CLEVELAND _ Trevor Bauer is on the disabled list and will be there for at least the next several weeks.
And he's fuming about it.
Bauer was placed on the 10-day DL this week with a stress fracture in his right fibula after being hit by a line drive in his last start. That derailed the best season of Bauer's career, which had him firmly in the American League Cy Young conversation. It was a fluke injury, and he's not pleased that he'll be off the mound for another month or so.
There's no upside to his rehab process. He's just angry.
"I'm just pissed off. I'm in a constant state of being pissed off right now," Bauer said. "So, the more I sit back and think about how good my season's going, the more pissed off I get, because now I'm not pitching. And that's what I should be doing."
Indians manager Terry Francona said on Friday that Bauer is expected to return to game activity in 4-to-6 weeks, though he's already about one week into his rehab. That would put his eventual return sometime in mid-to-late September, leaving little time to be entirely ready for the postseason.
Bauer was on the field in a walking boot before the Indians game against the Baltimore Orioles Friday night, throwing from his knees to a trainer. Bauer also threw weighted balls a couple of days ago and threw long-toss on Thursday.
The Indians know Bauer will put in the work to be ready, and his arm should be ready to go as long as his leg and delivery can follow suit.
"We know Trevor is not going to shortchange anybody," Francona said. "He's going to keep his arm in shape. He's going to do everything he can. That thing is going to heal when it wants to.
"We also have an obligation to, you know, talking to our trainers today, not let Trevor hurt himself, even if he's wiling to or put himself out there, we can kind of have an obligation to keep an eye on guys. We'll just do what the medical people tell us to do."
For now, all Bauer can do is race the clock.
"There's a lot of stuff we're trying. Unfortunately, all the good stuff is illegal, so I've got to stick with the legal stuff," Bauer joked.
At the time of his injury, Bauer was third in baseball in pitcher fWAR (5.9), fifth in ERA (2.22), third in FIP (2.38), second in innings (166), fifth in strikeout percentage (31.5 percent) and third in total strikeouts (214). He has been the best starter in the Indians rotation, even ahead of two-time Cy Young winner and ace Corey Kluber.
The injury, though, will likely knock Bauer out of the Cy Young race.
"I'm sure there's plenty of people out there that are happy about the fact that they get to ignore that I'm one of the best pitchers in the league for another year," Bauer said. "They don't have to face that reality.
"There's definitely one guy over at FanGraphs who's probably happy that I've gone away for now. But they'll have to deal with it at some point."
