Nathan Eovaldi's ongoing injury concerns raise big questions for the Rangers' season

On the field, everything is going well for the Texas Rangers, as Friday night’s win means they’ve posted five victories in six games. Off the field, Bruce Bochy and the team’s front office's continued absence and clamming up regarding Nathan Eovaldi should start raising concerns. Not to be too much of an alarmist, but it’s starting to look like his injury situation is worse than they’d hoped, but they don’t want to admit that just yet.

When Eovaldi first suffered the injury, the team said it was something minor and he wouldn’t even need to miss a start, just have it pushed back a bit. Then he missed a start and was put on the IL. When he was placed on the Injured List, the Rangers said it would likely be for the minimum, post-dated to May 29. However, the Cy Young candidate was eligible to come off on Friday.

Nathan Eovaldi’s delayed bullpen session raises red flags as Rangers lean on back-to-back openers

Now that the date for Nathan Eovaldi to come off the IL has come and gone, how close is he to returning to the Texas Rangers? Not that close. It feels far away.

Earlier this week, manager Bruce Bochy said Eovaldi would throw a bullpen session on Saturday. It’s his first bullpen session since being shelved. According to the Dallas Morning News, Bochy would not outline the next steps, simply saying the team will see how the bullpen session goes.

At the very least, the right triceps injury is more severe than the franchise let on and or realized. Or something.

His continued absence and the club not believing it's in Kumar Rocker’s best interest to take Eovaldi’s spot in the rotation, Saturday is another bullpen game. The second in a row, with Jacob Latz getting the start. 

The Texas Rangers will start facing stronger questions if real updates about Nathan Eovaldi aren’t coming soon. Or if he doesn’t return to the mound at Globe Life Field sooner rather than later.