Perez to have ankle surgery Wednesday

BOSTON -- Reliever Chris Perez will finally be relieved of some discomfort in his left ankle.

Perez will have surgery Wednesday to remove an extra bone that has formed in the back of his left ankle and affected his conditioning this season. The bone, known as an "os trigonum," is present in a small portion of the population, and the surgery to remove it is not considered serious.

"I've been dealing with it the whole year," Perez said. "It doesn't really affect me at all on the field. It's more off-the-field stuff -- running, weightlifting, stuff like that. It's not serious. It's like two weeks of keeping off of it [after surgery], and then another two or three weeks of rehabbing, and I should be good to start up again."

The surgery will be performed by Dr. James Sferra at the Cleveland Clinic.

Perez was acquired in the June trade that sent Mark DeRosa to the Cardinals, and he's emerged as a key contributor in the setup role in the second half. It has already been speculated that Perez could eventually move into the closer's role, if the Indians try to trade Kerry Wood, whose $10.5 million contract won't exactly fit in on a rebuilding ballclub next season.

"I feel like I had a pretty good second half," said Perez, who went 1-1 with a 4.18 ERA in 29 appearances out of the Tribe's bullpen. "There's always room for improvement. I had a couple outings where I gave up a couple runs. But I feel good about throwing strikes and getting strikeouts. I feel good about next year, competing for a job, and hopefully next year we can turn it around a little bit."



(mlb.com)