MILWAUKEE • There were long stretches of last season when the ache in his right shoulder and the teeth-clenching sensation of bone grinding against bone somewhere inside the joint were so sharp, so unyielding that Matt Carpenter felt he “literally could not play third base without wincing in pain.”
Yet he felt he should find other ways to perform — rather, as a professional athlete and lineup fixture, he must find other ways to produce. Like many who wear cleats to work, he faced a common clubhouse dilemma: Play through pain and be celebrated as a gamer, a grinder, a good teammate, maybe even a leader; or play with injury and hurt the team.