DL seems likely for Percival

Posted Jul 1, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Jul 1, 2008 at 05:23 PM

No final determination has been made yet, and it won’t be until Dr. Koco Eaton has a chance to check out Troy Percival tonight, but all indications seem to point to a stint on the disabled list for the Rays’ closer.

“We’re just fighting an uphill battle,” Percival said this afternoon. “We can only tape it so tight; we’ve been taping it, taping it, taping it and I’m not getting much better.”

Pushing Percival to the DL to give him at least two and a half weeks (including the All-Star break) to rest would seem to be the prudent move at this point.

Set aside whether he can actually do the job or not and consider the other factors: He already has altered his delivery to help compensate for the weakness in his left leg, and he’s worried that more adjustments might create a trickle-down effect that could hurt him elsewhere. In addition, the Rays are basically at a point now where they have to have someone ready to back Percival up, a la J.P. Howell last night, just in case it gives out on him again. That puts quite a strain on the bullpen, as you can assume the Rays would prefer not to suddenly hand the ball over to Jason Hammel to get the last out or two just yet.

With all that in mind, along with just the general thought that giving Percival the time now probably would set him up better for the second half than pushing on through to the break and hoping his leg doesn’t really give out on him, I would be very surprised if a move is not made following tonight’s game or before tomorrow’s.

It sounded earlier like Percival might be expecting that to come down the pipe as well, even though he wasn’t openly advocating it.

“I’m sure that if I took 16 days it’d be better than four, but do I help the team more pitching up until that time or not?” he said. “I don’t know at this point, because at this point now we have to have somebody back there just in case it pops, a guy that could have been used earlier in the game. I told them, ‘If it’s best for the team, do what’s best for the team and I’ll get healthy as fast as I can.’ But there’s been no determination made yet.”

If Percival goes on the DL, the Rays’ options at Durham are somewhat limited. Scott Dohmann probably would be the preferred option, but he isn’t on the 40-man. If they want to go with a fill-in who’s already on the roster as a stopgap until Al Reyes is ready, presumably in a few days, I guess Kurt Birkins (2-1, 4.22 ERA) would be the best bet.