More on Reimold's surgery

Orioles outfielder Nolan Reimold is resting comfortably, or as much as humanly possible while propped up in bed and wearing a neck brace, following corrective surgery this morning to fuse two vertebrae at the Florida Spine Institute in Clearwater, Fla. Reimold isn't permitted to talk, but he provided information in a text message that was passed along to me this afternoon. The pseudarthrosis, or false fusion, was causing irritation and compressing the nerve. Dr. Robert Kowalski, a neurosurgeon who examined Reimold during the All-Star break, went in through the right side this time and replaced the old cadaver bone with a disc of Trabecular metal. Bone marrow from Reimold's hip was used for added benefit. According to Reimold, Kowalski told him, "You couldn't drive a Mack Truck through that thing." Neuromonitoring following the surgery, where electrodes were placed on Reimold's skull and needles inserted in his arm, already showed signs of increased nerve signals down to the weakened area. "From the doctor's account, a very successful surgery," Reimold wrote. Reimold batted .195/.250/.336 with five homers and 12 RBIs in 40 games. He didn't play after April last season because of the disc injury that required the first surgery on June 25, 2012. Reimold is arbitration-eligible again this winter. He avoided a hearing by signing one-year, $1 million contract in January.