Diamondbacks right-hander Shelby Miller went on the disabled list Friday with elbow inflammation, though the club’s hopeful he dodged a major injury. The D-backs don’t believe Miller re-injured his ulnar collateral ligament, manager Torey Lovullo told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic and other reporters. Miller previously missed most of 2017 and some of this year after tearing his UCL and requiring Tommy John surgery. Arizona won’t know more on Miller’s status until next week when renowned orthopedist Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who performed Miller’s surgery, looks at the results of his MRI. If Miller’s able to return to the mound this season, he’ll try to shake off a dreadful four-start, 15-inning stretch in which he yielded 19 earned runs on 24 hits.
With Miller out for now, Arizona is set to reinstall righty Clay Buchholz into its rotation after the All-Star break, per Piecoro. Buchholz has been out since June 25, the day the Diamondbacks activated Miller, on account of a strained left oblique. The minor league signing looked like an excellent buy-low pickup before he went on the shelf, having pitched to a 2.56 ERA in his first 38 2/3 innings and seven starts as a D-back.
- Righty Michael Wacha likely won’t return to the Cardinals for at least another month, Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests. Wacha has already missed nearly a month with a left oblique strain, depriving the Cardinals of someone who had thrown 84 1/3 innings of 3.20 ERA ball before going on the DL. Meanwhile, righty Adam Wainwright will also be out into August, Hummel adds. Wainwright, who’s currently on the 60-day DL, has sat out just over two months with elbow problems, making this the second straight injury-shortened year for the former ace.
- Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli is headed to the seven-day concussion DL for the second time in less than a month, the team announced. Pittsburgh recalled backstop Jacob Stallings to take the place of Cervelli, who’s dealing with post-concussive symptoms. This continues a long history of head injuries for Cervelli and marks the fourth time since June 2017 that he has gone on the concussion DL. Although good health has been all too rare for Cervelli, the 32-year-old has been one of the majors’ best catchers in 2018 when he has taken the field.
- Rehabbing Mets infielder T.J. Rivera suffered a setback in the minors on Friday, Betsy Helfand of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. Rivera, who’s working back from September 2017 Tommy John surgery, exited Triple-A Las Vegas’ game early on account of “discomfort” in his right arm, Helfand writes. “His arm was not feeling the way it should have so we’re going to reevaluate him tomorrow, see what the plan is,” manager Tony DeFrancesco said. Rivera hasn’t appeared in a major league game in nearly a year (July 26, 2017).
- In better news for the Mets, manager Mickey Callaway told reporters (including Tim Britton of The Athletic) on Saturday that left fielder Yoenis Cespedes could make his long-awaited return as early as next weekend. Cespedes, who has been out with a hip strain since mid-May, “could ramp up his rehab in the coming days,” Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tweets.
Shelby Miller is the gift that keeps on giving
Wacha went down with the Woody Williams..disease
Cervelli’s days as a catcher are probably numbered. He’s had an alarming number of concussions over the years. Though he seems athletic enough to transition into a utility role. He played a handful of games at 2B and 3B with the Yankees. Since Josh Harrison will most likely be traded, there should be playing time available at 2B
He played a total of 7 innings at 2B & 3B combined when he was much younger while tally nearly 50 innings at first. A move to first would be more likely especially with the Tucker, Newman and Kramer in the farm system.
There is no way Josh Harrison will be traded,especially if they keep playing the way they are.He is the heart and soul of this team.If they trade anybody it should be Polanco while they can still get a valuable player in return
Lol Swanson and Inciarte for that guy
Not like it wasn’t a bad deal, but Inciarte and Swanson aren’t exactly lighting the world on fire
That’s how you know how it’s a terrible trade. You’d kill to take back two dudes hitting .250 over Miller. Stewart really jacked up the DBacks. Then the team undid his only good trade by trading Segura, Haniger, and Curtis for Walker and Marte. I’d much rather have Segura than Marte, and Haniger would a better
OF option than Owings.
Cespedes is returning, like it matters now.
Time for another office pool: how many days from activation will Cespedes go back on the DL?
I’d give Yoenis “what’s his name” about 10 days of disinterested play and back to the DL
I hope F-Cerv isn’t putting his post baseball life at too much risk.
They are talking about making Cervelli into a first baseman.They probably will not be able to trade him with his high salary this year and next due to his extensive concussion history.He is certainly not a strong enough hitter to start at first base but he is a good ballplayer and I think his enthusiasm
carries over to others on the team.He possibly could become a utilityman once J Hay and Freese are gone.
Bill DeWitt and John Mozeliak both say the Cardinals currently have a good team with the players they have. That means the same old song and dance. 40,000 paid for seats a night = no upgrades to the team. Just Ballpark Village.
I feel for you 17. The Cards have had such a good team throughout baseball history.
Last night the Marlins ran a promotion so fans could bring their dogs to the game. Interesting promotion given their record, as their young team shares last place with the NY Mets.
The Mets take the same old song and dance approach. When asked about what they were doing in this regard, Abbott & Costello said, “Why do we need a dog promotion, when our team has been a dog the past 2 1/2 months? Plus we’ve got the top dog Cespedes coming back in the next month or so.”
Good news, Cespedes is ramping up his rehab to come back to play a bunch of meaningless games.