Tom Boswell did an online chat last friday and he was asked his thoughts on JP's release.
When I saw his forearm after his first major surgery, last spring, I guess, I gasped. He'd lost much of his basic musculature. Gone from "Wow, bet that guy is a baseball pitcher" to just a normal guy. He didn't seem aware of the change. I doubted he'd get his fastball back unless he somehow rebuilt the whole forearm. Then, this spring, he had another four-inch scar on the forearm. Great interview, really nice guy, but not universally popular in the locker room because he looked like a star and didn't fit the team's blue collar play-hurt mold. Hope he makes it back in Texas. But I doubt it. And I've doubted it for a year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/03/26/DI2008032601367.html