Tigers fans holding their breath over Tarik Skubal's 'new' procedure done by famed surgeon

Tarik Skubal underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies in his elbows last week, performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, baseball's favorite surgeon. He's the Dodgers' team physician, but if you can recall any star's major surgery within the past decade, ElAttrache was probably the one performing it.

Scott Boras has, unsurprisingly, has been singing his client's song to national outlets and insiders. Jon Heyman was the first to report that Skubal's surgery went so well and was so minimal that he could be back to the Tigers in 4-6 weeks. He, of course, did not reveal his source, but fans had more than a sneaking suspicion that it was Boras, as the Tigers have yet to corroborate this claim.

Boras himself went into further detail, instead of just speaking through Heyman. He detailed ElAttrache's procedure, which allegedly used a less invasive NanoScope, which Boras dubbed a "Skubal scope."

"It was kind of a lima-bean-sized particle that was nowhere near a ligament or anything. It was really in the back of his elbow. But it was causing a bit of an impingement at times because it was moving around," Boras said. "After Dr. ElAttrache got the MRI, he told me, 'I have a new procedure that I think is something that we can discuss that will really, really limit the time that Tarik would be off versus a normal arthroscope.'"

He continued, "We think that's going to be a much shorter period [of rehabilitation]. And he'll be able to return to performance at just a much, much earlier stage. This is really almost like receiving a shot."

Scott Boras details new procedure that could bring Tarik Skubal back to the Tigers earlier than expected

Of course, most of what Boras says should always and forever be taken with a grain of salt. He's very good at his job, but his job is to sell a narrative. We'll wait to see if the organization with actual medical professionals on-staff will back any of this up.

'New procedure' inevitably conjures up some fear in fans, too. Although it does seem like the procedure was truly minimal — Skubal was in Lakeland getting ready to start building back up within a few days — anything unknown will raise a few yellow flags.

ElAttrache does have a very long resumé and a history of success in this area, but throw in the word 'new' and fans will start to wonder if our guy will be the victim of his first botched procedure. There's gotta be a first time for everything.

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