I Have a Bone to Pick

Magglio's bone that is - his knee!
Once again, my love for baseball and medicine intertwine. There has been some miscommunication and fabrication between White Sox management and Magglio Ordonez. Kenny Williams (KW) made remarks concerning Maggs injury and rehab status. This prompted Mr. Ordonez to contact the Sun-Times to report that he is fine, will be ready for spring training next year, and has started some rehab. Someone is lying. Many would postulate that the Sox front office is trying to "devalue" Maggs since he will be a free agent at the end of this season. The Sox GM is hoping for:
A) the chance to sign Maggs with the Sox for a lesser amount (he's not 100% healthy after all)
B) soften the blow to Sox fans if Maggs signs with another team

The main issues surrounding the Sox vs. Ordonez saga is the extent of Maggs' injury. What exactly is going on in his body? Bone marrow edema is the phrase tossed around by the media after the initial MRI. In a recent phone interview, Magglio called it a "bone bruise".

Could Maggs have avascular necrosis? Or the early stages of avascular necrosis? Based on the words used to describe his injury, I came to this conclusion. Traumatic injury is one of the causes of avascular necrosis which typically occurs in bones such as the femur (long bone in the thigh) or the hip joint. The collision between Magglio and Willie (2nd baseman) precipitated the season ending injury. KW mentioned blood wasn't flowing well into the bone. Bone is a living tissue. Many people don't think of bone as dynamic tissue that goes thru a constant cycle of rebuilding and breakdown. With compromised blood flow, the bone's healing process is slowed down, causing the breakdown process to go unchecked. Worse case scenario would mean bone collapse.

It is hard to say if Magglio has a good chance of recovery, since I have not seen his MRI, and I'm not his orthopedic surgeon. The odds would seem to favor Maggs since he is young (30 years old) and doesn't appear to have other major medical problems. Only time will tell. Time is also what Maggs needs to heal.