The Angels will have to do without ace Jered Weaver for at least 4-6 weeks.
On Tuesday, the team said Weaver suffered a non-displaced radial head fracture in his left (non-throwing) elbow and has been placed on the 15-day disabled list.
"I don’t like spending time on the DL. It’s very disappointing, but I guess you’ve got to look on the bright side sometimes. It’s better earlier than toward the end, but at the same time it’s definitely frustrating and disappointing," Weaver said.
Weaver is currently wearing a blue sling on his left arm and said he's trying to adjust to the injury.
"This is all new to me. I’ve never broken anything before. I didn’t know how to take the news. It was a shock at first. Now you’ve just got to play the waiting game, I guess," Weaver said.
“We don’t have six guys capable of being Jered Weaver,” general
manager Jerry Dipoto said before the game, “but we do have 12 guys
capable of being good major league pitchers.”
Despite the injury occurring on his non-pitching arm, the Angels are taking the necessary precautions and manager Mike Scioscia believes it is still a significant injury.
"When you throw a baseball, it’s a full-body, coordinated movement. You’ll see a lot of pitchers, whether it’s the lower body or in Weav’s case his left elbow, he would not be able to leverage the ball or make the motion he has to to deliver the ball to the plate," Scioscia said. "When you start compensating, you put your throwing arm at risk."
Weaver suffered the injury in Sunday's loss to Texas when a sixth-inning line drive from Mitch Moreland struck his elbow.
"Pretty painful. It feels a little swollen in there," Weaver said after Sunday's game. "I can't move it around too good right now. It's strange. Kind
of like jamming your thumb."
Weaver was initially diagnosed with a strained left elbow. He's 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA in 11 innings of work so far this season.
Garrett Richards, who the team projects as a starter down the line, will take Weaver's spot in the rotation and make his first start Saturday vs. Astros on FOX Sports West.
Richards had an outstanding spring, recording a 1.45 ERA in 18 2/3 innings.
"Spring training was a situation where I think Garrett took some major steps forward in what you would expect a young pitcher to do. I don’t think we had a pitcher on our staff who threw better than Garrett did in the spring. He’ll be ready to get after it in the rotation," Scioscia said.
-- Mike Martinez of FOXSportsWest.com contributed to this report.
