Dustin McGowan, the injury-prone permanent resident on the DL for the Toronto Blue Jays has seen another setback. After going down with shoulder labrum surgery in July of 2008, McGowan attempted a comeback but had to cut that short after knee surgery in 2009. Before this season began, all signs were optimistic for the right-hander, but he was shut down in March with a “dead arm”, and an MRI earlier this week put the nail in the coffin for this season.

A first-round pick in 2000, McGowan made his debut in 2005. He has a career 20-22 record with a 4.71 ERA and 285 strikeouts. His best season was in 2007 when he was 12-10 when he had a 4.08 ERA, 144 strikeouts, and a WHIP of 1.22 in 169.2 innings pitched. All career highs, the Blue Jays believe that McGowan is more capable than not of repeating this kind of success if he can solve his injury problems.

McGowan has been shut down again, and now the Blue Jays face a tough decision. With his contract expiring at the end of 2010, should they resign him? Still, the Blue Jays could easily choose to show some more loyalty to McGowan and sign him to an MLB minimum. Even with a payroll of $65 million, less than half a million would not be a serious hit on the books. If nothing else, it would serve as a good move in the eyes of the fans.

The Jays found themselves in a similar situation years ago when an injury to Chris Carpenter looked like the end of his career, and we’ve all seen the turnaround Carpenter has made in St. Louis, but that situation certainly is an exception, not the norm. McGowan is only 28-years-old, and the Blue Jays still believe that if he can get back to the form he showed before this all began two years ago, he could be a solid part of the Toronto pitching rotation. But now they’ll have to wait at least another six months to find out.