Frank Francisco Unavailable

Posted on May 12th, 2009 7:28pm by Evan Grant
Filed under Baseball, Bullpen, Injury report, Texas Rangers

The Rangers closer will be unavailable at least through the Seattle series after being diagnosed with biceps tendonitis. Francisco complained of shoulder soreness over the weekend – after he pitched in three consecutive games – and received both an MRI exam and an injection of anti-inflammatories on Tuesday. GM Jon Daniels said the Rangers believe Francisco suffered the injury after working out following the three straight days of appearances and not because of the pitching workload. Daniels is hopeful Francisco may play catch on Wednesday and possibly throw a bullpen session before the weekend. But Daniels also indicated the DL is a possibility.

Francisco, who has had two arm surgeries including the Tommy John procedure in 2005, had not pitched on three consecutive days in major league games since 2007. He was asked to get a four-out save at Seattle last Monday. The next day, he warmed up three different times before entering the game with a five-run lead in the 10th inning. Manager Ron Washington indicated a desire to refrain from using Francisco a third day, but still brought him in with a one-run lead last Wednesday.  He ended up throwing 52 pitches over the three-day span and has not been used since.

“We’ve got confidence in a lot of guys, but obviously he’s a big part of what we are doing here,” Daniels said. “Frankie seemed to think he hurt it working out. We’re going to look at his shoulder maintenance program and see what we can do. We’ll just have to look at that and how he prepares for games.”

Francisco moved into the closer’s role last August 25 and has not allowed an earned run in that role, but his 27.1-inning streak pre-dates his promotion to closer. Francisco replaced LHP Eddie Guardado, who replaced LHP C.J. Wilson after Wilson went on the DL last July to have bone chips removed from his elbow. Daniels said Washington is likely to use Wilson as his first option to close games in Francisco’s absence, but the team could also try to mix-and-match relievers depending on the situation.

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14 Comments to “Frank Francisco Unavailable”
  • gordosan @ May 12th, 2009 at 8:23 pm

    The moral of this story is; don’t bring in your closer with a five run lead in the ninth.

  • Babe @ May 12th, 2009 at 9:00 pm

    There is no moral. Washington and apparently Mr. Maddux do not know how to use a bullpen – especially one filled with guys who have seen more operating room than pitching mound in the past. Frankie is dumb as a board and will now get to pay for it. Macho is great – if you are John Wayne in a movie.

    This, however, is not that big of a deal. Frankie was ready for a melt-down anyway. Can anyone say D. Holland as a closer?

  • Rudy @ May 12th, 2009 at 9:08 pm

    So what do you think, Evan? Do you take the Rangers’ explanation at face value or do you fault Wash for overusing Frankie last week. Now that you have a blog you can inject your opinions into stories — and I for one am counting on seeing those opinions, rather than “just the facts.”

  • becca @ May 12th, 2009 at 9:44 pm

    is anyone else missing the big part of the story? is anyone else worried about cj being the closer? i mean, if it works, super. but are they really really ready to try it? it makes my gut nervous.

  • quonnyjest @ May 12th, 2009 at 9:53 pm

    “is anyone else worried about cj being the closer?”

    Um, beyond worried. Try mortified.

  • becca @ May 12th, 2009 at 10:00 pm

    ok. good. thought it was just me.

  • JJ @ May 12th, 2009 at 10:18 pm

    There was no reason for Frankie to come into pitch in that Seattle game when they were up 7-2 in extra’s…boneheaded move by Wash

  • Ben @ May 12th, 2009 at 10:22 pm

    Regardless of the Rangers success, Washington is a cluless idiot when it comes to pitching and doing his job.

  • Chicken Little @ May 12th, 2009 at 11:02 pm

    Jeez, try not to panic here folks. They said Feliz was a minor issue and he seems to be ok, so maybe this isn’t a big deal either.

    I’d be more pissed at Washington if they put a mop up guy in the game in Seattle and lost it than for pitching Frankie to stop the opponents momentum.

    Can’t we be happy they’re winning? Does the sky always have to fall for some of you?

  • Todd in Chicago @ May 12th, 2009 at 11:19 pm

    are you f-ing kidding me…

    good lord, this just makes the bring your closer (with a history of arm troubles) into a blowout so much worse.

  • JustSaying @ May 12th, 2009 at 11:27 pm

    moving forward…….CJ is one way…..DH is another way….O’Day in the mix?

  • Whip @ May 13th, 2009 at 1:00 am

    Where are all those posters who were upset about all the Washington bashing for using him 3 days in a row now? This is why you don’t overwork your best bullpen arm. I hope CJ will be fine, but this is probably the guy we could afford the least to get hurt and here he is staring at a D.L. stint.

  • Sriram @ May 13th, 2009 at 5:43 am

    Ok, ok, I take back what I said about three consecutive appearances by FF not being a big deal. I didn’t think one such run of appearances would hurt him, but apparently, it did. Let’s just hope this isn’t a huge deal, and that Washington, Maddux, et. al. learn from this. The thought of having C.J. back at closer for any length of time gives me the heebie-jeebies.

  • scooper @ May 13th, 2009 at 9:24 am

    the 3 straight appearances may not have anything to do with the injury, but the fact remains that we didn’t need to use him on that second day. JD says on a good team, the closer will sometimes have to pitch 3 days straight. Fine, but he didn’t HAVE TO this time. Wash CHOSE to use him in a game with a 5-run lead. then, after saying that he wanted to stay away from Frankie the next day, he CHOSE to use him on the 3rd day instead of giving the save situation to someone else. Now he HAS TO give save situations to someone else. Your choices do have consequences.