I believe Will Carroll did an article on this, but I can’t find it.  Just out of curiosity how long does it take for a pitcher to return from this injury?  Some guy in my keeper league dropping J. Schmidt, so I could grab him at the league minimum for next year, but if he won’t even be pitching next year, or if the injury causes so much permanent damage that he’ll never return to his former self, than I don’t want to waste a roster spot. But if there is a chance that he can return at all next year and be decent, then I’ll probably add him.

Here’s the Carroll article.

Bottom line, from what I can tell:  Unless medical science has improved dramatically in the last couple years, it’ll likely be 2009 at the absolute earliest before we see an effective Jason Schmidt.