Jhonny Peralta could be out 2-3 months with torn thumb ligament

Jhonny Peralta has been a fixture in the St. Louis Cardinals lineup for the past two years but the club will likely be without him for at least 2-3 months after an MRI showed a tear in a left thumb ligament.

Peralta is flying back to St. Louis from the team’s spring training home in Florida on Monday to seek a second opinion before deciding on the best course of action, but general manager John Mozeliak did not sound optimistic about the situation when informing reporters Monday morning.

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The injury likely happened in Saturday’s game. Mozeliak said Peralta reported feeling discomfort but then felt better Sunday.

The Cardinals have some very recent history with another key player suffering a similar injury. Catcher Yadier Molina missed some action at the end of last season because of a torn ligament in his thumb. He underwent surgery in October, but it didn’t take and he had a second surgery in December. The Cardinals are hoping Molina can begin playing baseball as soon as this week.

Given that history, the news about Peralta’s injury will make it difficult for anyone in the organization to feel optimistic about the team getting its shortstop back before June and that might even be a hopeful timeline. Peralta was in the lineup for 155 games last season. He hit .275/.334/.411 with 17 home runs and 71 RBI.

[Boy’s near miss with flying baseball bat illustrates need for nets]

Jhonny Peralta did have an MRI taken of his thumb here in Florida, to which GM Mozeliak said: “The initial read is not positive.” #stlcards

— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) March 7, 2016

Mozeliak said it’s possible the Cardinals could look outside the organization for help at shortstop but the first order of business is giving other players a chance to earn the job in Peralta’s absence. Jedd Gyorko, Greg Garcia and  Aledmys Diaz will compete there this spring.

[Elsewhere: Boy’s near miss with flying baseball bat illustrates need for nets]

The Cardinals traded for Gyorko in December, sending Jon Jay to the Padres. Gyorko batted .247/.297/.397 for the Padres last season and has played in 364 games the past three seasons, all of which makes him the likely candidate to take over for Peralta.

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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo