ARLINGTON -- As the Rangers sit on the precipice of a postseason position, they continue to discuss what to do with a pair of injured starting pitchers in Jack Leiter and Nathan Eovaldi.
Leiter has been down for months after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose body from his right ankle area on June 23.
Eovaldi has been on the injured list since Aug. 10 with right elbow soreness.
Both are clearly running out of time.
“Obviously, the clock is not really my friend here, which is unfortunate,” Leiter said on Friday. “I’m doing what I can one day at a time to hopefully get back and help the team any way I can.”
Leiter was further along than Eovaldi, having already made three rehab appearances. But during his last one -- his first coming out of the bullpen -- the right-hander experienced biceps soreness that eventually led to his shutdown.
Leiter will go to Arizona this week to continue his rehab process, though he still hasn’t thrown since his rehab assignment on Aug. 27. Leiter admitted that he was maybe “a little too hasty” at times throughout his comeback from ankle surgery and pushed it more than he should have in an effort to get back and help the team.
“Yes, I definitely want to [pitch again],” Leiter said. “It's a day at a time. I hope I can [pitch again]. But I don't want to be an optimist or a pessimist in this case. I just want to be. It is what it is. Each day brings its own new information, new challenges, and I’ll go from there. But the number one, first and foremost priority is getting fully healthy right now. I can't do anything stupid.”
Manager Skip Schumaker said that Leiter won’t throw again for another few days while he’s out in Arizona getting treatment.
“There's still a lot of build-up before he ends up being an option,” Schumaker said. “I think with where we're at in the season and him being no-throw right now, obviously you can understand where we're at with him. The progression is going to be almost impossible for a starter option. Whether or not we can get him out of the bullpen now is the question. So we’ll see what he looks like in a couple days.”
Eovaldi, on the other hand, threw a bullpen of about 40 pitches in two sets of 20 on Sept. 5 and is set for a live batting practice session in the coming days.
Schumaker had the same feelings regarding Eovaldi, noting that it would be “challenging to think we could be getting six innings out of him."
The Rangers have had conversations about the best way to use or build him up as the club continues to vie for a postseason spot. Eovaldi led the Rangers in innings (132 2/3) and wins (10) at the time he landed on the injured list on Aug. 10, though he struggled to a 4.21 ERA -- the highest of his Texas tenure.
Despite what the numbers say this year, Eovaldi would be a serious upgrade to the Rangers pitching staff in whatever role that may be. And he has an idea about that.
"I feel my best usage would be out of the 'pen," Eovaldi said on Sunday. "Again, I don't know how they want to manage it, but I possibly could squeeze in two starts at maybe four or five innings as opposed to pitching effectively and helping bridge to get to where we need to be."