CINCINNATI -- Michael Lorenzen is trying to remain patient, but it hasn't been easy to sit and watch his team get off to its worst start since 1955.
"They're being careful, as they should be," Lorenzen said. "I feel fantastic."
Lorenzen was shut down late in Spring Training with a Grade 1 strain of the teres major muscle near his right shoulder. It's a similar injury to the one left-hander Brandon Finnegan suffered on June 26 in his first start back from a strained left trapezius. The injury cost Finnegan the remainder of the season, along with a right shoulder injury suffered away from the field.
"We've been through this injury before, with Finnegan and [Johnny] Cueto," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "You have to make sure it is completely healed before you ramp up the workload. We'll do everything we can to verify he's healthy."
Lorenzen has been throwing off flat ground from a distance of 75 feet with no issues and did so again on Saturday. He is expected to have an MRI early next week to determine if the shoulder is healed enough for him to throw off the mound.
Lorenzen competed for the fifth spot in the rotation this spring but has been the Reds' primary setup man the past two seasons.
He went 8-4 with a 4.45 ERA and 1.349 WHIP in 70 appearances last season. In 2016, Lorenzen was 2-1 with a 2.88 ERA and 1.080 WHIP in 35 appearances.
The Reds' bullpen, which has posted a 6.61 ERA through 13 games, could use Lorenzen's left arm.
"It's always hard to be patient," Lorenzen said. "There are a ton of battles that go through the mind. You're being a competitor. You want to compete with your teammates and help them win ballgames."
Winker waits:
Reds outfielder Jesse Winker was out of the lineup again on Saturday after being scratched from the lineup on Friday with right shoulder soreness.
"Might be a day or two before he'll be able to get back in the lineup, in an optimistic world," Price said. "But he'll have to respond to treatment well in the next 24 to 48 hours before we would consider him a guy we could get back into the lineup."
Winker has a slash line of .250/.400/.250 through 11 games. Price has moved him around the lineup, batting him leadoff eight times while also hitting him third, sixth, and eighth.
More injury updates:
Right-hander David Hernandez who began the season on the DL with a right shoulder injury, threw on the side on Saturday. Price said if all goes well, Hernandez will next throw live batting practice. Price said he planned to meet with staff on Saturday to discuss next steps for outfielder Scott Schebler who is out with a right elbow injury suffered when he was hit by a pitch on April 1. It's likely that Schebler will go out on a rehab assignment.