For Gibbons, wrist surgery goes well

Outfielder has no damage structurally, Thrift says

Orioles

Orioles right fielder Jay Gibbons had surgery on his right wrist Monday, and the news wasn't as bad as he had feared.

After seeing the results from a late-season magnetic resonance imaging exam, Gibbons thought he might have some structural damage in the wrist, along with a leftover suture from the surgery he had last offseason. But Orioles vice president for baseball operations Syd Thrift said yesterday that there was no structural damage.

Dr. Thomas Graham, who performed the surgery at Union Memorial Hospital, removed more than one suture from Gibbons' wrist, Thrift said, but that was it.

"He needs to rest four to six weeks, and he'll be fine," Thrift said. "I wonder how many home runs he would have hit without those sutures."

Gibbons had 28 home runs in 490 at-bats this season despite having pain in the wrist from the sutures pressing against a nerve. He had 15 home runs in 225 at-bats as a rookie in 2001 before breaking the hamate bone in the wrist.