Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina underwent a second operation on his ailing left thumb yesterday, reports MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch (on Twitter). The first surgery “didn’t take,” as Langosch puts it, and with a second operation coming in mid-December, she adds that it’s likely Molina will miss most of Spring Training.
Molina originally sustained the injury — a torn ligament — in mid-September but returned briefly in the playoffs after sitting out the final few weeks of the regular season. However, he exited Game 3 of the NLDS after very clearly aggravating his hand on a swing and didn’t return for the final game of that series. St. Louis has since added the switch-hitting Brayan Pena as a backup for Molina this offseason, but it certainly seems possible that he’ll now begin the regular season behind the plate with Molina landing on the DL for the early portion of the year.
Molina has suffered a torn ligament in each of his thumbs over the past two years, missing about seven weeks in 2014 before incurring this injury late in 2015. That pair of injuries may have impacted Molina’s offense, as he batted just .267/.309/.317 in 27 games following his 2014 injury and was sporting an uncharacteristically light .270/.310/.350 batting line in 2015 before injuring his other hand.
Beyond that, Langosch also tweets that center fielder Randal Grichuk underwent sports hernia surgery recently but is expected to be ready for Spring Training. Favorable timeline notwithstanding, Grichuk’s situation bears monitoring, as setbacks could impact his availability for the season. Grichuk projects to be the everyday center fielder in St. Louis following Jon Jay’s trade to the Padres; he will, presumably, be flanked by Matt Holliday and Stephen Piscotty on the outfield corners.
Why did they send Molina in for the second surgery or to be reevaluated for another right after the playoffs?
He’s a proud dude I would blame him and not the club
Im starting to think Mozeliak doesnt know what he is doinf without his right hand man Jeff Luhnow.
Worse move cardinals ever made was letting luhnow leave. Your really starting to see the effect of his absence now. The farm system is no where close to what it used to be with luhnow. Mozeliak really does seem lost.
i’m wondering what Yadier’s second surgery have to do with Mo?
More good news (sarcasm)! Since we usually get bad news once Spring Training has already begun, hopefully for 2016, we get all the bad news out of the way in 2015. No Price (but tantalizingly close), no Heyward (not so disappointed knowing he apparently did not want to be here v. leaving for more money), biggest upgrade possibly Pena (but later revealed to actually be potential step-down as possible Opening Day starter) and the news not to expect any other major acquisitions (at least via free agency – as presumably the team likes Adams-Moss tandem at 1B). Yeesh. I get a lot of this from practical standpoint and support the Cards all the way. However, sometimes you want that kid-in-the-candy store + Christmas morning off-season that Cubs fans and D-Back fans were treated to. I’d rather a WS trophy or a team built for the long haul any day but sometimes you just want a little whimsy.
With Jed, Theo and La Russa the Cubs and d backs r built for the long haul. Talk about young controllable impact players. Might b time for the Cardinals 2 starts their rebuild
I’m a cub fan but you don’t rebuild after a 100 wins last year as the red Birds did they ain’t done yet 3rd place ain’t bad niether
“The 1st surgery didn’t take” is another way of saying he didn’t let it heal properly and reinjured it….I wonder if they waited to do the 2nd surgery to see if it would heal on its own….
Uh oh. And that’s a big big BIG uh-oh.
It is very clear that the St. Louis Cardinals love money not the the fans. They knew Molina would need an operation. They knew Grichuk is questionable. Why in the world don’t they go after the talent they need to win? “We are not going after any of the free agents available.” Lets be realistic, they have 3 12 million in attendance, ad revenue, broadcast revenue, concession revenue and MLB revenue. They really don’t care about the people who pay or watch, they already have their money.
That stinks. Am glad he didn’t try to play with it, like Pedroia did during the 2014 season when he tore it near the start of the season vs the Yankees. He lost all of his power that year and was his left thumb also.
Proud players, both of them. Better to get it fixed than suffer through the season on glove hand, especially for a catcher and one of the best in the game.
F*%$@!
This would be the time for a mini rebuild. Trade wainwright holiday carpenter peralta and rosenthal now for a bunch of prospects that are near mlb ready with yadi as the captain still until his contract is up I dont see him playing another season after this contract. The team would be super flush with prospects. Drafting next time with their picks and the cubs first and second draft picks. Sign fowler and give up your 1st round draft pic to the cubs trade for curasco and jon grey and let your prospects be unblocked and really sort out who can do what. It is worth a try.
Sounds like the cardinals should start rebuilding they are getting older
The Cards have been one of the top five franchises in MLB in this century. They’ve constantly changed players and gotten younger.
I think it’s time to make a big move. Who knows what to expect now with both Yadi or Grichuk. Hernias can be difficult things. I’m wondering if guys like Holliday and Grichuk need to back off the heavy weightlifting, what with reoccurring back and hernia type injuries.