Rolen's two options- play injured or have surgery

The third baseman ponders putting off additional surgery on his ailing shoulder.

ST. LOUIS -- Scott Rolen faces a gut-wrenching decision: undergo season-ending surgery on his still-ailing left shoulder, or try to play into October far below his best with the team that had the major leagues' best record.

The St. Louis Cardinals' All-Star third baseman said Thursday he's been told he has a torn labrum that will necessitate a six-month rehab. He wants to weigh his admittedly dismal options.

"I have a chance of being part of something pretty special, or walk around in a sling," Rolen said. "One of the questions is what's my best chance to win a ring as a St. Louis Cardinal?

"It might be not to play, and that's not an easy decision to say I can't help this team, I can hurt this team. So my best shot at winning a World Series is not to play."

Mostly without Rolen, the Cardinals had a major-league best 76-44 record entering Thursday night's game against the Diamondbacks. Coming off four straight 100-RBI seasons, he's batting .235 with five home runs and 28 RBIs in 56 games.

Rolen, who underwent surgery on the shoulder after a May 10 base-running collision with Dodgers first baseman Hee-Seop Choi, was placed on the 15-day disabled list July 22 when it became clear he was not progressing. He batted .205 while playing from June 18 to July 21 with no homers and eight RBIs in 87 at-bats.

During that period he also skipped an All-Star start to rest the shoulder.

Rolen met with Dr. Tim Kremchek, the Cincinnati Reds' medical supervisor, last week to get a second opinion on the injury. Rolen said Kremchek told him surgery was unavoidable, even if he sat out the rest of the season and then rehabbed for several months. Rolen said Kremchek characterized the injury as an "instability" issue.

"When all the smoke clears, he says, you don't have any options, you have to have surgery," Rolen said. "Not maybe, it's no, you cannot. The timing is the issue, that's the decision to make."

Surgery now would allow Rolen to return sometime in spring training. If he waits until the season ends, he might miss considerable time at the start of next season.

"I would pin down Scott," manager Tony La Russa said. "He's the one who should respond. The difficult thing has been it really goes back and forth.

"We get so excited because he's feeling better for a couple of days and then he goes backwards, so it's really been agonizing for him and us."