Albert Pujols opening day status in question after foot surgery

It’s deja vu all over for the Los Angeles Angels.

At this time last year, slugger Albert Pujols was recovering from early November surgery aimed at alleviating pain near the arch of his right foot. The operation carried a four-month recovery time, which ultimately lingered into spring training and impacted his season preparation.

Now we’ve learned that Pujols required surgery on the same foot on Friday to release the plantar fascia that hobbled him all season long. That too carries a four-month recovery period, which this time puts Pujols’ opening day status in jeopardy.

Angels GM Billy Eppler said the rehab for Pujols surgery is 3 months till baseball activity and 4 to play. So right around opening day.

— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) December 3, 2016

This is not an ideal scenario for the Angels or for Pujols, who has now undergone three separate offseason surgeries dating back to 2012. The first was a knee cleanup.

Pujols had hoped surgery would not be required this time around. In fact, he was confident as recently as early November that he was making progress through non-surgical therapy. However, when the pain persisted, the reality set in that something more drastic had to be done.

Pujols didn't have surgery till now bc at first the non-surgical treatment was working, but recently he was having more pain, Eppler said.

— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) December 3, 2016

One can’t blame Pujols for holding out hope. Avoiding surgery is always the goal. Unfortunately, that delay is likely to leave him less than one-hundred percent early on, and might leave the Angels without a major contributor out of the gate.

That presents a big, big problem for the Angels. Even with Pujols and his 31 homers in the lineup last season, they finished with just 156 as a team, good for the second fewest in the A.L. Beyond Pujols and Mike Trout, they struck zero fear into opposing pitchers, which makes Pujols’ presence essential. They better hope for a quick and complete recovery. If not that,then they better hope a lot of help arrives between now and April.