Yu Darvish to the DL With Elbow Inflammation

The Texas injury plague of 2014 just won't die, and its latest victim, it appears, is Yu Darvish, as the Rangers have placed him on the 15-day DL with what is currently being termed as "elbow inflammation".

The elbow, of course, is the one injury that immediately makes me cringe. And who can really blame me? Of the Rangers pitchers that have dealt with elbow inflammation this season, not one has returned to the mound. Between that and the possibility -- and this is just preliminary panic speaking here -- that Tommy John surgery might be on the table, it's just not something that's very encouraging to read about one of the best pitchers in baseball.

For now, the Rangers and Dr. Keith Meister believe that it is pronator tendinitis, and according to Jon Daniels, the ligament is not believed to be involved,

The [ligament] was our first question, but Dr. Meister didn’t feel that was involved. Yu said, if we were maybe in a different spot playing a meaningful game, he might be able to pitch. But we all agreed that with the year we’ve had with injuries, we’re not going to push anything.

This makes the 24th use of the DL on the season for Texas, by far the most in baseball, and the way things are going, I wouldn't be too surprised to see it used a few more times down the stretch.

Hopefully, this is just a case of the organization being cautious, Darvish will only miss two starts, and we'll forget all about this episode in a month. Then again, with the way things have gone this season, I'm fully prepared to brace for the worst-case scenario, one that might involve Darvish missing a significant chunk, if not all, of the 2015 season. Hopefully that won't end up being the case, but when even the staff ace is ailing, there's not a whole lot of optimism in Arlington.

Get better, Yu. Texas needs you.