Brewers right-hander Jake Cousins has been shut down for the next 4-6 weeks after receiving a PRP injection, Cousins told Curt Hogg of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other reporters. Cousins has been on the IL since May 1, though an issue with his UCL was detected two weeks ago and the reliever was known to be seeking out a second opinion before deciding on his next treatment. Both of the consulting doctors recommended the injection, and Cousins will now embark on what will still be a pretty lengthy absence, even if he has been able to avoid surgery. If Cousins’ arm problems weren’t enough, he also told the media that he recently recovered from a case of COVID-19.
Depending on when Cousins is cleared to begin throwing or if a 40-man roster spot is required, it is quite possibly that the Brewers could shift him to the 60-day IL at some point. The righty made his MLB debut last season and made an immediate impact in Milwaukee’s bullpen, and Cousins has a 3.08 ERA over 38 total innings of big league action, with hefty strikeout (35%) and walk (14.7%) rates.
More from around the NL Central…
- Cardinals outfielder Dylan Carlson looked to be favoring his left hamstring during a third-inning flyout, and had to leave the game with what the club described as hamstring tightness. More will be known about Carlson’s status after post-game testing, but St. Louis has Corey Dickerson or utilityman Tommy Edman on hand to fill in for Carlson, and Lars Nootbar would likely be the first call-up from Triple-A. The Cards are already short a regular in the outfield with Tyler O’Neill on the 10-day IL due to a right shoulder impingement. After impressing during his first full MLB season in 2021, Carlson has hit only .247/.291/.363 in 158 plate appearances this season, in large part due to some brutal hard-contact numbers.
- The Pirates decided to non-tender Chad Kuhl last winter, resulting in Kuhl signing a one-year, $3MM deal with the Rockies. Kuhl has started all seven of his games with Colorado (with a solid 3.86 ERA), and told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Jason Mackey that the Pirates were only interested in retaining Kuhl if he made a full-time move to the bullpen. “No offense to anybody who’s starting in Pittsburgh right now, but I felt like I was worthy of being in the starting rotation there….Me and [GM Ben Cherington] had a talk. That’s where they saw me,” Kuhl said. “No bad blood or anything like that. It just gave me an opportunity to start somewhere else.” Kuhl missed around half of the 2018 season and all of 2019 with a forearm injury that resulted in Tommy John surgery, and then posted a 4.62 ERA over 126 2/3 frames for Pittsburgh in 2020-21, starting 23 of 39 games.
I don’t think you can really blame the Pirates for NT’ing Kuhl. It’s not like they gave him a chance. He put up a career worst ERA last season and didn’t show any signs of massive improvement. I also think the move to Coors is a rare time the low-density air might actually help the pitcher. Kuhl’s primary pitch, a sinker, only averages out around 2134 RPM. Low-spin pitchers do solid at Coors because of the magnus force. Kyle Freeland, Jon Gray, Antonio Sezentela, German Marquez are some exapmles of that.
If you blame the Pirates you have to blame the rest of baseball. No team thought he would be a starter for them worth paying more than 3 million.
I watched Kuhl first career start in Pittsburgh. I thought he was a solid pitcher and had the same technique Josh Fogg had. I just think Pirates have gone more to power arms than your typical contact pitcher who keeps the ball on the ground. The Pirates want strike out guys and that is hurting themselves. There is a reason why I don’t feel comfortable with the Pirates pitching and pitching prospects. They want guys to throw 94-100 mph. In the end, it could be Ben Cherington biggest failure. There is nothing impressive from the starting 5 and bullpen right now. It’s very ugly to watch these guys trying to throw 100 mph and be gas out by the 4th inning.
Which is ironic because after his surgery, Kuhl was hitting the upper 90’s on the gun last season. The problem was, he often had no idea where the ball was going
Like you, when he came to town I thought they had a future starter who would be a solid addition. To a lesser extent, I thought the same about Brault. But as you know, over the past 5-6 years, something happens to pitchers here
Mysterious.
I ink that the Pirates have loved velocity for the last ten-twelve years and that is one of their failings.Those guys also tend to have arm problems early and often.
I thought that they should have given Kuhl one more chance but in an agreement with him to give him say ten starts and see how it went.if not well,move him to the bullpen.
The problem is that the Pirates do not exactly have the starting rotation of the Dodgers in the 1960’s.
I can appreciate the fact that yes,him and Brault had been given numerous chances.But depth is always a concern for small market teams,and having another halfway decent pitcher would have been a plus.
Bednar is impressive.
Kuhl could be a Cy young candidate this year elsewhere and I’d still be glad he’s off the Pirates.
Between Kuhl and Brault those experiments ran their course and there was never going to be a success story for them in Pittsburgh. Ever.
Carlson runs around the bases so fast it looks like he’s half slipping every step, its a wonder it took this long to mess up his hammy. Harrison Bader better get over feeling dizzy the team is lacking outfielders
goldschmidt runs like a bobble head
carlson has been heating up the last 7-15 games
nootbaar? no, burleson? yes
Can’t wait for Keller to leave Pittsburgh so he can get signed by another team and contend for the Cy Young. 🙂
Keller seems to have this love of throwing belt high, dead red fastballs and change ups that seem to drift over the same area
You’d think that by now, someone would have taught him the strategies of pitching but he apparently enjoyed just blowing the ball by people in the minors that it’s a hard habit to break
Hey, Cole was much like that here until he went to Houston and learned the beauty of different parts of the zone and off speed pitches
In Houston, Cole discovered Spider Tack.
Whatever it was, someone told him it is impossible to continually muscle the fastball over the outside corner. Hitters kind of catch on quickly
The next team will teach him that.
No sense following the Brewers. They will tank in the post season as always.
Sick burn, bro.
Makes you look pretty dumb for being here then at all, doesn’t it?
Since you can’t watch games on mlb without buying AppleTV, Peacock, and AT&T sportsnet for an additional $95, does anyone know how to get their money back from mlbtv?
Interesting that of the twenty-eight teams that played in the fifteen games on Saturday, only four did not start someone batting below the Mendoza line.