Injury Updates: Happ Avoids Major Injury, Donaldson to Miss 2-4 Weeks, Jays Recall Ty Kelly

We’ve got some good news and some not-so-good news. Let’s start with the good and trail out with the bad.

This is very, very good. In Sunday’s loss to the Orioles, as you surely know by now, J.A. Happ was cruising through the game, but was pulled mid-way through the fifth inning. At first, we thought it was some kind of back or leg injury, but then the team reported that it was soreness in his left elbow. That’s always terrifying. When a pitcher has a sore elbow, the first thing you think is UCL issues, and, subsequently, Tommy John surgery.

But according to Jon Morosi, Happ is being sidelined with elbow inflammation, which, I mean, isn’t a good thing on its own obviously, but relatively speaking, is very far away from the terrible disaster situation that is the dreaded UCL tear. Shi Davidi assumes Happ will be placed on the 10-day disabled list, but went on to say that the team will “review all the information” Tuesday before making a decision.

Happ’s next scheduled start would be on Friday in Anaheim against the Angels, but the Jays will need to call somebody up from the minors to fill in for both him and Aaron Sanchez, who was scheduled to pitch Thursday. The choices will likely come from Triple-A Buffalo’s rotation, which has been excellent so far this season. Casey Lawrence makes the most sense, because he’s already on the 40-man roster, but any of Mat Latos, T.J. House, or Jarret Grube, all of whom are on minor league contracts, could also be recalled.

Now the bad news! According to Ken Rosenthal, Josh Donaldson will miss between 2-4 weeks with his calf injury, which was re-aggravated in Thursday’s loss to the Orioles. It’s going to be a real grind to climb up from a 2-10 start in the first place, and doing so without the team’s best player makes it even more difficult.

The Blue Jays, according to Shi Davidi, have placed Happ on the DL and in a corresponding roster move have recalled utility player Ty Kelly from Triple-A Buffalo. The Jays are going to need to make a couple other roster moves in order to add a starter. But in the time being, Kelly will serve more valuable to the team in the next three days, as they don’t need a replacement starter until the team hits the road Friday to travel to Anaheim. Marcus Stroman will go tonight, Francisco Liriano tomorrow, and Marco Estrada in Happ’s spot on Thursday.