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Giants’ Matt Cain likely going to DL with flexor strain

By CM Towle

Jul 9, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Matt Cain (18) pitches during the sixth inning against the Oakland Athletics at AT&T Park. Giants won 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 9, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Matt Cain (18) pitches during the sixth inning against the Oakland Athletics at AT&T Park. Giants won 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports /
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San Francisco Giants starter Matt Cain could be headed to the DL after being diagnosed with a right flexor tendon strain.

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It’s only the day after MLB Opening Day and already the Giants rotation is down two. Jake Peavy is scratched from his Tuesday start and will be replaced with Ryan Vogelsong. Peavy is expected back on Sunday, according to a story by the SF Chronicle. On the other hand, starter Matt Cain could be headed to the 15 day DL after being diagnosed with a right flexor tendon strain on Tuesday, as detailed by ESPN.

Cain was expected to make his first start on Wednesday, but has been scratched from that. As mentioned on the CSN Bay Area broadcast on Monday night, it’s likely that either a minor leaguer will come up for a spot start or projected fifth starter Tim Lincecum will make Cain’s start for him. Lincecum was originally going to start on Friday against the Padres, a team he usually pitches well against, even in San Diego.

The MRI on Cain’s arm did not reveal ligament damage, so that is a positive at least. Cain sounded hopeful when asked about it, saying that they weren’t telling him it was something major and it should heal on its own in a few weeks. The tightness revealed itself in Cain’s last spring start against the A’s where he threw four scoreless innings.

The immediate problem, of course, is that the Giants rotation suddenly has glaring holes. Both injuries for Peavy and Cain have the potential to be short-lived, but they also have the opposite potential of dragging out. Meanwhile, that would leave Vogelsong and Yusmeiro Petit as backups. At the very least, Vogelsong is likely to get Cain’s starts in the next turn of the rotation.

There were questions about the health of the Giants rotation all throughout the offseason. Other than Madison Bumgarner, who threw a lot of innings last season, every member of the rotation is over 30. Cain is coming off surgery while Tim Hudson could be on his very last year pitching anyway and then there’s Tim Lincecum who has been having career-worst years of late and Jake Peavy, who has also seen brighter days, even though he was a bright spot late last season for the Giants.

Essentially the feeling you get from the Giants rotation is that it might go up in smoke at any point during the season. As awesome as MadBum is, there is no way the Giants have a chance to repeat if he’s the only guy giving them a chance to win games.

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