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Not getting any injury breaks this year, the Phillies today announced that J.T. Realmuto would be headed to the injured list after waiting for a few days to see if his barking wrist would be able to go.
The Phillies are putting J.T. Realmuto on the injured list after six days of playing with a short roster. Matt Joyce is active. Spencer Howard is starting tomorrow. Chase Anderson is in the bullpen.
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) May 21, 2021
Realmuto tried all he could to get his wrist ready, but ultimately he just could not get it to the point where he was healthy enough to play.
The disappointing thing is that once again the team hamstrung themselves needlessly for several days by purposefully leaving their roster short. If Realmuto was truly hurt this bad, he should have been put in the IL sooner to help avoid a roster shortage. It’s fine if the team wants to give the veteran players time to get themselves right, but at some point, they need to do what’s best for the team.
Also buried in the news conference today was the fact that Spencer Howard is going to make a start on Saturday. Chase Anderson heads to the bullpen, likely as a piggyback option for Howard as they look to keep the latter’s innings total and overall workload in check. Is it the best usage of Howard? That remains to be seen, but he’s a better option for the starting rotation, so the more times he can start a game for the rotation, the better.