ST. LOUIS -- Cardinals right-hander Chris Carpenter saw a specialist on Tuesday who recommended surgery for a compressed nerve leading to his right shoulder.

"The doctor he saw today does think there's a reasonable chance for him to be fine with a simple surgery," Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said.

Carpenter will be seen independently by another doctor on Wednesday before a definitive course of action is planned. Mozeliak said the Cardinals will make another statement following Carpenter's Wednesday appointment.

"We're going to talk to the doc tomorrow, put everybody's opinions together and see if we want to go somewhere else and get some more opinions about what's going on," Carpenter said. "From what he said, it's something that seems like it's relatively simple. Guys come back from it and they are fine. But the question is if that's the step we're going to take."

If Carpenter proceeds with the surgery, recovery time for full baseball activity would be a maximum of three months, according to the information that was told to Mozeliak on Tuesday. That would put Carpenter on track to be fully ready for Spring Training.

Mozeliak said the root of the issue appears to be coming from the same nerve which had bothered Carpenter in 2004.

"We still want to let [Wednesday] happen and based on those results, then we'll make a determination and a plan of what we do going forward," Mozeliak said.

Carpenter, who was recently shut down for the remainder of the season, appeared in four games this year. He had a 1.76 earned run average in 15 1/3 innings.