The Toronto Blue Jays have shut down first baseman Edwin Encarnacion and reliever Brett Cecil for the remainder of the season because the pair are dealing with arm injuries, reports John Lott of the National Post.
Blue Jays injuries: Edwin Encarnacion, Brett Cecil shut down for season
Arm injuries have cut their seasons a bit short. E5 will undergo wrist surgery this week, while Cecil is sidelined with elbow inflammation.
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Encarnacion has some torn cartilage in his left wrist, which he’s expected to go under the knife for on Thursday. The 30-year-old slugger has been bothered by the injury for much of the season, but it became too much to bear in recent weeks.
E5 is just the latest starting position player to hit the shelf for the rest of the year, joining right fielder Jose Bautista, left fielder Melky Cabrera and infielder Maicer Izturis. Until this week, Encarnacion was one of Toronto's few productive, healthy players; he finishes his season batting .272/.370/.534 with 36 home runs in 142 games.
Cecil, meanwhile, is dealing with nerve inflammation in his throwing elbow, according to preliminary tests. The team will send him for an MRI later in the week to make sure there isn’t anything more serious going on, but either way his season is over.
The 27-year-old first felt discomfort in his elbow during an outing against the Astros last month. The team prescribed rest and basic treatment then, which seemed to work for a while, but the pain resurfaced in what ended up being his final outing last Thursday.
A roster afterthought when the season began, Cecil thrived in his relief role this year. The bespectacled southpaw pitched his way onto the 2013 All-Star team at the midway point, and continued to mow down hitters in the second half. Cecil ends his year with a career-best 2.82 earned-run average and better than three strikeouts per walk in 60⅔ innings.
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