No announcement was made at the time, but the Angels finally revealed yesterday that shortstop Erick Aybar underwent arthroscopic left knee surgery shortly after last season ended.
Aybar’s surgery was described by the team as a minor “clean up” operation and he’s already fully healthy. He originally injured the knee in mid-June when Casey McGehee of the Brewers plowed into him on a takeout slide at second base.
He was initially diagnosed with a hyper-extension and ended up missing only a week or so, but an MRI exam showed meniscus damage and he hit just .234 with a .585 OPS in his final 74 games.
As is so often the case, playing through injury is better in theory than in practice.