It's déjà vu all over again for the Los Angeles Angels. One of their star players will again miss significant time due to surgery and his status for Opening Day could be in jeopardy.
According to Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com, outfielder Josh Hamilton is scheduled to undergo surgery to repair the AC joint in his right shoulder. He's expected to miss six to eight weeks. The 33-year-old Hamilton injured his right shoulder in September fielding a line drive off the wall and missed most of the team's games that month.
That previous injury appears to have lingered throughout the offseason and will now force him to miss all of spring training and potentially the beginning of the regular season. Hamilton had symptoms of his injury resurface during a workout last week even though doctors hoped that extra rest this offseason would prevent the slugger from undergoing surgery.
"It didn't bother him throughout the offseason," Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto said Tuesday, via this MLB.com article. "He went into his offseason training and never had an issue until last week, when he started swinging full throttle again."
Hamilton was forced to almost two months in the beginning of the 2014 season when he injured his thumb and required surgery in early April. The former AL MVP has had a disappointing first two seasons with the Angels after signing a five-year, $125 million contract before the 2013 season. He has slashed just .255/.316/.426 with 31 home runs and 123 RBIs in 240 games.
He played in only 89 games last year as he dealt with his thumb and shoulder injuries as well as other ailments to his chest and rib cage. The Angels are likely hoping he can make a swift return from this procedure, which is only expected to last 15 minutes as doctors will shave his AC joint to help relieve tension, because Hamilton will earn a majority of the money over the final three seasons of his deal. He made $34 million in the first two seasons and will collect $90.2 in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
The Angels were able to finish with the best record (98-64) in all of baseball last season even with Hamilton missing significant time. We'll see if they can do it again if his injury woes persist.
