Cardinals' Jaime Garcia will not undergo shoulder surgery

At the advice of specialist Dr. Jame Andrews, St. Louis Cardinals left-hander Jaime Garcia will not undergo surgery to repair a rotator cuff strain suffered during the NLDS, reports Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com:

Jaime Garcia has returned from meeting with Dr. James Andrews, who recommended that Garcia not undergo surgery to address what has been diagnosed as a rotator cuff strain and inflammation in his left shoulder...

"To me, it’s at least a plan," general manager John Mozeliak said of the news. "There’s nothing that is screaming surgery. Dr. Andrews felt like getting him some rehab to see if he can work through it is fine."

In lieu of an operation, Garcia will begin a rehab program immediately and will be re-evaluated by the team's physician after a two- to three-week period. If after the evaluation it is deemed that the program is not working, then it may be likely that Garcia will still need to go under the knife.

Garcia's 2012 season was marred by shoulder issues -- landing him on the disabled list for two months at mid-season -- but the 26-year-old still managed to put together a successful campaign, amassing a 3.92 ERA and 7.2 K/9 in just over one hundred twenty innings of work.