Corey Hart Injury: Brewers Outfielder Makes Opening-Day Roster

It's not like the Milwaukee Brewers turned into the Seattle Mariners just because they lost Prince Fielder. They still had some hitters. The Brewers, not the Mariners. God, not the Mariners.

But when Corey Hart went down with cartilage tears in his right knee early in spring training, suddenly the lineup looked pretty sketchy. Norichika Aoki and Carlos Gomez were going to battle for time in the outfield. Mat Gamel was going to hit fifth. Alex Gonzalez was probably going to hit sixth, and it really doesn't matter which one.

Now Hart's expected back ahead of schedule. From Tom Hadricourt:

Brewers manager Ron Roenicke announced this morning that rightfielder Corey Hart will open on the active roster after making a quick recovery from knee surgery early in spring training.

Suddenly Hart is back hitting fifth, and the lineup is a lot more palatable. Maybe it's just a mental thing, but the Brewers without Hart don't look like an especially fearsome group of hitters. Still expect to see a lot of Aoki, who is winding up the Cactus League on a tear, though, as the Brewers will likely want to take it a little slowly with Hart.

Corey Hart Injury: Brewers Outfielder Hopes To Return By Opening Day

Earlier this week, Brewers outfielder Corey Hart was diagnosed with a torn meniscus in his right knee and underwent arthroscopic surgery on the knee on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Brewers beat writer Tom Haudricourt spoke to Hart and had possible good news:

#Brewers RF Corey Hart says had three “big” cartilage tears in right knee but all were repaired and he still hopes to be ready for season.

— Tom (@Haudricourt) March 7, 2012

“Three big cartilage tears” doesn’t sound very good, but Hart’s optimism continued:

Hart is on crutches but he said he’ll be done with those in a couple of days and begin his rehab. Hopes to be playing before camp is done.

— Tom (@Haudricourt) March 7, 2012

There’s a lot of hope there but no specifics. Wait, here’s some more specifics:

Hart said two pieces of cartilage already had broken off and were floating in the knee, which would have locked it up eventually.

— Tom (@Haudricourt) March 7, 2012

Sounds like quite a mess in there, actually. Hart is 29 and missed some time in 2011 (32 games) with various minor injuries. The Brewers signed Japanese outfielder Norichika Aoki as something of an insurance policy had Ryan Braun been suspended for 50 games; now that Braun’s suspension has been lifted, it seems likely that Aoki will fill in for Hart if he can’t make it back by Opening Day.

Corey Hart Knee Injury Requires Surgery; Will Miss 3-4 Weeks

Corey Hart has a torn meniscus in his knee, which needs to be repaired with surgery. It's not as bad as it sounds, though, and he shouldn't miss much of the season. If any!