Pirates GM Has Understandable Reaction To Worrisome Injury Trend

Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington had an understandable reaction after his club’s latest ambiguous injury.

Pittsburgh has seen injuries take a major toll on catchers Joey Bart and Endy Rodríguez this season, with the latter becoming the latest to go down with elbow inflammation that sent him to the 10-day injured list on Friday — his second stint this season.

Cherington spoke about the injury on his radio show on 93.7 The Fan on Sunday, calling it a “splash of cold water to the face.”

Rodríguez missed last season after undergoing surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament, and will be examined by Dr. Neil ElAttrache, who performed his surgery last offseason. Joey Bart is still on the seven-day concussion injured list since getting hit on a backswing May 27 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, so there’s a lack of depth at the position that will require some attention.

“As you’re doing those tests, you’re in communication with officials from the league to make sure that all boxes are checked before the player is activated,” Cherington said, as transcribed by PennLive. “There’s another layer of approval with the league, as there should be. He hasn’t been able to quite check every box, even though he feels good and is doing baseball activities. … We’re going to make sure we do before he’s back out there.”

It’s been a tough go of it lately for Pittsburgh, so hopefully for their sake things start to get better soon.

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