Brett Cecil to Start Season on DL

Brett Cecil will not make the trip north with the Cardinals at the end of Spring Training due to an apparent arm injury.

Mike Shildt made the announcement Monday. “He’s dealing with a few things with his body and his arm just recovering. He’s going to be shut down for a while,” said Shildt. He described the injury as arm fatigue, stating that Cecil would not need surgery and it wasn’t anything structural.

When asked himself, Cecil stated that he had been dealing with a spasm in his forearm for five days. “Every pitch I threw was looking like a football,” he said. “I couldn’t feel the ball coming off my two fingers.”

Cecil has only thrown two official innings this spring. In those two frames he’s allowed a hit, a walk and has one strikeout. However, he has gotten more work in other settings. Last week he struggled in an inter squad game, allowing one run in one inning on a walk, hit by pitch and wild pitch. He also recently threw a 100-pitch bullpen, to which his arm did not respond well.

The Cards have decided to shut him down for five to seven days, in hopes that his problems are related to fatigue. “We’re just trying to get it to calm down and re-assess and see if there’s any actual further problems that need to be looked at,” said Cecil.

Is This Another Phantom DL Stint for Cecil?

It’s hard to say at this point whether or not Cecil is really dealing with arm issues. This could just be the Cardinals best option for leaving him off the Opening Day roster. It certainly feels that way. Either way, Cecil will not be a part of the Redbirds plans at the start of the season.

Featured Image by Jeff Roberson of the Associated Press