Mariners' Cano to have offseason hernia surgery

Robinson Cano will undergo surgery to repair a sports hernia in two weeks and expects to be fully recovered by spring training.

The Mariners' star second baseman, who will turn 33 on Oct. 22, plans to play in the final three games of the season before having surgery on Oct. 13.

"I was hoping not to get surgery but they did a test two days ago and that's when we decided to do surgery," he said.

Cano sustained an abdominal injury on July 22 that the team's medical director, Dr. Edward Khalfayan, determined to be a core muscle injury, or sports hernia.

"It's one of those injuries that athletes can play with, and can play well," Dr. Khalfayan said. "He has been managing it very well.

"It is painful at times but he has been able to perform. It's not doing any more damage by continuing to play."

Cano, who hit just .251 in the first half, has been playing quite well in the second half pf the season. Since the All-Star break, he is hitting .332 with 42 runs scored, 11 doubles, 14 home runs and 46 RBI. He has a 13-game hitting streak -- currently the longest active in baseball -- while hitting .365 during that span.

On Sept. 23 at Kansas City, he got his 2,000th hit, the 14th player in history -- and first second baseman -- to reach that milestone in his first 11 seasons.

The surgery will be performed by Philadelphia surgeon Dr. William Meyers and will require a six-week rehab period. It will be the first surgery in Cano's big-league career.

"He'll be cleared to return to all baseball activities (after six weeks)," Khalfayan said.

Typically, Cano said after the baseball season ends he takes four to six weeks to get completely away from baseball. So his timetable will not depart much from his usual offseason routine.

"I can go to spring training and don't have to worry about anything," Cano said. "Everything is going to be normal, starting at the same time. I just got to be careful. I'm not supposed to lift anything heavy or anything like that."

Cano is finishing the second year of a 10-year, $240 million contract.

Asked why he doesn't just take the final three games off, Cano said, "I love to play baseball. I played like this for the last two months. I love the game so much. I love to be out there."