While the Reds are preparing to welcome Homer Bailey and Brandon Finnegan back to their rotation perhaps by the end of the month, manager Bryan Price offered a less encouraging update on top starter Anthony DeSclafani, per Tom Groeschen of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“[DeSclafani] is behind,” said Price. “He initiated another throwing program that will take him close to the time that Homer and Finnegan might be ready, that last week or week and a half of June, he may be approaching his mound time. … I wouldn’t anticipate him until probably around August (in Cincinnati). That would be realistic.”
The 27-year-old DeSclafani has yet to pitch in 2017 due to a sprained ulnar collateral ligament suffered back in Spring Training. The Reds initially stated that DeSclafani would be shut down from throwing for a month, but he didn’t begin a throwing program until May 19. While reports at that time suggested that the condition of DeSclafani’s UCL had markedly improved, it now seems that the talented young righty will remain sidelined longer than the Reds had hoped. It should be noted that Price made no mention of a setback or any sort of aggravation of the injury.
Both Finnegan and Bailey will make rehab starts for Double-A Pensacola this weekend, Groeschen notes, which is certainly better news for a Reds team that has received an MLB-worst 5.81 ERA from its rotation. (The next-worst team, the Phillies, are at a distant 5.17 mark.) With DeSclafani and Bailey on the shelf all season and Finnegan having been limited to just 10 innings, the Reds have relied on veterans Scott Feldman and Bronson Arroyo to anchor the staff while a hodgepodge of less-experienced arms have filled in the cracks.
Feldman has proven to be a shrewd late-winter pickup, tossing 72 2/3 innings of 4.09 ERA ball across 13 starts. Arroyo, on the other hand, has been rocked for a 6.52 ERA, though he’s at least managed to soak up 63 2/3 innings in the wake of the myriad injuries that have beset the Cincinnati pitching staff. Tim Adleman’s 49 innings rank third on the team, and of the 10 players to start a game for the Reds this year, Adleman is one of three with an ERA under 5.00 (Feldman, Finnegan are the others). Amir Garrett, Rookie Davis and Lisalverto Bonilla have been the most frequent alternatives in the rotation, though each has an ERA north of 7.00.
However, in spite of the dismal work from Cincinnati starters, the Reds find themselves just one game under .500 and two games back from the division lead in a surprisingly weak NL Central. Cincinnati’s bullpen has been one of the best in the game, and only five clubs have managed to score more runs than the Reds, who are also tied for the game’s sixth-best wRC+ (105). That the Reds have managed to stay afloat despite losing the majority of their projected rotation for the bulk of 2017 thus far only makes the return of Finnegan and Bailey more crucial as the team plots its course with the trade deadline roughly seven weeks away.
What a bunch of pansies. Just read on back of a baseball card Koufax pitched 3 straight complete games in 66 with a bone spur in his pitching elbow. This was in a span of 8 days.
And how much longer did his career actively last?
Um. I’m gonna go ahead and assume that you’re kidding since he was pitching 97 mph when he had gray hair
I have this strong feeling you don’t actually know who Sandy Koufax is. He retired after the 1966 season because his left arm no longer worked. He was 29.
I see Sandy sitting next to George Lopez and Orel all the time. He seems okay other than he wont sign for anybody.
Sandy Koufax retired before he was 30 and cannot straighten his left arm to this day.
I think he became the youngest ever to get in hall. My point was why all the injuries. Is it the trainers, is it guys are trying to hard. Men havent changed in 1 generation. Same bones , same muscles…. im saying i bet theres a lot of these injuries that could be played through
You’re probably too young to know who Cal Ripken Junior is, but he played in 2632 consecutive games.I imagine that he had a little bit of soreness every now and then but he played through it. These guys need to man up and play through it
They’re probably smart enough to know that a lesser player playing at 100% is better than them playing at 70%. And that’s without taking into account that the possibility of injuring yourself even more if they aren’t playing 100%
Ripken had massive slumps and actively hurt his team because he played through injuries. Once Baltimore started giving him some days off, his offensive numbers rebounded. He had a tremendous career, of course, but who knows what it could have been like had he gotten a day off here and there. Stubbornness isn’t really an asset.
14 years in santa cruz county fire department and i have called in twice because of illness but ive worked through all kinds of minor ailments. Would you consider me stubborn? I feel like i can do my job better than most of the rookies that are 15-20 years younger than me. Back to my original question? Why are there so many injuries this year to body parts no one’s ever heard of.. I know the new 10 day disabled list will create roster manipulation and it seems like there are generally a lot of injuries this year? Why?
You answered your own questions. Players always play hurt and the 10-day DL is a way to manipulate roster spots. Owners didn’t want 26- or 27-man rosters, so this was the compromise. Like you, I’ve missed about three days of work in 27 years working, but I am also not a professional athlete. You brought up Koufax earlier; you should read his biography by Jane Leavy. The things he had to go through just to pitch would blow your mind. Immediately following every start in 1966 he would immerse his entire left arm into ice water for two hours – they built a makeshift sling out of a car tire to enable this. He couldn’t brush his teeth for two days after his starts because he couldn’t raise his arm up high enough. It’s brutal. And then every fourth day he was out there, in immense pain. And his career was over after that season. I’m glad teams are more enlightened now.
Im 39 so i never got to see him. But im a nerd so im interested in all i can learn. Im a fan of gehrig, brooks robinson, ripken and jeter are my faves
Kudos on the work ethic. Sad were hurting for help while some choose to not wanna work.