Sonny Gray was scratched from a scheduled Cactus League outing today due to a recurring back issue that will likely put the right-handed on the injured list to begin the season. Gray told The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale and other reporters that he has been dealing with back spasms for the past month, and since he’ll need time to ramp back up after being shut down for a few days, he will probably miss the season’s first week.
“The way we’ve all kind of thought about it was, do we take five or six days right now and completely try to knock it out so you’re a week behind to start the season or eight days or whatever it ends up being? Or do you just keep going and maybe it turns into a larger issue and then maybe you miss 10 starts,” Gray said.
Since IL placements can be backdated by three days, a minimum 10-day injured list visit would result in Gray missing the Reds’ first six games, thanks to an off-day in the schedule. Since the Reds are also off on April 8, it would theoretically line Gray up for his season debut April 9 against the Diamondbacks if his injury recovery goes as planned.
As Gray noted, both he and the Reds surely want to be as cautious as possible, though Gray’s absence does create a larger void in Cincinnati’s rotation that has taken some hits in recent days. Fifth starter candidate Tejay Antone left today’s game with a minor groin strain, while Wade Miley left a game earlier this week due to a hamstring injury. While there has yet to be word the seriousness of these injuries, should IL placements also be required, the Reds would be starting the year with a provisional rotation of Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle, Michael Lorenzen, Jeff Hoffman, and Jose De Leon. Cincy picked up another arm today by claiming Carson Fulmer off waivers from the Pirates.
The Reds have bad luck.
More like bad management..
Yes. Because you can manage injuries. Get a grip, Koufax.
i dont think their injury luck is as bad as its made out to be
@Darkside Im not saying they have as bad of luck as say the Yanks do but they have had a quite a few injuries to there starters.
@baseballconnoisseur21- unlike the Yankees winning the AL East, it is doubtful the Reds are winning the NL Central. Maybe they could win one of the NL Wild Cards though? It really depends about the health of Sonny this season.
I mean these 3 lower body injuries to pitchers in the same week seem to be similar enough that one COULD (not should) speculate maybe management didn’t focus correctly on building these guys’ legs under them?
The year of the pitching injuries. No NL DH, pitchers being yo yo’d last season, it’s gonna get ugly. NL owners could make it less of a catastrophe by just relenting and telling the players we want to protect our pitchers so here’s the DH and we want nothing in return.
All we need are pitchers getting obliqued swinging the bat for the first times in a while, pulling hamstrings running the bases, and breaking thumbs sliding at bases. Madness.
its like one or two pitchers a year that get injured in conjunction to hitting. most of them continued to work out as hitters as well last year and some of them like it.
Lefty is right. The Reds should’ve tanked hard this season. Castillo, Gray & Suarez could’ve gotten them a king’s ransom.
Tanking now would only further alienate a fanbase that’s all but lost its patience.
One might argue that the best time to alienate a fan base is already after you’ve lost them. And I don’t think a .485 season is going to draw anyone back.
Agree.. terrible front office year after year
What was the return on Chapman and Iglesias in their primes?
Of course! Who’s next?
I think it was Roger Craig, when he was pitching coach for the Padres in the ’70s, that was the common link between a bunch of arm injuries. Among the injured included Randy Jones who befuddled the greats of the era.
Nolan Ryan said pitchers weren’t throwing enough. Combine that with a higher percentage of junk and there might be an answer to what’s happening.
Or raise the mound back to where it was prior to 1969. If lowering the mound caused more arm injuries then raise it back.
what does that mean?
For the last 20-25 years MLB front office people have increasingly instructed their coaches (including in the minors) to have batters run up pitch counts to get starters out of the game. The same FO people want their starters pulled around 100 pitches, so starters (and relief pitchers) pitch less and less innings.
Additionally, those FO people look at statistics and have determined that K’s count a lot for pitchers, but don’t matter a bit for batters.
Consequently, to keep their jobs once the count gets to 2 strikes, pitchers have to put whatever strain on their arm, forearm, and/or shoulder to get the ball to move in order to “miss bats”.
It’s no coincidence that since this process evolved there has been an epidemic of pitching injuries and TJ surgeries. It’s also the reason that the average pitching staff of 10 that was sufficient, has now ballooned to over 13 (with tired pitchers being sent to the minors twice a week and fresh ones being called up). More foul balls per hitter means more pitching changes so games take ever longer. Which is why it’s silly when the Commissioners Office spends years getting something accepted that is going to save a minute or two an inning – then two batters on each team hit one more foul ball an inning, the time saved is negated, and the time of games continues to increase. This is why in the early 1900’s MLB put in the rule that a batter was out bunting foul with 2 strikes…..batters were bunting the dead ball around the infield like pool shooters placing the que ball trying for an open spot to get a hit while tiring out the pitchers…..the fans were board silly and attendance dropped. As a spectator sport the game was dying.
MLB owners need to understand that it’s their very FO’s looking at statistics and ignoring K’s for batters while rewarding pitchers for them that have caused them to ruin their highly-paid pitchers. Until there is a cap on the number of foul balls a batter can hit before he’s called out, this will continue (it is also the reason less balls are but in play – they got committees to study that as well – as batters are awarded handsome salaries for walks….so why chance putting a batted ball in fair territory?).
The positive note is that TJ surgery has become accepted as normal (the cost of doing business), and the teams can sell advertising during all the dead time removing pitchers. Plus some bureaucrats keep their jobs joining commissions to recommend changes to speed up the game…..another normalized process.
P.S. I’m not upset about this. I think it’s funny. Owners know so little about the game that since computer came in their progressive FO’s ruin the sport, and as long as they make money, they could care less. I think what’s going on is hilarious. And everyone n the sport want to keep injuries down. Next stop – free substitution.
One would think with historic medical advances there would be less injuries, not more.
Use computers to arbitrage things (in this case – 4 balls for walks, endless foul balls before strike 3), and the balance of the game is upset.
I heard this years ago, but the issue is that we can grow bigger muscles on athletes, but we can’t increase the size of their ligaments. It’s a bit like a 450 HP engine in a Civic. You’ll have the power, but none of the rest of the car is designed for 150 mph speed.
No Reds SS have been injured this spring though.
wouldn’t they have to have a shortstop first?
It probably means trade Luis Castillo. I mean what are the Reds playing for this season? They might as well get a haul of prospects for him right now. The Yankees could offer Schmidty or Deivi in a package that includes Luis Gil or Alexander Vizcaino. Also shortstop prospect Anthony Volpe. Cincy would definitely be wise to at least listen.
I agree that they should at least consider moving Castillo, although the way the NL Central is, I’m sure the Redleggs feel like they can win it.
Not a Reds fan, as you know, but it will take much more that your package to get Castillo from the Reds. Three years of a proven top of the rotation pitcher is worth a great deal. Castillio is a top 15-20 pitcher in MLB. Baseball Trade Values has Castillo worth 110.8. All five Yankee players that you listed have a value of 70.1 on that same site. (Garcia 29.7, Schimdt 16.4, Volpe 9.3, Gil 8.7, and Vizcanio 6.0)
@hockeyjohn- your probably right. What about Zac Gallen on the Diamondbacks? Maybe, the Yankees could get him instead. Thinking Castillo is way too expensive. I think he is a better fit with the Blue Jays who need an ace more then the Yankees. If they get Gallen, I would think it would be at the trading deadline. I’m excited about Kluber and Taillon, hopefully they can both pitch well. If they do Gallen may not even be needed with Severino coming back in the early summer. We’ll see what happens. Who do you like better Castillo or Gallen? Lmk and thnx!
Again, why do Yankees fans see the rest of the league’s rosters as theirs to cherry pick for their needs? I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen ludicrous trade proposals involving Castillo. Nowhere in the article does it suggest that Gray will be out for an extended period of time, nor does Gray sound overly concerned, yet another Yankees vulture is saying they should close up shop and hand over the goods.
I believe all fans do this when looking for trades and considering trade proposals. Just like most fans that overvalue their prospects that haven’t seen a professional game. To narrow that to only Yankees fans is probably a bit naive. I’m sure your trade proposals are very fair for the opposing sides though, and your team’s prospects are otherworldly, so this comment certainly wouldn’t apply to you.
I think proposals now have more relevancy because of the trades we’ve seen in recent past. Castillo will be a huge ask, but so was Cole, and where’s he now? And remind me, who did the Yankees give up for Cole? Oh, shoot, nobody.
Just like when everyone said Yankee fans were dumb because Cole wouldn’t shave or cut his hair, or because he wanted to live in LA… come to find out, he still had his World Series poster from a kid!
My point, you don’t truly know, and making such harsh criticisms categorically can leave you…… looking like a horse’s rear.
Aside from your obvious issue with the Yankees, it would seem that time and time again commenter “experts” such as yourself decide that all the back and forth trade possibilities are a personal affront based on your definition of “fair value”…
Just goes to prove that this site is for all commenting and its not up to us as to what seemingly makes sense and what doesnt.
Yankee fans are no more guilty of proposing trades that benefit our ballclub that any other teams fans on this site.
DockEllisDee11 hours ago
Again, why do Yankees fans see the rest of the league’s rosters as theirs to cherry pick for their needs?
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As Yankee Clipper said,doesn’t everyone do that?
And since this is specifically about the Reds, let’s take a look at the 2020 roster:
Moose-FA
Castellanos-FA
Suarez=From Detroit
Galvis-FA
Akiyama-FA
Bauer-Cleveland
Castillo-Miami
Gray-Yankees
DeSclafani-Miami
So 9 of their key 15 guys came from other teams.
Now this is some wagon circling I can get into
Middle year of a multi year deal. Why should Sonny knock himself out? I know the NL Central isn’t much, but Cinncy’s definitely the 4th horse in the race (the Pirates will be in the paddock all season). And if Sonny (and his agent) buy into pitch count theology (I’m sure they do), there’s only so many pitches in that arm (some day, I hope we realize how silly that is).
Don’t worry, Reds fans. Sonny will come back next year “IN THE BEST SHAPE OF HIS LIFE!!!!!”
I bet he saw a Yankee uniform and that was it, down he went right there. Our apologies, we ruined poor Sonny.
@Yankee Clipper- yeah the problem with Sonny he looked like he was 15 years old, and pitched like he was also. Lol! NY is definitely a different animal as you already know and have seen. Sonny had no confidence and no pitching command pitching here. He seems fine in Cincy though. Hopefully he stays there.
Yeah, I just saw an interview with him and he was very tough to follow. He makes several tangential statements when he speaks, which has nothing to do with his pitching… But, I do wonder if it was a result of nerves. We sometimes think that MLB is MLB but there is a clear distinction between cities like NY / Bos and others, say Cinci. Valid point, sir.
I find, imho, that NY and Boston media is all about them. Like they are the game.
In most other places, the press realizes that this is just a game. They unabashedly root for their team. And, because they are not looking for clicks, they can write some decent articles about the players.
In Boston, only Abraham & Merloni can write an article without criticizing the RS.
Went from one of the best rotations in baseball to one of the worst rn. They got nobody. They are clowns for not signing Cole Hamels they need pitching more then anyone
Hamels is washed.
We’re two decades deep into the 21st century, and medicine still hasn’t figured out a way to stop muscle spasms?