Here at the intersection of Optimism Boulevard and Bleaker Street, we bring you further discussion of Wednesday's Baseball America article about Dodger prospect Greg Miller (see Update 3 of this posting). I solicited an opinion from baseball medical expert Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus:

Acromioplasty is a tough diagnosis. I'm not sure how they think this is the problem. Obviously, Frank Jobe knows a lot more than I do, but a bony problem like this is either mechanical - something that he's doing and could be fixed - or congenital like a malformed acromion process. If it's congenital, as this article indicates, Miller would have had problems previous to this under normal workload.

There's almost no track record for comebacks from this injury, but there is one: Jaret Wright. He had the surgery in early 2003, came back mid-year, sucked, and lucked into Atlanta. If I were a Dodger fan, I'd be real worried that nothing came of that vaunted pitching system yet.

My reply:

Wow - that's pretty bleak. If Jaret Wright is your best-case scenario ... yikes.

As for the system, well, I guess that's why you want volume rather than just one prospect to bank on. And I think people are giving up on (Edwin) Jackson too quickly.

But basically, do you think Miller's viability as a major leaguer is done?

Done? Well, I would have said Wright was done in '03, but look at him now. I'd say it's in question ...

Just one man's opinion. Use it or lose it. The fact that there is a limited track record for recovery doesn't ensure the end is near. But it's certainly a grimmer interpretation than believing in time and rehab providing a complete cure.

DodgerKid - prone to shun both faith Carroll and in Dodger prospects - what will you do?