There are injuries you're used to -- sprained ankles, hamstrings, cuticles -- and then there are good-gravy injuries that make you start thinking about the player instead of baseball. Boston Red Sox right-hander Clay Buchholz has one of the latter.

Word on Buchholz: He has esophagitis, "which led to an erosion of the esophagus and an associated gastrointestinal bleed."

— Tim Britton (@TBritton_Projo) June 26, 2012

Buchholz was having a miserable season, though there aren't a lot of studies on early-term esophagitis and its effects on major-league pitchers. Nor are there any studies on post-esophagitis rehabilitations for pitchers, so the Red Sox aren't expecting much of anything right now. There was a hope that Buchholz was just ill, and that he'd return in a couple of weeks.

Even the chatty types don't have a lot to say about the diagnosis.

From Bobby Valentine:

"It's a personal situation. I'm a little in the dark," Valentine said. "It's been explained to me, and it's technical stuff. So for me to try to reiterate that in doctorese, it's not the way I feel comfortable obviously. It's medical stuff. It's a medical situation that's being taken care of."

The Red Sox replaced Buchholz in the rotation with Daisuke Matsuzaka after the illness.