BOSTON - Clay Buchholz hit the DL with a strained flexor muscle in his right elbow on July 11.
On July 22, he received a PRP injection in the same area.
Once that happened, everybody knew there would be a substantial delay in his return to the mound. But John Farrell said at the time that they believed Buchholz would still be able to pitch this season. In his opinion, it was a good idea for everybody involved to get Buchholz, who has a $13 million club option in 2016, back on a major league mound before the season ended.
To say there was skepticism among the masses that Buchholz would return this season would be an understatement.
And we are a day shy of a month since the PRP injection, and Buchholz has yet to throw a baseball. It's not a huge surprise, as the injection does shut a player down for at least three weeks, sometimes longer.
But talking with Torey Lovullo on Friday, it didn't sound like he was comfortable in saying Buchholz was close to throwing, despite the fact he's already kind of, sort of, been cleared to throw by Dr. James Andrews.
"Right now Clay is kind of in a no-throw situation," Lovullo said. "He feels good enough to throw, but we are evaluating him daily to see where he's at. I know he's had an opinion where he can start to throw, but we're not going to rush anything that he's not ready to do."
Pressed on the visit Buchholz had with Dr. Andrews when the Sox were in Miami on Aug 11-12., Lovullo was a little wishy-washy on exactly what Buchholz was cleared for.
"We're still working through what that discussion was," Lovullo said. "He wasn't cleared 100-percent to begin all throwing activities."
Buchholz has not had a set-back, so it sounds like the team is just being extremely cautious with him.
The Sox original thought that Buchholz would most likely make another start this season is no more. It's now a big question mark. Lovullo said the team hasn't yet determined whether or not Buchholz will end up getting a start in before the season ends. But with just 45 days remaining (and the minor league season ending much sooner), it's looking less and less likely.