Tag: Cole Hamels out of spring training

Hamels’ elbow injury not serious

Cole HamelsAccording to MLBlogs.com, doctors found no structural damage in Cole Hamels’ elbow after examining it on Tuesday. Hamels had left Phillies’ spring training on Monday after reporting elbow problems in his pitching arm.

The Phillies just announced that they have received good news from Cole Hamels’ doctor’s visit today in Philadelphia: there is no structural damage to his left elbow. Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is in a meeting, but we are told he will provide more information later.

That sounds like good news. Of course, we don’t know what the plan is for Hamels. Give him a shot? Shut him down for a week or two?

That’s not only good news for Philly fans, but also for fantasy baseball owners who draft in the next week or two (or who have already drafted). Hamels still might miss a start in the beginning of the season, but after this news, he still seems like a safe pick. (Although keep an eye on any updating reports.)

Cole Hamels to have elbow examined

Phillies’ starter Cole Hamels has left spring training to fly to Philadelphia to have his sore elbow examined by team doctors.

Cole Hamels“We do not think it is serious, at least at this time” Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “We thought it was important for Dr. Ciccotti to check him out and see if there is anything more serious than what we think it is. He’ll decide once he sees him tomorrow morning if he needs to do any testing or any further testing. We did do a physical on him before we ended up finalizing the multiyear deal with him and felt comfortable with the diagnostics and such. But he’s had a little persistent soreness and we want to be cautious about it and have him checked out.”

Hamels pitched in a minor-league spring training game yesterday at the Carpenter Complex. The Phillies said afterward that it went well and that he remained on schedule to start Opening Day on April 5.

“And he was,” Amaro said. “But he’s still got a little bit of soreness in there. We don’t feel that it’s serious, but again, I don’t have a crystal ball. I can’t look inside his elbow. We just want to be cautious, and we thought it was important that he sees our doctor in Philly.”

I don’t think teams can ever be too cautious when it comes to starting pitchers and their arms, but it’s way too early for Hamels to be having any kind of issues. Hopefully for Phillie fans, it’s nothing serious and he doesn’t miss any time. But it’s a long season and if Hamels needs to miss a few weeks in April, that’s better than losing him during a key stretch run late in the year.