Injury Notes: Cueto, Kelly, Acevedo

Right-hander Johnny Cueto departed his first outing for the Marlins after recording just three outs and was later placed on the 15-day injured list with biceps tightness. The club hasn’t provided any updates on his expected return timeline but Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald provided a pessimistic update this week, reporting that Cueto could be out of action for several weeks.

That still doesn’t provide much clarity, though it does at least indicate that the 37-year-old Cueto seems ticketed for more than a minimum stay on the IL. That’s a frustrating development for the club, who just signed Cueto to a one-year, $8.5MM deal this offseason. It now seems possible that the veteran could miss a decent chunk of the campaign. He’s coming off a strong 2022 season, but injuries have had an impact on him in previous years. He only made 13 starts over 2018 and 2019 combined due to an ankle injury and Tommy John surgery. He then struggled in 2020 before having improved results over 2021 and 2022.

Without Cueto, the Marlins should still have a good rotation consisting of Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, Jesús Luzardo, Trevor Rogers and Braxton Garrett, though the depth will be weaker as long as Cueto is out of the picture. The club has a $10.5MM option for his services in 2024 that comes with a $2.5MM buyout. How they feel about that net $8MM decision will surely be impacted by when he returns and how effective he looks at that point.

Some other injury notes from around the league…

• The Red Sox announced earlier today that they recalled right-hander Kutter Crawford while placing fellow righty Zack Kelly on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported on the moves prior to the official announcement. Kelly was removed from yesterday’s game in obvious distress, both physical and emotional, alternating between grabbing at his elbow area and hiding his face in his hands. “Definitely emotional for two reasons,” Kelly said to Cotillo after the game. “One, because I care. I care about this game, these guys and I enjoy doing this. Two, just all the s*** I went through to get here. It’s just a lot. Whenever something like that happens, you get emotional about it.” Kelly, 28, was an undrafted free agent who toiled away in the minors for many years before finally reaching the big leagues last year. He posted a 3.95 ERA over 13 appearances in 2022 and had a 3.68 mark through six games here in 2023. More information will surely come after Kelly and the club do further testing, but it’s a concerning development for a guy who has obviously walked a long road to make it to the big leagues.
• The Athletics placed right-hander Domingo Acevedo on the 15-day injured list yesterday. It seems it was an unfortunate freak accident that led to this move, as manager Mark Kotsay told Joe Trezza of MLB.com that Acevedo slipped walking into the dugout on Monday and suffered a left back strain. It’s unclear how long he will be out of action, but the issue is significant enough that Acevedo underwent an MRI, with those results still not publicly known. The 29-year-old righty had a solid season last year, posting a 3.33 ERA over 70 appearances for the A’s, striking out 21.8% of opponents while walking just 6.4%. He has a 13.50 ERA this year, but in a small sample of just five appearances. His return to action will become more clear once the club gets a chance to examine his MRI results.