St. Louis Cardinals' Rafael Furcal faces season-ending Tommy John Surgery – MLB News
The St. Louis Cardinals' shortstop Rafael Furcal faces the unexpected prospect of missing the rest of the 2012 regular season as the injury he suffered on Thursday is said to be serious. Reports suggest that his exams revealed that he has suffered an injury to the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
Cardinals are for now taking their time to announce the diagnosis as the player is scheduled to see Dr. George Paletta on Friday. If Tommy John Surgery is what is required, this will formally be the end of the season for Furcal.
This could be one of the biggest setbacks that the Redbirds will face if the player has to be taken out of the line-up. The fact that the Cardinals are exerting hard to keep pace with the ongoing race for the Wild Card calls for a stronger combination of players.
Furcal, it goes without saying was one of the most instrumental parts of the Cardinals. His instrumentality was best described by the team manager when he spoke about all the developments on Friday.
As Furcal is on the disabled list, it is Pete Kozma whom the Cardinals have decided to promote to the Majors from Triple-A Iowa.
"He's been great. He's been a great addition to this team and we hate to see that happen for him," manager Mike Matheny said of Furcal. "But we've had many of those happen throughout the season, and it's just an opportunity for someone else to step up, not just at shortstop, but to pick up the slack with the energy and the positivity that he brings every day. Somebody else is going to have to take over that. That's really what you have to do over the course of the season."
Whether Kozma delivers or not is something that cannot be predicted at this point in time. While Furcal was .264 in 121 games that he played in 2012, Kozma comes with .232 average in 131 Triple-A games that he has played in the ongoing season.
Be that as it may, the Cardinals keep their fingers crossed for a solid performance by Kozma.
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