Ritchie reports

From Kovacevic and Rutter and Perrotto. Reads like the team is still in the hunt for a fifth starter. Since it looks like Ritchie, Vogelsong, JVB, and possibly Kip Wells won't be ready in late March, I'd say we need one.

Jim Andrews operated on Todd Ritchie's rotator cuff in June 2003. Curiously, in "Redbook Redux," a April 14, 2003 article for Baseball Prospectus Premium, Will Carroll wrote that, when visiting with the Redbook people - the people who keep baseball's proprietary injury data - he learned that "Rotator cuff injuries are the easiest ones to say are preventable. Almost every rotator cuff tear is the result of either poor mechanics or overuse." A quick search of Carroll's archives shows that Jaret Wright, Zach Day, Casey Fossum, Steve Karsay, Pedro Astacio, Tony Armas, Orlando Hernandez, Robb Nen, Reds top prospect Chris Gruler, Eddie Guardado, and Joe Borowski are some other pitchers who have come back or not from some form of rotator cuff surgery. Maybe Will can update us on Ritchie's health when he gets back to writing his Under the Knife columns.

So now you know why Ritchie is talking about needing two years to come back. Jaret Wright had his rotator cuff surgeries in 2000 and 2001. I have no idea if his surgeries were very similar to what Ritchie experienced. Either way, I wish Ritchie the best.