Lingering wonder in the back of my mind if this is more serious than presented. Management would downplay the length of him being out as the longer he is out the more disadvantaged we are in trade or free agent talks. Was he hoping it would go away or did he just not get to a good doctor until he came back to the states for Spring Training?
What I've learned over the years is the professional athletes tend to put off surgeries for as long as they can to the detriment of themselves and their teams. Having said that I personally don't think this happened in Kenley's case. Now to your point about better or worse Doctors here or in Curacao I think we know the answer to that question and it could have played a factor.
The moment an athlete informs the team of some discomfort they either fly him back or send their own team to him. Unless it is life or death, outside organisational doctors won't touch him. They might take some xrays but they will only do the basics.
Again not saying in this case that this happened but it wouldn't be a 1st time where an athlete circumvented the team doctors and went to their own personal doc due to trust and familiarity. In other news. Please no!!!! http://www.dailysportspages.com/index.php?threads/news-rumors-thread.7662/#post-276317
Would a international players visa status have a role in what they can and can't do? I would think that many a doctor in the carribean could give two hoots about professional sport protocol and would be more interested in the money. Lots more questions than answers
Whats a tad interesting is that the season ended with questions about the bull pen and after a busy off season as pitchers and catchers report the question once again is the bull pen. Hopefully the planned for depth is there and we have really improved the depth and flexibility or our relief corp.