Howell’s injury leaves hole in Rays ‘pen

Posted Mar 19, 2010 by Roger Mooney

Updated Mar 19, 2010 at 10:34 PM

ROGER MOONEY

PORT CHARLOTTE The preliminary reports on J.P. Howell’s left shoulder are encouraging.

Rays manager Joe Maddon said the lefty, who was examined Friday by Rays orthopedic Dr. Koco Eaton, is expected to miss 2 to 4 weeks.

With all the innings Howell pitched over the past two seasons, the diagnosis of a “weak” shoulder could be worse. Might still be worse. But at least there is a belief Howell will be a part of the Rays bullpen for most of this season.

“There’s no question he’ll miss the start of the season,” Maddon said after Friday’s win against the visiting Yankees.

How much of the start? The guess is at least the first month, since Howell won’t throw a baseball for possibly as long as four weeks. Then he’ll slowly build the arm strength to where he can pitch in a game. Then he’ll need to pitch a few games before he can return to the Rays.

So, what do the Rays do until then?

Good question.

“We don’t have anyone who can actually fill that role,” Maddon said. “I’m really confident he can pitch against the other team’s best hitter at any time, and those guys are hard to find.”

It’s a good guess the search for Plan B began a while ago, since Howell hadn’t pitched all spring. The reason given was the innings he pitched over the last two years, but Maddon said Friday that Howell flunked the strength test administered by athletic trainer Ron Porterfield at the start of camp.

Maddon said Howell’s replacement doesn’t have to be a lefty, since there are a number of right-handers in camp who can also get out left-handed hitters.

It will be interesting to see what the Rays do, since the bullpen was constructed largely around Howell’s ability to retire both righties and lefties. With Rafael Soriano as the closer, Maddon expected Howell to return to the role he played in 2008 when he was used as a middle inning’s “closer” to get the Rays out of a tight spot in the sixth or seventh inning.

Howell couldn’t be used in that role last season because he was needed as the team’s closer, a role he performed well until mid-August when he ran out of gas.

Maddon kind of put the blame on Howell’s offseason workouts, saying Howell didn’t strengthen his arm during the winter as he had in previous years.

But Howell’s workload over the past two years had to play the biggest role. It’s why the Rays shut him down for the final 10 days of last season.