Schmidt gets good odds on recovery

Although torn labrums have derailed the careers of several major league pitchers, the Dodgers are optimistic that Jason Schmidt can eventually recover the form that made him an All-Star with the San Francisco Giants.

“I think the odds are with him as opposed to against him,” said Stan Conte, the Dodgers’ director of medical services.

Conte said advances in arthroscopic surgery have accelerated the recovery from an injury that once was considered significantly more worrisome and resulted in the premature retirement of pitchers Mike Sirotka, Jim Parque and Robb Nen (though Nen also suffered from a torn rotator cuff).

“Labral repairs have a good history of coming back and coming back as good as they were before, because the surgery restores the anatomy,” Conte said. “If something is torn, once you get it back to the way it was it should function the same way.”

Conte estimated that about 180 labral repairs are performed yearly on major and minor league players, and that “there’s a fair number of guys out there that are going through it or have gone through it and have come back to full participation.”

Schmidt had surgery Wednesday to repair a torn labrum and a frayed biceps tendon and to clean up debris from an inflamed bursa sac in his right shoulder. Conte spoke with Schmidt on Thursday and said the pitcher who made only six starts before being shut down this season could rejoin the Dodgers on Monday in Phoenix and begin a lengthy rehabilitation program.

“He was fairly upbeat for the day after surgery,” Conte said of Schmidt, who is expected to be ready for spring training next season. “I think he was a little surprised about the labrum, as we were, but he has a lot of resolve to come back and show everybody that he’s capable of doing what they signed him to do.”

General Manager Ned Colletti declined to say whether the Dodgers had injury insurance that would cover all or part of Schmidt’s three-year, $47-million contract should the right-hander fail to return, citing his policy of not disclosing such information.

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There was an upside to Hong-Chih Kuo’s 1 2/3 -inning start against Toronto on Wednesday. It will allow the Dodgers to start Kuo on three days’ rest Sunday against Tampa Bay and then start ace Brad Penny on six days’ rest Monday against National League West rival Arizona in the opener of an important four-game series.

The new alignment will feature back-to-back appearances by left-handed starters -- Randy Wolf is scheduled to pitch Saturday against Tampa Bay in front of Kuo -- in an arrangement the Dodgers would prefer to avoid, but the duo’s next starts would come against different teams.

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James Loney, who has not played since running into the right-field wall at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, said his bruised right knee “felt great” and that he was available Thursday. Would the first baseman prefer to avoid another stint in the outfield? “The sooner I get back out there,” he said, “I think it would be fine.” ... Minor league pitcher Clayton Kershaw has been selected for the U.S. Team and infielder Chin-Lung Hu for the World Team in the All-Star Futures Game on July 8 at AT&T; Park in San Francisco.

ben.bolch@latimes.com