Albert Pujols injury: Angels 1B on DL, might be out for year

Pujols was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Sunday after being hampered by the injury throughout 2013. The team is unsure if surgery will be needed, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, since the plantar fascia might already be torn to the point where it wouldn’t need to be cut during an operation.

Being without Pujols for a full year hasn’t been ruled out, Angels manager Mike Scioscia told MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez, though he will miss “significant” time either way. Pujols played through the injury for as long as his body would allow, Scioscia told Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times, adding that Pujols was still effective despite being only “50 to 60 percent” healthy.

Pujols has dealt with plantar fasciitis in his left foot for years, and re-aggravated the injury on Friday. Offseason surgery on the injury has been talked about in the past. That possibility is growing stronger than ever.

The Angels sent Pujols back to Los Angeles Saturday to be re-evaluated. A tear of the plantar fascia usually requires around six-to-eight weeks of recovery time. That would put his return date somewhere around late September. However, with the Angels looking unlikely to make the playoffs, this injury could spell the end of Pujols’s season.

Pujols headed back to Southern California while the team remained in Oakland to play the AL West-leading A’s. Various beat writers had different impressions of how bad the injury might be:

At the very least, he’ll be out of the lineup Saturday. Pujols played all nine innings on Saturday, managing a RBI single as the Angels attempted to mount a comeback, but was pulled after the base hit for a pinch runner.