Danny Salazar to the injured list

The Cleveland Indians have placed pitcher Danny Salazar on the newly renamed 60-day injured list to start the 2019 season.

As expected Danny Salazar has been placed on the 60-day injured list to start the year. Salazar is still in the process of recovering from a shoulder injury and was not in the mix to make the Opening Day roster. The reality is that this is merely a formality. The expectation for Salazar was to continue his recovery and maybe return sometime this season.

Danny Salazar has not appeared in a game for the Indians since 2017. Even then Salazar was dealing with injury issues. There was once a time that “Gas Can Dan” could be an integral part of the rotation. Now that does not appear to be the case. Frequent injuries have hampered his development. Additionally, questions about his durability and longterm future have arisen because of this.

Even if Danny Salazar can return this season the starting rotation is currently full. Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber have all five rotation spots on lockdown. Barring injury or a dip in performance, there is no room for Salazar in the rotation. That means that Salazar could make a home in the bullpen. The benefit to this is that it will limit his usage and hopefully be easier to keep track of any sort of issues with his shoulder. While he may make more appearances with this route, the shorter outings may be more beneficial to avoiding injury and maximizing his skill set.

Of course this is assuming that Danny Salazar can return from his injury this season. The expectation heading into last season is nearly exactly the same as this season. Being unavailable at the start of the year with a potential return later in the season. The real way to look at this is that anything the Indians get out of Danny Salazar is just a bonus.