CINCINNATI -- Although Homer Bailey won't make his next start, the Reds are optimistic that he'll pitch again this season.
Bailey left his last start on Aug. 28 after one inning, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits. In his last two starts, Bailey has allowed 10 runs (nine earned) on 14 hits over 3 1/3 innings.
The encouraging news is that Bailey's injury has nothing to do with his surgically repaired elbow. Instead, he's experienced tightness in his right biceps as he's struggled to stretch the muscle out. On Friday, Bailey played catch and felt fine afterward.
"They're really working on just trying to get this lengthened out," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "He's really tight in his biceps, and they're just trying to work that out, but nothing surrounding the elbow area where he's had the problems in the past. Our goal is to get where he's fully comfortable, feels normal, get him on the mound, get him back into games."
As of now, the Reds don't believe they'll need to shut down Bailey. However, they won't rule it out, either.
"At this point, we're not discussing that," Price said. "But it would be something that we would discuss. We're not going to force this to happen. That's not the goal. The goal is to get him healthy and not have to look back and not have to be as conservative as we have on the front end of this rehab."