Pujols has elbow surgery

No surprise here. St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols wasted no time in having surgery on his ailing right elbow. It was announced earlier in the season that Pujols would need Tommy John surgery, but would wait till after the season. Well it is now the off-season and he went right to team doctor George Paletta to get the job done. For Pujols, the team and Cardinals fans thou there was an unexpected surprise. The Cardinals released a statement saying that Pujols DID NOT need Tommy John surgery after all. The surgery involved decompressing and relocating the ulnar nerve in the arm. That sounds pretty intense to me.

The team and player did consult with the renowned Dr. James Andrews before going this route thou. Pujols actually still has the significant tear of the ulnar collateral ligament (it’s actually worse then the one pitcher Chris Carpenter had) but Andrews said he could get away with the more minor surgery. No surprise there, we saw the numbers Pujols could put up with his elbow torn to shreds, so who really needs for that thing to be sewn back up all the way? Pujols even claimed the pain this year was not as severe as in 2007 as when he first injured it. My guess is that he just got so used to the feeling, that it didn’t bother him as much anymore.

The good news out of all this is that it guarantees Albert will be ready for Spring Training. If he underwent the Tommy John surgery there would of been a chance that he’d start the season late. Now he’ll be in camp from the start, and ready to let it rip come Opening Day 2009. The sky is the limit on Pujols production next year, as he put up a .357 average, knocked 37 balls out of the park and drove in 116 rbis WITH the injury. If you’re a Cardinals fan that is definitely something to look forward to. And for you Pujol fantasy owners he’s a definite keeper and arguably the #1 pick in next years draft, again.

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Tags: MLB, St Louis Cardinals