Baseball America correspondent Roch Kubatko reports that Orioles lefthander Troy Patton had surgery on his left shoulder yesterday.

"His rotator cuff was clean," manager Dave Trembley said. "He should be a candidate for a throwing program in instructional league and should be fine to go in spring training, so that’s a positive."

The Orioles had announced two weeks ago that Patton would have to undergo the surgery to repair the torn labrum. The Astros sent Patton to Baltimore this off-season in the trade that netted them shortstop Miguel Tejada. One of the other pieces in that trade that went Baltimore’s way was corner infielder Mike Costanzo, who appears to be headed to Triple-A Norfolk but still has an outside shot to start the year with the major league team due to the 15-day suspension of outfielder Jay Gibbons. According to Trembley:

"He’s not quite there with  some of these other guys. I think (Scott) Moore’s ahead of him with experience. Somebody like Costanzo, who we still think is going to get better, the key thing for him is to play. I would not want to keep him here if he wasn’t going to play. And that’s not being disrespectful to him. But I also understand the two-week window that Gibbons is not here is going to allow somebody to stay here and then they’d have to be moved after that."

Costanzo, 24, hit .270/.368/.490 and led the Double-A Eastern League with an alarming 157 strikeouts in 595 plate appearances last year.