PHOENIX (AP) – Arizona Diamondbacks slugger Richie Sexson will undergo season-ending surgery early next week to repair torn cartilage in his left shoulder.

Sexson made the decision after getting a second opinion Wednesday from Dr. James Andrews, a noted sports surgeon in Birmingham, Ala. Both Andrews and Diamondbacks team doctor Michael Lee recommended the operation.

Sexson, acquired from Milwaukee in a nine-player deal in the offseason, played in just 23 games for Arizona.

He hit .233, but had nine home runs and 23 RBIs in 90 at-bats.

“It’s horrible,” Sexson said before Thursday’s game with the San Francisco Giants. “It’s been the lowest point of my career, and possibly my life.”

Sexson had missed only nine games in the last three seasons with the Brewers, and played every inning of every game last year, the first to do so in a 162-game season since Cal Ripken Jr. in 1986. In those three seasons, Sexson hit 119 homers and had 351 RBIs.

“You feel like you’ve let everybody down,” Sexson said, “whether it’s the organization, fans, teammates, friends, everybody. There’s a lot of people that rely on me to play this game, to play it hard, to play it everyday. For the first time in my life, I can’t do that and it’s frustrating.”

Lee will perform the surgery, repairing the torn labrum in the socket of the shoulder. The exact date of the operation hasn’t been determined.

Sexson was hurt on a check-swing against the Chicago Cubs on April 28. He returned from the disabled list May 22, but re-injured the shoulder on another check swing against the Marlins in Florida in his second game back.

“We tried it once. That’s all I could ask of myself,” Sexson said. “I wanted to go out there and try it, and it backfired. It didn’t really work out. The next step is to get surgery.”

He expects to be able to begin full workouts by October.

Sexson will make $8.6 million this season in the final year of his contract.

Diamondbacks general manager Joe Garagiola Jr., who sent six players to the Brewers to get Sexson, said the injury in no way diminishes the franchise’s desire to re-sign the slugger.

In fact, Garagiola said, the injury might speed up the process because Sexson won’t be playing and can devote attention to his contract status.

“It probably gives us a longer time frame within which to work,” Garagiola said. “It does behoove us to take advantage of that. You wish it wasn’t the case, but it is the case. Wishing will not make it so, so we might as well get at this.”

Any contract discussions wouldn’t start until Sexson is well into rehabilitation, Garagiola said.

Sexson didn’t want to talk about whether he would test the free agent market, but he praised the Diamondbacks’ organization.

“I love it here. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t,” he said. “It’s a great place to play, a great organization with great people running it. It’s an organization that tries to win. You can’t say that for every organization. That’s very important for me, too.”

Sexson was to be the centerpiece of Arizona’s rebuilt offense, hitting in the cleanup spot behind Luis Gonzalez. With the injury, Shea Hillenbrand is the everyday first baseman. Shortly before Sexson was hurt, Hillenbrand had been displaced, at least temporarily, at third base by rookie Chad Tracy.

Two days before his initial injury, Sexson hit the longest home run in the seven-year history of Bank One Ballpark, an estimated 503-foot shot off his own image on the giant screen in center field.

“We’re going to make the best of a bad situation and try to go out there and win games with the guys we have,” manager Bob Brenly said. “The way we’ve played lately and the way Shea has played at first and Trace has played at third – it’s not going to equal Richie’s production – or what we projected to be Richie’s production – but it will be enough for us to go out there and win.”

AP-ES-06-03-04 2048EDT