Injury Notes: Wainwright, Buehler, Stripling, Urias, Rivera

After pitching in his sixth minor league rehab outing on Saturday, Adam Wainwright could be back in the Cardinals rotation sometime this week, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes.  The former ace has been limited to just four starts and 18 innings in 2018 due to three separate DL stints, the latter two for right elbow inflammation.  During this rehab stint, however, Wainwright has seemingly gotten on track, tossing 17 shutout innings over his six appearances.  While the longtime Cardinal can add some experience to a young St. Louis rotation, it has been some time since Wainwright has exhibited his old front-of-the-rotation form, as injuries and ineffectiveness have plagued the veteran over the last four seasons.

Here are some more injury updates from around the big leagues…

• Walker Buehler will receive a precautionary x-ray on his left foot following today’s start, the Dodgers told reporters (including J.P. Hoonstra of the Southern California News Group).  It isn’t clear how or when Buehler suffered the apparent injury, though he did see some extra action on the basepaths after hitting two singles today.  The rookie right-hander has been outstanding in his first extended stint in the majors, posting a 2.92 ERA, 9.89 K/9, 2.41 BB/9, and a 48.5% grounder rate over 104 2/3 innings, including today’s quality start against the Diamondbacks.  It isn’t known how serious this injury could be, though losing Buehler would obviously be a blow to the Dodgers as they push for another NL West title.
• The Dodgers should be getting another arm soon in Ross Stripling, who told the L.A. Times’ Bill Shaikin (Twitter link) and other media that he is targeting next weekend for his return from the disabled list.  Stripling has been sidelined since mid-August due to a sore back, and has been preparing for multiple roles, as he said the Dodgers want him to be capable of either starting or working as a multi-inning reliever.  Despite an outstanding first half as a starter that earned him an All-Star berth, Stripling had been moved to the bullpen just prior to his injury, as the Dodgers had a glut of rotation options and a need for help in their struggling relief corps.
• The news isn’t as good for Julio Urias, as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick and other reporters that “I don’t know when [Urias is] going to pitch again” this season.  Urias underwent anterior capsule surgery in June 2017 and hasn’t been back to the majors since, though Roberts and the team had hoped that he could potentially make a September return as a reliever.  In Urias’ most recent minor league rehab outing, however, he was removed after reaching his pitch count after just three batters faced.  “We said from the beginning that when he’s right physically and performance-wise, then he’ll come [back to the majors].  If either of those things doesn’t happen, then it doesn’t make sense for us or him,” Roberts said.
• The Mets have shut down infielder T.J. Rivera for the season, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports.  Rivera underwent Tommy John surgery in September 2017, and only played in six minor league rehab games in July before suffering a setback in the form of a right elbow sprain.  Over 106 games and 344 PA for the Mets in 2016-17, Rivera hit .304/.335/.445 with eight homers while seeing significant time as a fill-in at first, second, and third base.  As DiComo notes, however, Rivera could face a tough path back to the big league roster in the spring, as other utility infield options have passed him on the depth chart.