• One item to follow for DL return dates is what the team says for timetable. Mark Trumbo predicted he will be out only six weeks, but the team expects the delay to be longer:

D-backs manager Kirk Gibson corroborated the prognosis of left fielder Mark Trumbo, specifying that the length of his absence due to a stress fracture in his left foot might be even longer than the six weeks Trumbo predicted.

“The summary I got on it confirmed six to eight weeks probably,” Gibson said. “He’s got a boot on there with something on it called a bone enhancer that sends some stimulation down there. I know that he had [an injury] previously on the other foot and that was lengthy. We don’t expect that to be that lengthy.”

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• Chris Sale finally went on the disabled list after years of people saying he would be an injury risk. He is expected to only miss the minimum 15 days. Looking at his last game data, he had no injury indications. Since he is on the White Sox and they have a great history of minimizing injuries, I see the trip a small inconvenience for better health as the season goes on.

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• Updated and complete HURT and PAIN rankings.

• Mike Reinold looked at five reasons Tommy John surgeries are on the rise:

1. Injuries Are Higher in the First Month of Season
2. Preparation for the Season
3. Velocities are Increasing
4. What Goes Around Comes Around (Youth Injuries)
5. Pushing Past Our Physiological Limits

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• All right, home work time. Here is a must read article by Tom Verducci from SI on Tommy John surgeries. A key point for fantasy baseball owners is this:

But in a sport in which 24.2 percent of players on Opening Day rosters grew up in Latin America, only one of the 20 Tommy John patients came from there (Detroit reliever Bruce Rondon, of Venezuela).

“Latin American pitchers are allowed to grow into their velocity,” said one international scouting director. “It’s a common story to sign a guy throwing 84, 85 [mph] who eventually winds up throwing in the 90s. Michael Pineda is one. You’re looking for someone with a good, athletic body who can throw the ball around the plate and has a feel for spinning the ball. The velocity comes in time, with training and better nutrition and physical growth. Here? The statistics don’t lie. We need to look elsewhere around the world to learn a better way. It’s time.”

Young American kids throwing hard for long time may be a major factor in tearing their UCL.

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• Alex Cobb will be out four to six weeks with a strained quad muscle.

Cobb admitted that he “felt something grab” on his final pitch Saturday to Reds leadoff man Billy Hamilton. But he thought it was just a cramp or a slight pull and went on to throw 82 more pitches over seven impressive innings, feeling more pain between pitches than during, before finally taking himself out of the game. He thought he might miss at most one start.

It does seem a little long, but he may have made the problem worse by throwing 82 more pitches after he felt the “grab”.

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• Matt Moore has a torn UCL and in the best case scenario, he will return late in the 2014 season. More likely he will under go Tommy John surgery. I had an idea the injury was pretty bad right after it happened.

Matt Moore’s in game2game velo was fine, but a 38% Zone% and late game velo plunge http://t.co/3PfqkWQjpr have me concerned about the injury

— Jeff Zimmerman (@jeffwzimmerman) April 8, 2014

Late game velocity plunges are usually not healthy for a pitcher. We will have more information on Moore in the up coming days, but for now, don’t expect any useful production from him in 2014.

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• Sonny Gray has me perplexed a bit. First, his velocity is down compared to last season.

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A few weeks back, I talked a bit about holding or targeting players with season long injuries in ottoneu leagues. The idea in that piece was to treat injured players like Prospects – you can’t be sure when they will be back, nor can you be confident in how they will perform.

When players are underpriced (say you have a $1 Patrick Corbin), you might as well hold them (or target them in trades). But when prices rise to more typical levels (say a $10 Corbin), there may be a different path forward, particularly for pitchers returning from Tommy John surgery.

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• It is just too early for any PAIN, HURT or SLOW reports, but I do have some decent early season information on fastball velocities. Every morning I will try to Tweet out pitchers who are seeing a major increase or decrease in velocity. You can follow me at @jeffwzimmerman or to see the most recent information, go to https://twitter.com/jeffwzimmerman.

• One pitcher who I am keeping a close eye on is Ubaldo Jimenez. His velocity was down 2 mph.

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Note: With the DL sheets at the end of the article, teams are still adding players to the DL (and making last minute roster moves). MLB.com is trying to keep up, but the list of transactions is behind. I will keep the list of possible DL players for this article and then finally remove them later this week.

• Clayton Kershaw goes on the disabled list for the first time in his career with a sore back.

…Kershaw was scratched from starting Sunday night’s domestic opener because of an inflamed teres major muscle, which stabilizes the upper arm near the upper back. Now, he also will miss his projected start for the home opener against the Giants on Friday.
…
And they believe placing him on the DL is the smart thing to do. Especially with four off-days within this portion of the schedule’s first 13 days, and no fifth starter needed until April 19.
…
Kershaw would be eligible to come off of the disabled list early the following week — the move is backdated to March 23 — but the Dodgers are making no promises about when he will pitch again. Mainly, because there is little urgency in the season’s first few weeks given the spate of off-days, and because they want to remain ultra-conservative and make sure Kershaw is right when he returns.

It seems like the injury just needs time. It seems like April 19th may be the day to expect him back.

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