ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The good news is that Taijuan Walker says he’s ready to give the Phillies some serious innings. The bad news? They’re probably going to need more than he can offer.
It has been an eventful spring from the back of the Phillies rotation, and it showed no sign of evening out on Wednesday as Ranger Suárez had a scheduled bullpen session scuttled due to forearm inflammation. While manager Rob Thomson isn’t definitively ruling the lefty out for the start of the season, it’s much more of a possibility now than it was three days ago. Thomson said that the team would shut Suárez down “for a couple of days” with the hope that he will be then be able to resume his progression toward regular-season readiness.
“There’s no structural damage,” Thomson said after the Phillies’ 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in Grapefruit League action on Wednesday afternoon. “We’re not really concerned about it, but we want to knock that out and get him back on the mound soon.”
