Detroit Tigers superstar and 2013 Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera is dealing with a bone spur in his right ankle, which could cause him to miss time during a crucial set of September games.
The Tigers currently sit 0.5 games back of the second Wild Card spot and 2 games back of the AL Central leading Royals, but they may have to make a playoff push without regular help from last year’s MVP. Team trainers aren’t suggesting that Cabrera needs surgery to address the issue, but it’s clear any operation wouldn’t occur until the season ended.
“We don’t know if he requires surgery,” said manager Brad Ausmus. “We don’t know if it’s going to be [healed by] rest, or if surgery would help, and that’ll be determined when the season’s over.”
Ausmus added that a problematic bone spur is what’s causing the pain.
“That is what’s causing the irritation – not spurs, I would say it’s one,” said Ausmus. “That’s what the general consensus is, but whether it’s rest that will help the inflammation or irritation go down in the area, or whether it’s something that has to be done surgically, we don’t know that.”
Cabrera is still putting up great numbers this season, hitting .310/.370/.519 with 22 home runs and 100 RBI, but he’s having a down season compared to years past. He leads the American League in doubles, but if he was working with a healthy base, it’s all but certain a few of those shots off the wall would have cleared the fence.
Dr. Silverman comments
While I don’t think Ausmus is trying to craft an excuse as to why the Tigers might miss the playoffs, it’s clear that Cabrera needs to go under the knife this offseason, and the manager doesn’t want to come out and openly say ‘yes he needs surgery but he’s going to play through it because we need him.’
If Cabrera wanted to ride off into the sunset this offseason and hang up his cleats, he could probably get away with just resting his foot. If he wants to return to Triple Crown from, he’s going to need to have the spur and any underlying conditions addressed.
I’ve seen this exact injury many times, and I’d venture to guess that ankle instability and arthritic spurs are the root of the problem. Oftentimes this combination can cause recurrent problems, and although Cabrera has been rather durable this season, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard grumblings that’s he’s dealing with right foot discomfort. He’s one of if not the best hitter in the game right now, and he can certainly play well through the pain, but he needs to have the foot surgically fixed if he wants to play pain free next season. Rest could help in the short term, but the problem will surface again during another long season if the root cause goes untreated.
Related source: CBS Sports
