Local media just spoke with Nats general manager Mike Rizzo on the Stephen Strasburg situation. Originally diagnosed with a right flexor tendon strain on Saturday in Philadelphia, an MRI on Sunday didn’t provide a conclusive diagnosis. Strasburg will go on the 15-day disabled list, Rizzo confirmed. But he also needs a second MRI. This one – called an arthrogram – is performed after dye is injected into the injured area. It gives a clearer picture of what’s happening in Strasburg’s forearm. That will happen in the next day or two – no exact time has been set – to allow the swelling in the forearm to go down. Strasburg did not do any baseball activities on Monday before Washington’s game against the Chicago Cubs.
Team doctor Wiemi Douoguih will perform that second procedure in the District and there are no immediate plans to send Strasburg outside the area for a second opinion – though that could certainly happen depending on the results of the second MRI. Rizzo wasn’t ready to confirm Jordan Zimmermann as Thursday’s starter in Strasburg’s place. Here are his full quotes:
What can you tell us about Stephen Strasburg’s MRI results…
The story with Stephen is – as we said after he got pulled out of the start – he had pain in his elbow so he had a strain in his forearm and his flexor mass. So we got him a dry MRI. The dry MRI showed some things on there that led us to set up another MRI – an arthrogram – that they inject a dye so we can get a full view of what’s going on in there. We’re still calling it a flexor strain and after the MRI-arthrogram we’ll certainly have more information. Then we’ll do our due diligence and we’ll know just which course to take after that.
Was this done because of what you did see on the MRI or what you couldn’t see…
It’s because of what we couldn’t see, mostly. The swelling inside the tendon makes it difficult on a dry MRI to see the real intricacies of the tendons and the ligaments.
Did you see anything on the MRI that was so concerning you had to do this second procedure…
We’re injecting it to see exactly what we have. Right now we see a flexor issue. But to get a clear diagnosis that’s why we’ve gone to the extreme of an arthrogram.
Will Stephen go on the 15-day disabled list….
I think we’re going to place Stephen on the disabled list and we’ll have to make a roster move because he’s going to miss his next start. So we’re going to place him on the disabled list.
Who replaces him in the rotation…
I have an idea. We’ll let you know the other end of the roster move tomorrow.
What was Stephen’s reaction to this news…
He’s anxious to find out what’s going on. He felt good today. His elbow felt good. But anxious. He wants to find out what’s going on. To say that he’s a little anxious, a little emotional, would be fair to say.
This is the second red flag in a few weeks with his shoulder injury earlier…
The shoulder red flag I think we’re beyond that. The elbow we’ll see where we’re at after the arthrogram. We’ll see where we’re at as an organization after that.
Any theories on why this happened…
I don’t know. It’s happened on two occasions now. I just think he’s a big, strong pitcher that throws hard and those pitchers sometimes get a little tender. I don’t have any further scientific information on that.
Any other reason for this second MRI…
To get more information. It’s a much-more intricate MRI – shows a lot more of what’s in there. And for us to do it in 72 hours it gives us a chance to calm down and for the swelling to go down so we can get a real good picture of it.
Stephen still believes he could pitch this week…
He feels good enough to pitch today. He came to the ballpark thinking he wanted to play catch and throw today.
And you guys told him no…
Yes.
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