ARLINGTON, Texas _ The diagnosis has been delivered, and the Texas Rangers know how they are going to plow forward without their best player so far this season and for how long.
But any stretch of time without Elvis Andrus is too long.
X-rays and a CT scan Thursday confirmed that Andrus has fracture in his right elbow and he will be out six to eight weeks. If there was any good news from Dr. Keith Meister, it's that Andrus won't have surgery.
Andrus was struck just below the elbow by a 96-mph fastball from Los Angeles Angels right-hander Keynan Middleton with two outs in the ninth inning in an eventual 7-2 loss.
The sense in the clubhouse after the initial news broke was that Andrus could be out until the All-Star break or beyond. Now he could return in mid-June from his first career trip to the disabled list.
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Still, two months down is a significant stretch at a time when the Rangers are 4-10 and about to play three road games this weekend against the Houston Astros.
"A freak deal. Hit by a pitch. Not a whole lot you can do about it," general manager Jon Daniels said. "Definitely an emotional one for all of us to see him go down.
"It was a good thing in that it was the ulna bone and not the joint itself. That would probably take a little bit longer. Sometimes putting the pin in accelerates the action, but when you're talking about the throwing arm and close enough to the elbow if you can avoid that kind of thing it's generally advisable. It could have been worse, but it's still a lengthy period of time to be without one of our best players."
Andrus leads the Rangers in batting average (.327), on-base percentage (.426) and slugging percentage (.500). Daniels said that the Rangers will turn to their young and athletic players as they shuffle the lineup to make up for the three position players on the disabled list.
The Rangers will recall first baseman Ronald Guzman from Triple-A Round Rock before the first game at Minute Maid Park. Jurickson Profar will move to shortstop, and Drew Robinson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa will share duties at second base.
Guzman will allow the Rangers to put Joey Gallo in left field and Ryan Rua in center field along with Robinson and Carlos Tocci.
"We're going to try to take advantage of our youth and versatility," Daniels said. "It's a unique set of circumstances. You have the second baseman, shortstop and center fielder hurt in the first two weeks of the season. We have guys that can play multiple spots, and we're going to try to tap into that."
The Rangers have work to do, but they would have had work to do if Andrus had walked away with only a bruise. Their problems after their woeful start go beyond the loss of their best player so far this season.
The starting rotation has only two quality starts. The offense has fallen flat with runners in scoring position. The bullpen surrendered 12 runs in the three-game sweep to the Los Angeles Angels.
Clearly, not having Andrus isn't going to help. Things could be especially lean for the rest of the month, but by May 1, the Rangers could be missing only Andrus.
Delino DeShields is hoping to return April 20. Daniels said that might be aggressive, but the Rangers might need to be aggressive to at least get back one of their missing players up the middle.
The Rangers could maneuver with Gallo, Guzman, Robinson and Rua to patch things together over the next six games before reinstating DeShields from the DL and giving second base to Robinson, who has been playing center field.
Once second baseman Rougned Odor (sprained left hamstring) returns, possibly by May 1, eight of the nine starters on Opening Day would be on the active roster. Doug Fister (strained right hip) could also be back by then.
Andrus would still be missed, even though the Rangers have confidence in Profar, but they would be as close to full strength as possible. There wouldn't be much difference than a year ago, when they were without Adrian Beltre for an extended period but found a way to stay afloat.
"We still have to go play, and we will," manager Jeff Banister said Wednesday. "That's where you create energy. Understand that there will be opportunities for others to play now, and it will be time to find out about some guys in that clubhouse."
One significant difference is that the Rangers had a better rotation last season. Yu Darvish and Andrew Cashner are gone, and replacements Fister and Matt Moore haven't been nearly as good.
Cole Hamels and Martin Perez, part of the 2017 rotation, each has a win, but they haven't been as good as they need to be as they search for the right rhythm early in the season.
Hamels knows it, but panic isn't the answer.
"We're putting in a lot of work," said Hamels, who is scheduled to start Friday. "When you look at the numbers, it's not what we expected or what you anticipate. A lot of these guys understand that and are doing serious work to make sure we're better than what it looks like."
The offense's struggles with runners in scoring position might be as much mental as physical. The Rangers are getting runners on base and creating scoring chances, but the club is batting only .208 in those situations.
Beltre and catcher Robinson Chirinos are both 0 for 9.
"Right now, we're trying to win too much," Chirinos said. "There are a lot of games left. We just have to go back to being ourselves."
And they have to do it without Andrus for six to eight weeks.
