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Tribune-Review on Bryan Bullington

This is mostly old news, but it's a reminder of what a sad tale the Bryan Bullington story has become.

I knew last year in spring training, when I got hurt, that it wasn't quite right," Bullington said. "Halfway though the year, I was feeling great. When it flared back up again I was a little leery that something might be wrong."

This isn't the first time it's been reported that Bullington knew something was wrong early last year. Last fall, Joe Rutter reported that Bullington felt the "same feeling" in September, when his season ended early and he had to have labrum surgery, that he felt last April. This suggests that he had labrum damage all along but that the Pirates' medical staff didn't diagnose it, and Bullington may have pitched from May to September with labrum problems. I'm not a doctor and this is all speculative, of course, but given this information, it's hard to be too surprised that when the surgery was performed, Bullington's injury turned out to be worse than expected.

Now, the Trib is suggesting that Bullington won't be back in Pittsburgh until September, which sounds about right - if everything goes perfectly between now and then. In September 2006, Bullington will turn 26. I don't think it's too early to call Bullington a bust.