MASH Report (3/17/16)

Lance McCullers will start the season on the DL with a sore shoulder.

“There’s just not going to be enough time to build him up for the role in which we anticipate him doing,” manager A.J. Hinch said Wednesday morning. “I told him that this morning so he’d be assured he’s not trying to hit a deadline of Opening Day trying to impress anybody. We want him back healthy as soon as possible, but it’s not going to be Opening Day.”

McCullers has been sidelined since a March 6 throwing session. He reported soreness the following day, and when it didn’t subside quickly, an MRI was done. That MRI was clean, but McCullers still has some soreness and doesn’t know when he’ll resume throwing.

“We’re kind of taking it day by day,” McCullers said. “I’m feeling a lot better. It’s just up to the training staff and the team. They have my best interests in mind. We have the long-term goals in mind. I’m taking it day by day and going off what they say. It’s just getting all the soreness out.”

I am not surprised McCullers has an arm injury with four major injury factors (throws hard, throws a ton of breaking balls, unestablished starters, previous injury). I like his potential, but I may look to be selling once he comes back healthy.

Max Stassi, Astros backup catcher, will be out four to six weeks with a broken wrist.

Max Stassi, who had the inside track for the Astros’ backup catcher role, will miss about six weeks after undergoing surgery on Monday to repair a hook of the hamate fracture of his left wrist, the club announced on Tuesday. The surgery was performed by Dr. Thomas Mehlhoff in Houston.

Daniel Descalso will also miss a few weeks with a fractured hand. With Descalso out, Trevor Story or Christian Adames may get a shot at shortstop.

• A labrum tear may have finally ended Bronson Arroyo’s career.

Players on the 2016 DL

The Red players have had updates since the last report. Click on the “Date” for a link to go to the latest article on the player.

Players possibly on the DL in 2016





Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.

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