Rays' Tyler Glasnow out six to eight weeks with oblique strain

The Tampa Bay Rays announced that right-hander Tyler Glasnow has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain of his left oblique. The team estimates a timeline of six to eight weeks before he’s ready to return to a game setting.

Glasnow is expected to miss the beginning of the regular season due to the injury, manager Kevin Cash tells Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). 

“I would book that right now,” Cash said when asked about the likelihood of Glasnow missing time to begin the year. Glasnow underwent an MRI yesterday, though the team has not yet provided a formal diagnosis or publicly disclosed a timeline for his return.

If there’s a silver lining for the Rays, it’s that the injury is unrelated to Glasnow’s surgically repaired right elbow. The 29-year-old Glasnow underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021 and was limited to just 6 2/3 regular season frames last year — plus another five dominant innings in the ALDS. Given that minimal workload, it’s likely that the Rays would’ve kept a watchful eye on Glasnow’s innings count in 2023 anyhow. In some respects, the oblique injury provides a more organic means of keeping that workload on the more conservative side as he builds toward what the team surely hopes will be a full slate of starts in the 2024 season.

Even with Glasnow on the shelf, the rotation will remain a strong point for the Rays, who enjoyed a breakout 2022 showing from Shane McClanahan. The 25-year-old lefty made his first All-Star team and was squarely in the American League Cy Young mix for most of the season before a shoulder injury late in the year limited his innings and perhaps diminished his results over his final few outings. Now healthy, McClanahan is a safe bet to make the Rays’ Opening Day start.

Following him in the rotation will be recently extended lefty Jeffrey Springs, right-hander Drew Rasmussen and offseason acquisition Zach Eflin, who inked the largest free-agent contract the Rays have ever given out (a still-modest three years and $40MM). The fifth spot in the rotation will be somewhat up for grabs. Touted young righty Shane Baz won’t factor into that mix, as he’s expected to miss all of the 2023 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, but the Rays still have Luis Patino, Yonny Chirinos, Josh Fleming and top prospect Taj Bradley as names to consider.

Of course, since we’re talking about the Rays, there’s no guarantee they’ll even set a fifth starter. Many clubs can skip the fifth spot in the rotation early in the season due to the number of off-days baked into the calendar, and even failing that, the Rays are the team that pioneered the now-common usage of openers and bullpen games. It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Tampa Bay go back to that well. Lefty reliever Jalen Beeks, notably, “started” seven games for the Rays in 2022 but never pitched beyond two innings or faced more than ten batters in any of those appearances. He’d likely be the favorite for such a role to begin the 2023 campaign as well, should the Rays prefer to go that route.

Turning back to Glasnow, he’s earning a $5.35MM salary in the 2023 season, which would’ve been his final year of club control before free agency were it not for an extension he inked last summer. It was an odd contract that lacked precedent, as the two parties agreed to tack just one year at a premium $25MM rate, pushing back Glasnow’s arrival on the open market by one year.