Crain prepares for extended rest after setback
CHICAGO -- White Sox reliever Jesse Crain, who had a slight setback in his rehab from a sprained right shoulder Thursday, said before Friday's game against the Royals that he would rest before starting things up again.
"Just take four or five days off, start throwing again next week," Crain said. "Let it calm down and see where it goes from there."
Crain also said that he would take a different approach to throwing again following the rest, since the shoulder didn't fare well following a 33-pitch bullpen session on Tuesday and playing catch on Wednesday.
"I think our program coming back into it will be a little more conservative," Crain said. "We won't try to throw a 'pen probably as soon as we did I think. Everybody was trying, obviously we wanted to be ready before the [disabled list] deadline. So we might have thrown a 'pen a couple days before maybe I would, or at least this time we'll probably take a little more time getting to that step."
Crain, who posted a 0.74 ERA in 38 appearances before the injury, was considered a trade target for teams needing bullpen help as the non-waiver Trade Deadline approaches Wednesday. But since it's unlikely he will be able to pitch in a Major League game before then, he'll likely become a waiver candidate or stay with the White Sox.
Manager Robin Ventura said that it's important now for Crain to give the shoulder enough time to heal.
"Yeah, again it's one of those, it depends on how he feels," Ventura said. "I think yesterday he gets out there and it wasn't feeling quite right, and you just shut it down and wait for him to feel better and then start it back up again. So it's based off of how he's feeling more than anything else. I don't know if you can put a kind of a plan together without going through him first, so I think that makes sense."
"Just let it rest," Crain said. "That's always the best thing for it. Treatment, if you do laser or ultrasound, it only does so much. The best thing for anything healing is just rest."