Matt Kemp to have left shoulder surgery Tuesday

LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp begins his busy offseason as the Dodgers outfielder will have surgery to clean up the A-C joint in his left shoulder on Tuesday, the team announced. The procedure will be performed by team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache at the Kerlan Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles.

The A-C joint is a different spot in the shoulder than Kemp's procedure in October 2012, which was to repair a torn labrum and fix his rotator cuff. That procedure kept Kemp from swinging a bat until late January and prevented him from his normal offseason weight lifting program.

Tuesday's procedure is said to be more of a minor procedure to correct what ElAttrache described as progressive arthritis in Kemp's A-C joint. Kemp will be able to begin rehab in two to three days, and expected recovery time is six weeks.

Kemp is also on crutches and a walking boot for a month to keep weight off of his sprained left ankle. He has swelling around the talus bone, one of the major weight-bearing bones in the ankle, and was ruled out for the playoffs on Sept. 29, the final day of the regular season.

Major surgery is not expected for Kemp's ankle, though ElAttrache said that some minor arthroscopic procedure might be needed for some cleanup.

Kemp suffered through an injury-plagued season in 2013, with three stints on the disabled list for a strained hamstring, inflammation in the A-C joint of his left shoulder, and a sprained ankle. Kemp was limited to just 73 games and hit .270/.328/.395 with six home runs.

Since his streak of 399 consecutive games played in May 2012, at the time the longest active streak in MLB, Kemp has missed 145 of the Dodgers last 290 games.

Take this with however many grains of salt deemed necessary, but Kemp is expected to be ready for the start of spring training.