Pujols Might Miss 2008 Season

[Migrant Redbird]

Pujols move to 1st in 2004 was due in large part to an elbow injury which limited his ability to throw from left field. That elbow is still bothering him a great deal, but he chose not to undergo surgery in the off season because of the lengthy recuperation period. However, Albert says that he will not go through that level of pain to play in 2008; he'll bail out of the season and have the surgery. If the elbow is bad enough during spring training, there would be a possibility that he could have the surgery then and miss the entire 2008 season, although the article indicates he would probably wait until later in the season to make that decision.

Albert Pujols still angry over being linked to Mitchell Report on steroids

.... he also discussed how close he came to an operation that could have interrupted his season. Pujols met with a specialist about pain in his right elbow after the season, but when told about the severity of the surgery needed, he said he "called that off."

Pujols said that with rest, his legs are feeling better after the hamstring injury and calf soreness that slowed him late last season. He hopes the elbow will improve as much, too, but added he doesn't plan to play through that level of pain again.

"I was in pain. I was in pain," said Pujols, who led the team with 32 home runs, in 158 games. "After May, I just felt it was hurting and it was hurting pretty bad. … If that same problem is happening this year, I don't think I'm going to play the whole year the same way. I sacrificed my body. That's how I put it.

"I'm telling myself that I ain't going through the same pain that I went through last year."

Pujols said the elbow has limited his ability to lift during the offseason but not his ability to prepare for spring training. He showed reporters how he could not straighten his right elbow and then shrugged it off by happily talking about his coming humanitarian trip to the Dominican Republic. Later this week, he and his foundation are taking eye doctors to villages in his native country.

He'll return in time to head to spring training. That will be the true test of his health, he said.

[Why Not?]

Wow, I didn't realize he was playing through so much. He's a walking injury report. I guess that's a testiment to his abilities that he could put big numbers anyway.

[RShack]

That elbow is still bothering him a great deal, but he chose not to undergo surgery in the off season because of the lengthy recuperation period. However, Albert says that he will not go through that level of pain to play in 2008; he'll bail out of the season and have the surgery.

Holy cow.

I don't see how the 2 sentences above really add up. It's been hurting like hell for 3 years, but he didn't want it fixed because he didn't want to recuperate? But now he might take his big salary and screw up the season because it hurts? Huh?

[Migrant Redbird]

I don't see how the 2 sentences above really add up. It's been hurting like hell for 3 years, but he didn't want it fixed because he didn't want to recuperate? But now he might take his big salary and screw up the season because it hurts? Huh?

We've known for years that Pujols was suffering a great deal of pain from his plantar fasciitis, but he's chosen to play through it, even stealing 16 bases in 18 attempts in 2004 by choosing to run selectively.

Having had the condition myself back in 1992 or 1993, I can vouch for it being very painful and not very amenable to treatment. I went to a podiatrist for several months, took cortisone shots, and eventually stopped seeing the podiatrist when I decided that he wasn't making any difference. Subsequently, my plantar fasiitis went away on its own, although I've had a couple of lesser flareups in the years since and wear orthotic inserts to help prevent it.

Troy Glaus has missed significant playing time the past 2 years with plantar fasciitis and elected surgery to relieve it. That works for some people, but what I've read is that it should be a last resort. Pujols has chosen alternate, non-surgical treatments for his plantar fasciitis, with varying degrees of success.

Pujols used to have a plus arm for a 3rd baseman (he's played shortstop) or an outfielder, but he injured it in 2003. He continued to play, with the cutoff man ranging far out into left field so that Pujols didn't have to throw the ball so far.

In 2004, Pujols moved to 1st base, with the bad elbow being given as a reason. I hadn't heard much about it in recent years and assumed the injury was healed. A few months ago, someone mentioned to me that it wasn't, but that didn't get confirmed until just recently.

We knew that Pujols was in pain from a nagging hamstring injury last season and he was on the DL for 15 days in 2006 with an injury to the oblique muscle. The elbow wasn't mentioned, perhaps because teams might have been tempted to run more if they'd known how much it hurt for him to throw. Still, he turns the 3-6-3 DP as well or better than anyone in baseball, so it's difficult to believe that he was incapable of throwing nearly as well as he could healthy, despite the injury.

There's just a little strain of "He doth protest too much" in the account, but one should consider that Albert's native language is Spanish and people do tend to phrase things awkwardly in a second language.

There has been speculation that Pujols is being a little bit of a drama queen, and it wouldn't take him a full year to return to play after TJ surgery because he's not a pitcher. One fan pointed out that Tony Womack had elbow surgery in the off season and was able to recuperate in time for spring training. "He wasn't throwing well, but it was adequate. Albert's arm wouldn't be the plus it is now for another season, but it'd be good enough for 1b."

I have no doubt that Pujols has a high tolerance for pain. If he does need this surgery, 2008 might not be a bad season in which to do it, with both Carpenter and Mulder on the shelf for half the year or longer.

[RShack]

There's just a little strain of "He doth protest too much" in the account, but one should consider that Albert's native language is Spanish and people do tend to phrase things awkwardly in a second language.

There has been speculation that Pujols is being a little bit of a drama queen, and it wouldn't take him a full year to return to play after TJ surgery because he's not a pitcher. One fan pointed out that Tony Womack had elbow surgery in the off season and was able to recuperate in time for spring training. "He wasn't throwing well, but it was adequate. Albert's arm wouldn't be the plus it is now for another season, but it'd be good enough for 1b."

I have no doubt that Pujols has a high tolerance for pain. If he does need this surgery, 2008 might not be a bad season in which to do it, with both Carpenter and Mulder on the shelf for half the year or longer.

OK, so I'm still confused about which injury we're talking about.

Is it the one for which surgery is a good fix, or the one for which it isn't?

And regardless of that question, how long has this particular problem been bothering him?

(Not disagreeing, just confused.)

[Migrant Redbird]

The surgery which would end Albert's season is for the elbow he injured back in 2003. I'm assuming it's TJ surgery, although I don't think I've ever seen that confirmed officially.

Pujols probably should have had that surgery back in August or September of last season, but the Cubs and Brewers kept acting like they didn't want the division, so I'm OK with him waiting until October. Unfortunately, he was scared off by the doctors' description of the surgery and thought he might not be recuperated in time for 2008. Since it has plagued him from 2003, he probably should have bitten the bullet and gotten it fixed. Pitchers take about 12 months to return, but a 1st baseman might have been ready by opening day.

I am assuming that the hamstring and sore calf muscles from 2007 are OK, though Albert didn't really say that. He just said that they're better.

Likewise, I assume the oblique muscle strain that put him on the DL for 15 days in 2006 hasn't recurred. Apparently that wasn't too severe, or he probably would have been out longer. Speculation at the time was that the oblique might take 2 months to heal, but those assumptions might have been based upon how long pitchers take to get over oblique strains/tears.

I'm assuming that the plantar fasciitis condition is still there, but is manageable, since I've not seen much discussion of it for a year or two. I occasionally get a twinge from mine, but nothing that really affects my mobility. If it really flared up, Albert might consider the surgery that Troy Glaus had last year.

By the way, I read a report citing a "close friend" of Glaus that he's in "fantastic shape" and likely to have a big year in St. Louis. One can only hope that's correct. If the Cardinals can tread water until midseason and both Carpenter and Mulder come back strong (unlikely), they might still win the NL Central. The Cubs and Brewers were pretty good at under-performing last season; can't really count on that, of course.

[byrdz]

I didn't know that Pujols was linked to steroids in the Mitchell report. So, how did he make the "All Clean Team"?

[Moose Milligan]

It's because he was using HGH, turned up a positive test for the 3rd time...MLB doesn't want another black mark on the face of the game, so this is what they're resorting to.

[Migrant Redbird]

This is an ugly, commercialized "puff piece" article, but still contains an interesting tidbit of information about Pujols that I don't recall hearing before. "Cadillac" of a ballplayer

On February 7, 2007, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols demonstrated the same calm and success under pressure that he shows at the plate during the season. Uncle Sam threw him some monster fastballs on the U.S. citizenship test, but Pujols swatted them back with equal velocity. After scoring a perfect 100, Pujols presumably went home and defrosted the ice in his veins.

I've no idea how difficult the citizenship test is, so whether this is another example of the Pujols drive for perfection or not is difficult to tell.