Narveson will seek second opinion

Brewers left-hander Chris Narveson said he would seek a second opinion, but the likelihood is high that he needs surgery to repair a tear or tears to the rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder.

“It’s probably surgical, but he’ll get a second opinion and we’ll go from there,” assistant general manager Gord Ash said.

Surgery would probably shelve Narveson for the rest of the season, “but it’s hard to say before they do it, because as good as MRIs are, you don’t know the severity before you get in there,” Ash said.

Narveson spoke in very vague terms about his injury, citing “red flags on the MRI” he underwent this week, and said he’s keeping an open mind pending the second opinion. He will choose a physician to review films of his MRI.

“The prognosis was there were some issues going on with the rotator cuff,” he said. “We’ll get a second opinion to see what’s out there. We don’t know exactly the extent or what’s going to be on yet, but there might be some stuff going on with the rotator cuff. … Right now, we’re just trying to assess the situation and see where we go.”

Narveson said he felt sore the day after his last start, a loss in Atlanta. He could tell it was different from regular, post-start soreness.

“Knowing the difference, that’s big,” Narveson said. “I didn’t feel it before, and then after the start it was like, ‘Something’s not right. I’d better say something.’ We gave it a couple of days to see if it would feel better, and it just didn’t go that way.”

Asked whether he remained hopeful about avoiding a long-term stint on the DL, Narveson said, “You’re always hopeful. It all depends on the doctors. It’s all in their hands. Sometimes the outcome doesn’t look too good, but we’ll see.”

Narveson had right shoulder surgery in 2005 to fix what he called labrum “issues” in his shoulder. He also missed time in 2007, but that was for a strained muscle behind his left shoulder, not damage to the shoulder itself.

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