Things weren't looking so good for Boston Red Sox closer Andrew Bailey after he injured his thumb and had one medical professional recommend surgery. That sent him to another medical professional, and that medical professional also apparently recommended surgery. Because Andrew Bailey is going to have surgery:

#RedSox announce Andrew Bailey will have surgery Wed. in Cleveland to reconstruct ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb

— Scott Lauber (@ScottLauber) April 3, 2012

This isn't season-ending surgery, the way surgery on the UCL in the elbow would be season-ending surgery. But this is season-diminishing surgery, in that it looks like Bailey could miss 3-4 months. That is a ... lot of time, considering the regular season starts up on Wednesday. The regular season actually started last Wednesday, but I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who noticed.

Just as a fun fact, here are Andrew Bailey's year-to-year major-league appearance totals:

2009: 68
2010: 47
2011: 42

Prepare for another drop. Bailey's no stranger to injury problems, so I guess the Red Sox shouldn't be shocked that he's dealing with an injury problem, even if this one's of the freak-accident variety.

Right now, the Red Sox could elect to replace Bailey with Alfredo Aceves or Mark Melancon. Those are the in-house solutions. But this being the Red Sox, you can never count out something more creative or something more aggressive. They're supposed to contend, and they got Bailey for a reason. Now that Bailey's gone for a while, do you think the Red Sox will sit still? Do you really? Do you really?

Maybe they will. I don't know. How could I know?