ARLINGTON, Texas -- The injuries refuse to stop for the Rangers, who added Mitch Moreland to the list Sunday as he's slated to undergo left ankle surgery on Wednesday and will likely miss three months.
Moreland, the club's starting first baseman since Prince Fielder had surgery for a herniated disk in his neck, was bothered by the ankle all season. He took two injections and went through a variety of different treatments, but the ankle wasn't getting better.
Moreland told the training staff this weekend that he wanted to get the surgery so he could return at 100 percent.
"It's to the point where I'm hurting the team, hurting myself trying to go out there and make something happen," Moreland said. "There's no lower half. I'm doing everything I can and trying to battle through it, but it's to the point where it's affecting me trying to go out and play. It's hurting pretty bad. The surgery, I tried to fight it off until the end of the year. I knew I was going to have to have surgery. They told me you can do everything you can to try to get to the end of the year. I can't do it any more. I'm going to try to get back healthy and get ready to go."
Donnie Murphy will play in his place for now as the team looks at its options.
"He's done everything he could have done," general manager Jon Daniels said. "He's fought through it, but it's become apparent it's limiting him."
Daniels described the injury as "ankle reconstruction" so they can adjust a few things in the ankle.
The likely replacement for Moreland, Jim Adduci, came out of a minor league rehab start on Saturday because he jammed the same finger he had surgery on earlier this season. Adduci will meet with a hand specialist on Monday to get a better idea of what's going on with the finger.
"He wasn't far from being activated," Daniels said. "He's sore. Hopefully, he just kind of jammed it and didn't re-injure it."
Daniels wasn't sure what to say about the rash of injuries that continues for this club.
"It's hard to put your finger on it," Daniels said. "It's been a little bit everything -- ankles, backs, necks, elbows, legs, shin bones. We haven't been able to connect the dots. It's unfortunate. The team -- players and staff -- have done a heck of a job keeping themselves where they are."
Moreland was hitting .246 with two homers and 23 RBIs in 52 games.
Daniels did rule out the possibility of Joey Gallo, who's been playing well in Class A Myrtle Beach, from making the leap to the big leagues.