Glaus expected to miss 12 weeks

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Troy Glaus is expected to be sidelined for three months after arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder.

Glaus will begin physical therapy next week following Wednesday's surgery in Los Angeles. Glaus, 32, hit .270 with 27 homers and 99 RBIs last season, his first with the Cardinals.

Glaus finished in the top 10 among NL third basemen in RBIs, doubles, home runs and slugging percentage last year. He set a Cardinals team record for fielding percentage (.982) by a third baseman, a mark that led the league.

Glaus has a career batting average of .258, with 304 homers and 877 RBIs in 10-plus seasons with Anaheim, Arizona, Toronto and St. Louis. He is entering the final year of a contract that will pay him $11.25 million in 2009.

It wasn't immediately clear why Glaus waited until late January to have the surgery, meaning he will likely miss Opening Day. Glaus appeared at the team's annual Winter Warmup event last weekend and made no mention of an injury or the need for surgery.

Glaus had two cortisone shots and missed a few games in September due to what was described as a strained right shoulder. But an MRI at the time showed no significant problems.

General manager John Mozeliak planned to address the matter during an afternoon news conference.

Without Glaus, it wasn't immediately clear who would start the season at third base for St. Louis. The Cardinals have two highly regarded prospects at third base in David Freese and Brett Wallace, the team's 2008 first-round draft pick out of Arizona State.

Freese, 25, is a St. Louis native who came to the Cardinals from San Diego in the Jim Edmonds trade in December 2007. He hit .306 with 26 home runs and 91 RBIs at Triple-A Memphis. Wallace, 22, hit a combined .337 with eight homers and 36 RBIs in Class A and Double-A after signing with St. Louis.

Backup infielder Brendan Ryan played five games at third base last season and 24 games in 2007. Outfielder Joe Mather played one game at third base in 2008.