Joba Chamberlain Has Surgery After Suffering Career-Threatening Injury

Joba Chamberlain's rocky road back to the New York Yankees took a big hit on Thursday when he dislocated his right ankle playing with his son, according to Jack Curry of the YES Network. 

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Cashman said Joba injured himself while playing with his son. They were jumping around on a "trampoline" of sorts.

— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) March 23, 2012"

In fact, the injury was so severe that Chamberlain lost a life-threatening amount of blood, according to the New York Daily News. 

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Joba Chamberlain lost so much blood Thursday when he hurt his ankle while playing with his son that there initially was concern for his life, a Yankees' source said.

At the very least, the gruesome open dislocation of Chamberlain's right ankle could be career-threatening and probably will preclude Chamberlain from pitching for the Yankees this season.

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Curry also reported that Chamberlain had surgery to repair the injury and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman did not sound too enthused about what happened. 

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Joba Chamberlain dislocated right ankle yesterday and had surgery last night. Cashman called it a significant injury.

— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) March 23, 2012"

The bad news did not stop there, as Curry later followed up with more information about the injury. 

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Cashman said Jobas injury was an "open dislocation." He is in hospital and will be there for several days. Girardi visited him this morning

— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) March 23, 2012"

An open dislocation means that the bone was coming through the skin. 

Chamberlain's once-promising career now looks to be more in doubt than ever before. He was trying to make his way back from Tommy John surgery performed last June. 

This is a significant setback for Chamberlain and a big loss for the Yankees. Obviously, it is too soon to tell how long he will be out, but it would be a surprise if he pitched this year. 

Even though he wasn't dominating hitters the way he did when he was called up in 2007, Chamberlain had finally gotten back to being a quality setup man in the back end of a bullpen. 

At just 26 years old, Chamberlain's future as a Major League Baseball player looks as bleak as it ever has. 

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