Rangers GM on Darvish pitching this season: 'We are leaning towards not taking any chances'
Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels suggested Wednesday that Yu Darvish's season is over, despite showing improvement in his sore elbow.
Darvish, who has remained on the disabled list since Aug. 13 with elbow inflammation in his right elbow, is scheduled to be examined Thursday by team medical director Dr. Keith Meister.
"But time-wise, we are in the same place," Daniels said, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. "The calendar is working against us. We're going to make a common-sense decision. We are leaning towards not taking any chances."
Daniels did note, however, that Darvish has seen significant improvement since landing on the DL. Whether it's enough to return to a big-league mound this season remains unclear.
From the Dallas Morning News:
Daniels said anecdotal information passed to him is optimistic in that pitchers with more significant issues don’t usually report the level of improvement that Darvish has reported in such a quick amount of time. Darvish, however, hasn’t thrown in nearly three weeks and once he’s determined to be asymptomatic and undergoes a second MRI, he would have to begin a throwing program from scratch.
The 28-year-old right-hander pitched to a 3.06 ERA and 1.26 WHIP with 182 strikeouts in 144 1/3 innings this season.