Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove exited his start in the wild-card series due to tightness in his pitching elbow. Manager Mike Shildt informed reporters that Musgrove won’t be on the club’s NLDS roster and won’t pitch in the series, but the skipper stopped short of speculating about the righty’s availability after this series, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com.
It’s an unfortunate development for the Padres, as they are hoping to take down the Dodgers in the series that kicks off Saturday. Musgrove has had his challenges this year but is one of the club’s best pitchers and was in a groove toward the end of the regular season.
The righty had a 5.66 earned run average through the end of May. He had already missed a few weeks earlier that month due to elbow inflammation, and he was diagnosed with a bone spur in his elbow in early June. He was transferred to the 60-day injured list and wasn’t able to return until the middle of August.
He was able to finish the season on a strong note, making nine starts down the stretch with a 2.15 ERA, 29.1% strikeout rate and 4.1% walk rate. He took the ball in the second game of the wild-card round against Atlanta and the results were good. He tossed 3 2/3 innings with four strikeouts and no walks, allowing one earned run. But his velocity was down and he was removed after just 44 pitches. The club later announced it as elbow tightness.
Given that Musgrove has been battling elbow issues all year, it’s fair to wonder if there’s a long-term issue that will need to be addressed. Shildt being tight-lipped about it for now, so the full ramifications may not be immediately known. If any kind of significant surgery is required, that could have a notable impact on the club into next year.
In the short term, the Padres will be trying to survive without Musgrove. Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish are scheduled to start the first two games of the series against the Dodgers. Michael King tossed the first game against Atlanta, striking out 12 over seven shutout innings, and will likely get the ball in the third contest on Tuesday. In the fourth game, they would likely be choosing between Cease starting on short rest versus using someone like Martín Pérez or Matt Waldron. Full roster announcements will be made Saturday morning.