Paul Konerko to have hand surgery Thursday

The Chicago White Sox announced on Tuesday that first baseman/designated hitter Paul Konerko will undergo minor surgery on his left wrist on Thursday. The procedure is to remove "floating particles" between his left hand and left wrist.

This will be the third time in two years -- and second time this year -- that Konerko will undergo surgery on the wrist. Konerko is expected to miss between four and six weeks. He told reporters that he has had the issue with his wrist since 2009, but it hasn't affected his swing.

"It was not a factor in (his swing in) any way other than in early May after I had that procedure done it hung around a little longer," Konerko said. "At that time, we were playing the Dodgers and Cardinals so, it wasn't a good time then. I really never had surgery before other than that. I have no reservations about my wrist in the future."

(via ESPN Chicago)

Konerko is finishing up another fine season, one that saw him total an OPS of .853 while hitting 25 home runs. That said, he was noticeably worse in the second half of the season, with an OPS drop of nearly .200 points between the first and second halves of the year.