Le sigh.
A day after making his Cactus League debut – and saying he felt good – Scott Baker is now feeling soreness in his pitching arm, and will get an MRI on his elbow, according to multiple reports. Baker has been rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, which he had in April 2012.
Obviously this could be nothing, but it’s always worrisome when a guy feels soreness in his elbow for the first time during a rehab schedule after facing batters. You naturally amp things up for that kind of outing, and you see how your arm responds. In Baker’s case, it may not have responded well.
Even if the MRI comes up perfectly clean (and, with soreness, it seems “minor inflammation” is a minimal possibility), it’s very hard to imagine the Cubs putting him back out there in four days after “soreness.” That means, his return time line is going to be pushed back. He was scheduled to return around mid-April, but that’s not looking so hot now.
I’m tentatively nervous, but we’ll see what the MRI reveals before going into full-on panic mode.