Sox lefty Rodon on injured list with elbow inflammation; TJ surgery a possibility
As it turns out, a finger blister isn't the problem for Carlos Rodon.
The Chicago White Sox's top starting pitcher had a second straight subpar outing in Game 1 of Wednesday's doubleheader against the Orioles at Guaranteed Rate Field.
While he was laboring through 3⅔ innings and giving up 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks while throwing 89 pitches, Rodon kept looking at his left hand and seemed to be in discomfort.
He was, but the pain was coming from a much more problematic spot.
"Following his outing yesterday, Carlos reported feeling a little tightness in his elbow and forearm area," Sox general manager Rick Hahn said Thursday after Rodon was placed on the 10-day injured list. "In the past, he's had a couple of outings where he's had a little trouble getting loose. But it sort of resolved itself as the outing has gone on.
"Yesterday, that didn't seem to be the case. As a result, he was examined by our team physicians and upon examination he felt some tenderness over the forearm. We ordered some studies that revealed some edema in the flexor mass, which essentially is some blood in the muscle. That's not a good thing, obviously.
"Trying to figure out the cause of that is ultimately what will dictate the course of action. It's not a positive. We don't have a specific definitive plan in place today. There are going to be follow-up studies, there are going to be consultations with second opinion docs and over the course of the next several days or week or so, we'll come up with a specific plan.
"But at this point, you can say based simply upon the edema, he's going to be down for a little while."
Is season-ending Tommy John surgery a possibility for Rodon?
"Unfortunately at this point, everything is on the table," Hahn said. "I can't rule anything out. I don't want to speak for any doctors. We have to get everybody involved and understand exactly what we are dealing with and come up with consensus for the best course."
Rodon threw 41 pitches in the fourth inning Wednesday while retiring only two Baltimore hitters. That's when he realized something was wrong.
"It's just been tight over the whole season, but nothing really like yesterday," Rodon said. "Yesterday kind of got me a little bit. Didn't really loosen up like it normally does. Struggled a little bit to get loose through the whole game and definitely after that long inning, that fourth inning, it got me good."
Rodon, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 draft, is no stranger to serious injury.
At the end of the 2017 season, the 26-year-old lefty had shoulder surgery that kept him sidelined until early June of last year.
"It's super frustrating," Rodon said. "It's something that's kind of out of anyone's control and it's no one's fault. Things like this happen. It's the second time now that something like this happens and there's not much you can do about it. You've just got to roll with the punches."
If Rodon needs season-ending elbow surgery, he'll face it head on.
"Anything's on the table to fix the issue," he said. "Honestly, I'm only 26 years old, luckily, and hopefully I can play this game for 10 more years. So I'm still fairly young. If it's Tommy John, so be it to get me back on this field."