).”

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda gave his most emphatic vote of confidence yet to first baseman Greg Brock. “I don’t care what he does down here, he’s my opening-day first baseman,” Lasorda said. “I know he can give us the big sock that we need. Until somebody takes his job away from him, he’s my first baseman, and I want him to know that.”