Diamondbacks Hospital rides again

Bronson Arroyo - elbow issues

Arroyo isn't on the DL but isn't happy with his health. He told KTAR, "My elbow has been killing me for probably the last five or six starts. And I just can't let the ball go, man, because if I do I feel like something's going to break. It's already swelling up as much as it is after the starts, and if I continue to just beat on it it's not going to be able to bounce back in four or five days. You try to get out there and kind of conserve as much as you possibly can and still get outs. It's not comfortable and it's not fun. You feel like you're in a firefight when everybody else has an AK-47 and you've got a handgun. But you rely on command and some sort of savvy out on the mound to try to get outs."

Archie Bradley - flexor strain, right elbow

Bradley hasn't pitched since the last week in April, and it looks likely that he'll miss about two months, current estimates having him back later this month. Farm director Mike Bell reports Bradkey is making progress, though is still some way off: "He should be ready to go probably the last week in June," Bell said. "That's kind of what we have our sights set on. We'll let how he's feeling dictate what we do. I think everybody feels pretty confident with how he's doing." Sudden thought: where do minor-league pitchers go for rehab assignments? :)

Eric Chavez - sprained left knee

Having only hit the DL on Monday, no meaningful news since. This appears to be a recurrence of the same issue, more or less, which sent Chavez to the disabled list for the second time last year, in August. The good news is, he missed the minimum 15 games there. He's hoping for the same here: "We're just going to try to calm down, give it rest, and we've done everything we possibly could on the medical side other than just let it chill out for a little while. So (we'll) try to calm it down and probably take about five days of just nothing, and then I'll just try to crank it up again, and hopefully by 15 days it's ready to go and I'm good to go."

Patric Corbin, David Hernandez- Tommy John surgery

For now at least, we can probably tie these two together, since they had their surgeries a week apart, on March 25 and April 1 respectively. They'll have been able to discard the brace which encased the elbow for the first month, and will have been doing light exercises, to work on their range of motion. Normal life is clearly being resumed....

This definitely will slow down the rehab process. @DHern_30 @DHuddy41 haha #SorryNeil pic.twitter.com/pdY579Awju

— Patrick Corbin (@PatrickCorbin11) May 8, 2014

The "#SorryNeil" is probably Neil Rampe, a therapist with the Diamondbacks.

Daniel Hudson - Tommy John surgery

Next Wednesday, it will be exactly one year to the day, since Hudson underwent his second TJ operation, after re-injuring his UCL during a rehab start. A more cautious approach seems to be being taken this time around, but Hudson is now back to throwing regularly. His most recent bullpen session was yesterday, and he threw 25-30 fastballs and change-ups. There's still no timetable for his return, but it seems likely he will be moved to the bullpen, to reduce the stress on his now twice-repaired elbow. Not that this is necessarily stopping Hudson from exerting it...

Fact: I lift more weight carrying groceries in from my car than I do at the gym/weight room. #nevermakingtwotrips

— Daniel Hudson (@DHuddy41) June 2, 2014

Cliff Pennington - sprained left thumb ligament

Pennington injured his thumb in a game on May 27 against the Padres, on the tag attempt of Everth Cabrera shown above - add another entry to the list of reasons to dislike Cabrera. The severity of the injury was not immediately obvious; he played the rest of the contest, and even started another game on June 1. But an operation to repair the damage was required, and that took place last Wednesday. It will be 8 to 10 weeks before Cliff can resume baseball activities, so it'll probably be August at least before we see him again.

A.J. Pollock - Fractured fourth metacarpal, right hand

Perhaps the saddest injury of 2014 to date, derailed what had been a very promising season for Pollock, netting him two Player of the Week honors in the National League, and significant All-Star talk. But an errant pitch from Johnny Cueto struck Pollock's knuckles, requiring surgery on June 2. Kirk Gibson said, "The bone is kind of upwards. They're going to pull it, traction, straighten it out, probably put a plate on it. Ideally, they'd like to put a pin in it, I guess, but I don't know if they're going to be able to do that." He set the timetable for Pollock's recovery at anywhere from 1-2 months, but admitted, "It's a guess."

Matt Reynolds - Tommy John surgery

Reynolds went under the knife in September, and the team hopes to have him back for the end of this season, all going well. Gibson said, "If you give them something out of the 'pen this year some time, it really builds for next year." There was a significant milestone reached this week, with Reynolds joining Hudson in throwing a bullpen session on Tuesday, Matt's first since the operation. Reynolds threw 20 pitches, sticking to fastballs; Gibson noticed a change in Reynolds's delivery: "His mechanics are good. I think they cleaned it up a little bit, made it a little shorter, made it a little less rotational, tried to get him to be more online."

Mark Trumbo - Stress fracture in left foot

Trumbo took batting practice on the field Friday, but he still appears to be some way off. Said Gibson, "I haven't seen him run… I don't think he's been in the outfield like running around and catching balls. I don't think he's there yet." The estimate is July, though Gibson still maintains, "He's coming along on schedule." Which schedule, is less certain: the original estimate, when he went on the DL April 21, was a six-week absence, and we're already a week past that. Then, in late May, it was reported that Trumbo was hitting off a tee and playing catch, with the team hoping for a return around the third week in June. So don't hold your breath.