Pujols delays surgery to play baseball for Cardinals this season

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

JUPITER, Florida (AFP) — St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols plans to put off surgery on his damaged right elbow until after the 2008 baseball season, the team said Thursday.

Pujols has a torn ligament, bone spurs, arthritis and swelling in his elbow - all results of an injury sustained in 2003.

The 28-year-old player consulted surgeon James Andrews earlier this year and learned he will eventually need reconstructive surgery, but the operation will sideline him for up to eight months.

"A reconstruction was going to cost him all of 2008, essentially," Cardinals team doctor George Paletta said. "Albert made a decision which I think personally was a wise decision."

Added Paletta: "If his elbow condition can't be successfully managed and gives him...