The Pittsburgh Pirates have announced that Wandy Rodriguez has been diagnosed with a left hamstring strain, and that it is not likely he will make his next scheduled start. That start was originally scheduled for Sunday.
The Pirates haven’t placed Rodriguez on the disabled list, despite saying the injury is enough to make him miss a start. That could mean that Rodriguez would only miss one start. If he went on the disabled list, he would also miss his start on April 19th. So by keeping him off the disabled list, they must feel that for now he has a shot at making that start.
Looking at the probable pitching chart, the Pirates could do a few things to push Rodriguez back further. With the off-day tomorrow, they could throw James McDonald on Sunday and Jonathan Sanchez on Monday, giving both starters five days rest. That would push Rodriguez’s next start back to Tuesday, and would push his second start back a few days to April 21st.
As for spot starting options for the next start, I covered that in my First Pitch article from the other night.
