DETROIT — Initially, Luke Putkonen was elated when he heard the words “no surgery” from noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews, the same guy who performed his first Tommy John surgery before his freshman year at North Carolina.

It meant he would not need another Tommy John surgery.

But he still ended up going on Andrews’ operating table three weeks later, having arthroscopic surgery Thursday in Pensacola, Fla., to remove a bone spur (posterior osteophyte) from his right elbow.

“Hopefully that’ll take care of his issues,” said Detroit Tigers head trainer Kevin Rand, who said that Andrews smoothed the area out. “It’s a bony growth. It’s not a bone chip.”

Putkonent will be re-examined after six-to-eight weeks of rest and rehabilitation, but there is no timetable set for his return to the Tigers.

He was placed on the 15-day disabled list on April 19 with inflammation in his throwing elbow. The training staff thought they’d gotten the inflammation cleared up, and had him make three rehabilitation appearances in the minors in early May, before it flared back up again. The team sought and received a second opinion from Andrews late last month.

“We knew he had the osteophytes when we did the MRI. Those are common. You can have a lot of guys that’ll have those type of bony type changes in their elbow from pitching,” Rand said. “The question is, are you going to be able to get that quiet where you can go through and have no issues with it, and obviously he wasn’t able to.”

Getting an appointment with noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews is like getting called to the principal’s office.

You might be in trouble.

Turns out Luke Putkonen’s trip to Florida to see Andrews for a second opinion this week was not as indicative of trouble as it could have been.

There’s no discussion of surgery just yet for Putkonen’s sore throwing elbow, as Andrews confirmed the previous diagnosis, and recommended continued rehabilitation.

“Yes. No talk of surgery right now. Treatment and rehabilitation,” manager Brad Ausmus said. “Andrews looked at him, looked at the MRI, and kind of made the same diagnosis that was made before. So just going to continue treatment and rehab, see if they can work it out.”

Putkonen has been on the disabled list since April 19 with inflammation in his right (throwing) elbow. He made three rehabilitation appearances — one at Class A West Michigan and two at Triple-A Toledo — before being shelved again soon after his last outing on May 13, when he gave up four runs on four hits.

With every injury, there's a worst-case scenario.

Unfortunately, for Joel Zumaya, that scenario has come to pass more often than not. And it's again, as he's now opted to have surgery next week that will likely end his career as a Detroit Tiger.

When Dr. James Andrews last examined Zumaya's surgically repaired elbow, seeking an answer to the inexplicable soreness the oft-injured relief pitcher experienced every time he tried to throw, he found no answers. Nothing showed on the MRI or X-rays, nor were there any nerve issues.

Andrews gave two options: A wait-and-see approach of six more weeks of rehabilitation, or exploratory surgery to attempt to pinpoint the elusive cause of the pain.

At the time, Tigers head trainer Kevin Rand said with the surgery option, the timetable "was not favorable for him to pitch in 2011."

Zumaya chose rehab again, but two weeks into the six prescribed, he's changed his mind. He'll have surgery on May 10.

The oft-injured reliever has been through the process before — from the torn ligament in his finger, to shoulder surgery, to the most recent, surgery to fix a broken bone (the olecranon) in his elbow — each time bringing the possibility of being his last chance.

But he signed just a one-year contract with the Tigers in the offseason, and it's unlikely they — or any team — will sign him again until he proves he can avoid injury.

The Tigers may have hamstrung themselves a bit by their loyalty to the popular player, going into the season with inconsistent youngster Ryan Perry as the only truly viable alternative to Zumaya as the seventh-inning specialist. That role has been one of the most glaring problems in a bullpen that has been, unfortunately, rife with them.