Justin Morneau just can’t catch a break.
After sitting out nine months following a concussion last July he returned to the Twins’ lineup to hit just .225 with four homers and a .619 OPS in 55 games before being placed on the disabled list with a wrist injury last week.
And now Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Morneau “will undergo surgery to alleviate neck pain” and is expected to miss “about six weeks.”
Morneau complained about neck pain as far back as the middle of spring training and revealed a few weeks ago that he was playing through a pinched nerve, but Twins trainer Rick McWane told Souhan that the injury is not related to last year’s concussion
Minnesota’s season has been wrecked by injuries to nearly every key contributor and now Morneau joins Joe Mauer, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, and Jason Kubel in missing significantly more time than initially expected. And in this case the official reason for Morneau being placed on the DL wasn’t even his neck. What a mess.