Orioles manager Brandon Hyde provided a troubling update about right-hander Grayson Rodriguez today, with video shared by Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun. Hyde says that Rodriguez recently had a side session canceled due to some shoulder soreness and was sent for an MRI today.
The results of that imaging haven’t come back yet but it’s a less than ideal development regardless. Rodriguez started the season on the 15-day injured list due to some soreness in his elbow/triceps area. He’s been trying to ramp back up lately, throwing bullpen sessions, but that now all seems to be up in the air.
For a pitcher to be dealing with simultaneous elbow and shoulder troubles is a worrisome state of affairs in any context, but it’s also notable given his track record. Rodriguez dealt with shoulder problems at times last year as well. He had a stint of almost three weeks on the IL in May, with right shoulder inflammation listed as his official ailment. He was back on the IL in early August due to right lat/teres discomfort. The injury was initially described as mild and the O’s hoped to have him back late in the year but that ultimately did not come to pass. A notable lat strain also impacted him as a prospect in 2022, shutting him down for about three months and delaying his major league debut until the 2023 campaign.
Needless to say, it’s not what the Orioles want. They came into this season with Rodriguez and Zach Eflin as the top two pitchers in the projected rotation. Rodriguez has been out all season with his elbow inflammation and now has shoulder problems on top of that. Eflin made three starts before himself landing on the IL due to a lat strain. He played catch yesterday for the first time since that IL placement, per Weyrich, and still seems to have some boxes to check.
There are other injuries as well. Kyle Bradish had Tommy John surgery in June of last year and won’t be available until the second half even in a best-case scenario. Tyler Wells also had UCL surgery in June of last year. Chayce McDermott is on the IL with a lat strain, like Eflin. Trevor Rogers is on the IL with kneecap subluxation. Swingman Albert Suárez is also on the shelf, in his case due to shoulder inflammation.
Going into the offseason, many observers expected the O’s to be aggressive in adding to their rotation. They had lost Bradish to his surgery and Corbin Burnes to free agency. With a new owner in place, it was expected that some new payroll parameters could allow them to play at the top or perhaps the middle of the free agent market.
Instead, the O’s added some veteran back-end guys. They gave a one-year deal to 41-year-old Charlie Morton and another one-year pact to Tomoyuki Sugano. The latter is a bit younger than the former but is 35 and came into this year with no big league experience, looking to make the move from Japan.
With all the injuries, things aren’t going great. Morton has an 8.84 ERA thus far. Sugano’s 3.86 ERA looks better but an 84.2% strand rate is helping him work around an 8.1% strikeout rate. Cade Povich has stepped up and posted a solid 3.60 ERA in three starts but Dean Kremer is at 6.41.
Kyle Gibson will join the group eventually but he is still building up due to a late signing. He got up to 3 2/3 innings in his most recent minor league start. Brandon Young has no major league experience but is on the 40-man and putting up good numbers in Triple-A. Cody Poteet is also on the 40-man but has been working in relief in the minors, with nine earned runs allowed in five innings.
The season is still very young but the O’s are 7-10 and currently in the basement of a very competitive American League East. They entered spring training with a top-heavy rotation featuring two front-end guys in Rodriguez and Eflin and a lot of back-end candidates, though they’ve gotten almost nothing from that Eflin/Rodriguez duo so far. Ideally, both will be getting back to the team in the coming weeks/months, but this update adds an unsettling level of uncertainty.