Angels first baseman Albert Pujols had surgery last week to “repair the planter plate in his right foot,” per a team announcement. He’s expected to return to full baseball activities in four-and-a-half months, according to the release.
That timeline suggests that Pujols will miss some time early in the season. With the Halos’ season set to kick off on April 5th, Pujols would not have much time to ramp up in preparation for regular duties. And he’ll obviously be out for most or all of the Cactus League action.
Pujols had struggled with a right toe issue late in the year, sticking to a DH role down the stretch. The Hall-of-Fame-bound slugger, 35, ended the season with a .244/.307/.480 batting line with 40 home runs. He initially tried to rest the foot after the season, new GM Billy Eppler tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, but with insufficient improvement elected to undergo the procedure.
While the Halos obviously will hope to get Pujols back as soon as possible, the team will also surely be cautious. After all, the veteran is still owed $165MM over six seasons. His long-term health will certainly have a major bearing on how much value he can provide on the back end of his huge free agent deal.
The Angels do not expect to adjust their offseason approach in light of the news, Eppler added in his comments. The club views C.J. Cron as a viable option at first, and he’ll presumably fill in while Pujols works back into the lineup and, eventually, duties in the infield.
Can definitely see them going hard after Murph now.
I can see the Angels going after Murphy but this injury does not change the Angels’ off-season plans at all. The Angels have known for a long time that Pujols has problems with his right foot, they have been present for over 2 years now.
just wondering, who’s the other candidates to take his spot over? Who did it in previous years?
They could bring a guy from the minors and figure something out with him when pujols is ready. By the sounds of it he won’t miss a whole lot
A combination of CJ Cron and Efren Navarro have done it in the past. Hard to say this early in the off-season but my point is the Angels are not going to sign Murphy (or anyone else for that matter) to a multi-year deal and give up draft pick just because Pujols might miss a month.
What? The post above says he’s back to baseball activities in 4.5 months. The season is five months away. This probably means Pujols misses like 30-40 games. Not sure that will make the Angels want to push hard at spending $50 million on four years of Murph.
First Brantley, now Pujols. I wonder if any other notable players will be needing offseason surgery soon?
Huh? Lots of players have surgery in the off season to hopefully be fully healed for the next season…
Be curious to know what the expected outcome of this surgery is. Is this something that will completely fix his issues or may it not work at all? Plantar issues are tricky.
I was wondering the same thing. If this is something pretty certain to help, I’m not sure why he wouldn’t have had the surgery 4-5 years ago. This goes back to his time in St. Louis as a problem.
That was with his left foot when he was with St. Louis and he tore his left plantar fascia in 2013 which essentially fixed his problem with that foot. Sounds like this new issue is with his right foot
The issue before was with his left foot. When he tore his plantar fascia in 2013 that essentially fixed his issue with that foot. The new issue is with his right foot. Either way it’s not great news for the Angels meek offense
Still owed 165 million over 6 years at age 35 is crazy. I hope the surgery is successful or that’s an even worse contract
Yeah, I think anyone with half a brain knows the Angel’s were desperate beyond belief. One of the worst signings in baseball and it’s not going to get any better.
Unbelievable the value the Cardinals got out of Pujols for the money. I don’t think he’s performed terribly for the Angels so far, can’t say it’s a bad contract until it actually is, even though we all expect it to be.
Hope for a speedy return.
Hope you are doing well after the surgery! A cardinal fan. Was sorry to see you go!