Tuesday evening was a bad time for a number of MLB clubs. It was announced the San Diego Padres and Tampa Bay Rays are expected to be without a couple of starting pitchers and the Cincinnati Reds are dealing with a serious issue regarding their starting catcher.
In San Diego, right-hander Brandon Morrow was placed on the disabled list on Tuesday with shoulder inflammation, according to Corey Brock of MLB.com. Although Morrow said the DL is "more of a preventative thing than anything else," it's not a good sign considering the (often times) severity of shoulder inflammation as well as his extensive injury history.
The 30-year-old has pitched in only 49 games since 2012. That year he made 21 starts, but missed significant time with an oblique injury; in 2013 he hit the DL with a right forearm strain and made a total of 10 starts before being shut down with an entrapped radial nerve in his right forearm; and last season he was diagnosed with a torn tendon sheath in his right hand, limiting him to only 13 games (six starts).
Odrisamer Despaigne will fill in for Morrow in the meantime as the veteran recovers.
The Rays have much worse news. Their top starter, Alex Cobb, who has yet to pitch this season after experiencing forearm tendinitis in spring training, was found to have a partial tear in his elbow following a visit with Dr. James Andrews, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.
However, the right-hander will try to pitch through the injury and Rays president of baseball operations Matt Silverman said it's "premature" to speculate about surgery as the team is waiting for some test results. Cobb will likely face Tommy John surgery if he can't play with the injury and then he'll probably be out for almost all of 2016. He's been on the DL for the entire season thus far.
The 26-year-old is 35-23 with a 3.21 ERA and 1.191 WHIP in 81 starts with the Rays since 2011.
Lastly, the Cincinnati Reds could lose starting catcher Devin Mesoraco for up to four months. The 26-year-old hasn't started a game behind the plate since Apr. 11 because of a left hip impingement, but the club has kept him off the disabled list to utilize him in some capacity off the bench.
That may soon change as John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports Mesoraco may need surgery to repair his hip injury, which would likely put him in a position to miss the remainder of the season. He can still run and hit, but Fay notes "internal rotation of his leg causes pain." But even then there's no use for Mesoraco because he can't DH unless the Reds are on the road for an interleague game. Manager Bryan Price also ruled out him playing another position.
The former first round pick has played in only 12 games this year after logging an All-Star season in 2014, during which he batted .273/.359/.534 with 54 runs scored, 25 home runs and 80 RBIs.
We'll keep updates on each of these players as the week progresses.
