• Andrew Miller is on the DL with an elbow strain.

“He told us after the game [Tuesday] night. I guess he’s been experiencing it for a little bit and he told us last night, so we had an MRI this morning, we got the results later today,” Gir-ardi said. “He won’t throw the ball for 10 days to two weeks, and then you go from there.”

Girardi emphasized that the ligament itself is healthy, which he and Miller both found en-couraging. It’s the muscle that has a small strain in it.

Sounds like no Tommy John surgery, but I expect him to be out at least a month as he rests and then gets back into shape.

• Matt Holliday is headed to the DL with a quad strain.

“We got the MRI results, and it looks like it’s a Grade 2 strain,” manager Mike Matheny said before the second game of the three-game set with the Rockies. “We’ll take those 15 days and reevaluate.”
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“With Matt Adams, his was higher up the leg and you’ll also recall that it was torn completely,” said General Manager John Mozeliak, overseeing the Draft in St. Louis. “[Holliday’s] is not a complete tear at all. It’s much milder than that. It’s really something that can heal [without surgery].”

Sounds like 15 days rest and then the team will look to see how he has progressed. Finally he will begin rehab. I think his owners should expect him to miss at least a month.

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• It seems like Justin Verlander will finally return to pitching in the majors this week.

• Don’t be surprised if Jake Odorizzi goes on the DL in the next day or two with a strained oblique.

The Rays won’t know the full extent of starter Jake Odorizzi’s oblique injury until he sees their doctors Monday back in St. Petersburg.

But seeing him walk off the mound during Friday’s game, and knowing how cautious they tend to be with pitchers, is enough to say that Odorizzi is likely headed to the disabled list, the latest blow to an already depleted staff.

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• Josh Hamilton is back on the DL, this time with a strained hamstring. I figured he would make it a couple weeks before needing to go back on the DL.

• Additionally, Ryan Braun is ailing again, but it is not serious. He will not go on the DL, but it looks like he will need to see the doctor every few months to get his thumb nerve refrozen.

Brewers right fielder Ryan Braun left the team Wednesday to travel to California to undergo a second cryotherapy procedure on his troublesome right thumb.

Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell downplayed the significance of this latest development, saying the procedure was pre-planned and referring to it as “maintenance.” But it was the first public indication of any kind that Braun’s first such procedure in October, during which a specialist injected a needle into the base of Braun’s thumb to freeze an inflamed nerve there, had “worn off” and needed to be repeated.

Dr. Vernon Williams, the same specialist who performed Braun’s first cryotherapy, did this one as well at his clinic in Anaheim. While there is no track record for a baseball player with this issue (technically, a thumb neuroma), Williams has told the Brewers that the procedure can be repeated safely as long as is it not done more frequently than every three to four months, perhaps throughout the remainder of Braun’s playing career if symptoms persist.

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• Quite a few players are coming off the DL today including Jonathan Lucroy and Brett Oberholtzer.

• Stephen Strasburg is on the DL with neck tightness and/or back issues.

A day after pitching one-plus innings against the Reds, Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg was placed on the disabled list because of what the team termed “neck tightness.” Nationals manager Matt Williams cited “back issues.”

“We have to get to the bottom of what’s going on,” Williams said. It’s perplexing. It’s not anything you can point to. We have to get this thing worked out so he can be back in 15 days.”

Seems a little fishy to me. I would not be surprised to see him throwing right away and working a through a few things after his struggles so far this year.

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• Not a much of movement on the DL over the last couple of days. I submitted this article for publication early on Friday, so any injury news which comes out today will not be contained.

• Jayson Werth had a major setback when it was determined he has two fractures in his wrist. He could be back in August. Or he could miss the rest of the season.

Sprains or strains forced the following players to the DL

• Matt Adams strained his quad and will miss 3-4 months recovering. Basically there is a small chance he will return by the end of the season.

• Michael Morse strained his finger.

• Daniel Nava strained his thumb.

• Collin Cowgill sprained his wrist.

• Scott Atchison sprained his ankle.

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• Holy cow. The Reds have finally placed Devin Mesoraco on the DL with his hip injury.

Mesoraco hasn’t caught in a game since April 12 due to an impingement in the hip. He was able to pinch-hit in 13 games and start as designated hitter in four, hitting .178 in 45 at-bats.

A month and half to determine if he should go on the DL.  Additionally, there is good chance he will need surgery and miss the rest of the season.

• David Wright came out and said he is dealing with spinal stenois.

Wright will cease baseball activities and take medication for the next week, while continuing a program of core strengthening and back stabilization exercises. The Mets believe it will be enough to eliminate the flare-ups of lower back tightness that Wright has recently been experiencing. They do not consider Wright’s condition degenerative, according to assistant general manager John Ricco.

“The doctors aren’t that worried about it,” Ricco said. “It’s just something that seems to be taking longer than we initially thought. The way it was progressing, they thought it would be gone by now.”

He is making little to no progress on getting better and has decided to relocate to California to be closer to his doctor.

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• Drew Smyly is going to rehab his shoulder instead of having surgery on it.

Smyly said the rehab process should take about eight weeks and believes he could pitch again for the Rays by late July or August, but added that there is a possibility surgery may be needed later if the rehab does not work.

I guess we will all know more in eight weeks.

• Jacoby Ellsbury’s knee is hurting and now he is on the DL. More information is to come out today once he visits the team doctor.

• Corey Dickerson’s plantar fasciitis (foot) finally forced him on the DL.

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• Doug Fister is out with forearm tightness. He is to undergo some tests today and may eventually need Tommy John surgery.

• Chase Whitley and his strained elbow are also under consideration for Tommy John surgery.

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• Not many moves to and from the DL over the past few days. There has been quite a few player updates, mostly bad, which are all in the spreadsheet.

• Mike Minor is having surgery performed on his shoulder and is finished for the 2016 season.

Now that he has spent more than a year frustrated by the fact that he has not found a remedy for his nagging left shoulder discomfort, Braves pitcher Mike Minor has decided to undergo season-ending surgery later this week.

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• Alex Cobb is going to need Tommy John surgery and will be out until late 2016.

Cobb expects to have the surgery performed by Dr. James Andrews on Thursday. Based on that date and the normal recovery from Tommy John surgery — 14 to 15 months — the Rays are hopeful he can be back by around September 2016.

The general public thinks a year in the normal time to return from TJS, but recently, the time table has been pushed back to a 14-month timetable. It may be a little less for relief pitchers. Of the fourteen major league pitchers who had the operation before 5/11/14, only Luke Hochevar is back and his operation was on 3/18/14.

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