Moss set for offseason surgery on injured right hip

ARLINGTON -- A's outfielder Brandon Moss has been playing through a right hip injury for much of the year and is prepared to undergo surgery on it as soon as Oakland's season concludes.

Moss has been dealing with the injury since mid-May, but only recently has it really become a concern, which is why he opted to go for an MRI exam on Monday that revealed torn cartilage. He was unavailable Wednesday after receiving a cortisone shot but returned to the lineup for Thursday's four-game-series opener in Texas, playing in left field.

"As far as the pain, there really isn't any right now," said Moss. "Today it feels really good."

But a cortisone shot can only mask an injury for so long, and Moss understands offseason surgery isn't even up for debate at this point. It's simply a matter of deciding what kind is best, be it microfracture surgery, which would sideline him through the majority of Spring Training, or a more minor clean-up procedure.

"Best-case scenario would be to go in there and just clean out what's in there," he said. "Obviously there are things floating around in there.

"Something has to be done. Can't just leave it alone. Leaving it alone isn't going to do it any good."

Moss has gradually lost mobility and strength, but he does not want to use that as an excuse for his second-half struggles at the plate. He entered the day batting .179 with four home runs and 15 RBIs in 54 games since the All-Star break, after batting .268 with 21 homers and 66 RBIs in the 89 games before it.

"When you have something going on, your body finds a way to compensate for it, so mechanical things change and such, but as far as how I felt at the plate, I didn't feel any different," he said. "There may have been some differences, but I didn't feel that way. I felt like I was swinging at bad pitches. That's all there was to it."

Moss later added what manager Bob Melvin echoed: "I have a hard time pinning all of my struggles on that. It progressively got worse through the season, but I was playing with it early in the season, too. It hurt, it bothered me, but until recently, I didn't think it was nearly as bad as it was."