This was inevitable, but Mike Lowell finally decided to quit postponing surgery on his injured right hip. He'll undergo the operation on Monday. From Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald:

Lowell was told five days ago by general manager Theo Epstein that there was a 99 percent chance he would not be placed on the World Series roster should the team make it.

"Once it was pretty clear that I was a longshot to be on the World Series roster," the decision was made, Lowell said. "I didn't want to drag it out and then see if it would affect me in the latter part of spring training. This allows me to have a full spring training and not be rushed."

Let's be frank: Lowell would be a longshot to be on the World Series roster even if he were completely healthy: the Sox are teetering on the edge of elimination down 3-1 to the Rays. So yeah, it makes sense to go ahead and fix this now.

The injury clearly hampered his abiltiy to perform down the stretch: after hitting .351 in June, he hit just .209 in July and August before being forced to the DL. He eventually rebounded to hit .316 in 11 games in September, but there wasn't enough left in the tank for the playoffs.

The good news is that by having the surgery now, Lowell is expected to be completely recovered in time for spring training. His injury is rare in baseball, but he's been told that football players who have the same operation are usually cleared for full-contact within four months. Considering he doesn't have to worry about being blindsided by a linebacker, he should be cleared in three.