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| Furcal exits Thursday night's game with injury. (Getty Images) |
As we saw this past month with the case of Carl Crawford, needing Tommy John surgery isn't just reserved for pitchers. Position players tear their ulnar-collateral ligament sometimes, too. In the case of Cardinals shortstop Rafael Furcal, that's what may have happened Thursday night.
Furcal will undergo an MRI Friday on his UCL in his right elbow for "confirmation" that he has torn it. His season is "believed over," reports Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Put simply: It sounds like a done deal that Furcal is done for 2012.
Furcal, 34, is hitting .264/.325/.346 with 69 runs scored and 12 stolen bases this season.
The Cardinals have started Furcal at shorstop 116 times this season. Tyler Greene -- now with the Astros -- has started there four times and Daniel Descalso has started at short 11 times. So it would appear Descalso will take over as the everyday shortstop, effective immediately.
Not only is going from Furcal to Descalso a downgrade in the starting lineup, but it cripples the middle infield depth for St. Louis. This is a big blow.
The Cardinals currently have a 1/2 game lead over the Pirates for the second wild card.
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