Angels targeting September return for Richards

[Chuck]

• The Angels are targeting a September return for righty Garrett Richards, who will face live hitters Sunday for the first time since he made his lone start of the year on April 5, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes. Biceps nerve irritation has sidelined Richards, who missed nearly all of last season with elbow troubles. With roster expansion forthcoming, manager Mike Scioscia suggested that the Angels won’t need to stretch Richards out fully in order for him to rejoin the playoff hopefuls’ rotation. “I don’t think it’s realistic to get Garrett stretched out to the 75-, 90-, 100-pitch range, but I do see a scenario if he gets to 60 pitches, we might use him to come to our rotation and see how far he gets because we’ll have plenty of pitching to follow up at that point,” Scioscia said.

[DMVol]

We'll see what our starting rotation looks like in a few weeks but I think Scioscia's idea makes sense....with expanded rosters, you don't have to have him go deep into a game.....the don't seem keen on using him out of the pen....

[krAbs]

1 minute ago, DMVol said:

We'll see what our starting rotation looks like in a few weeks but I think Scioscia's idea makes sense....with expanded rosters, you don't have to have him go deep into a game.....the don't seem keen on using him out of the pen....

You're right, but he would make one heck of a long reliever.

[DMVol]

Just now, krAbs said:

You're right, but he would make one heck of a long reliever.

I thought the pen makes some sense (and it still might, if they use him carefully) but it sounds like they want him in a starter's routine, even if it's only for 60 pitches....I guess they don't want to risk anything with his recovery and being in a routine may minimize that....