Did you wonder why Chase Headley played so poorly this season compared to 2012?

Headley said the knee began giving him some trouble during Spring Training.

“There was no specific incident; that’s just when I first noticed it,” the 29-year-old third baseman said Sunday. “There was no MRI at the time, so it’s hard to say what happened. There was never a point where I couldn’t play.”

Headley will have arthroscopic surgery Tuesday to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.

The power Headley gained in 2012 disappeared, and his performance was about 3 rWAR lower. The Padres had a shot at finishing over .500 if Chase is healthy.

A scope of his knee early might have shut him down for a month, but it might also had made him a better hitter during the season. There’s a lot of praise in the article for Headley playing hurt, but I’m not sure it really helped all that much. If the Padres had not suffered so many injuries early, maybe they take care of this in March.