CHICAGO — St. Louis Cardinals left-hander Jaime Garcia is expected to begin a throwing program in the next week or so.
Garcia and outfielder Tommy Pham were placed on the 15-day disabled list before Sunday’s 3-0 win at Chicago on opening night. Garcia is out with left shoulder inflammation, and Pham is recovering from a strained left quad.
Garcia was competing for the fifth starter job before the injury. He won 13 games in 2010 and 2011, but shoulder issues limited the 28-year-old to only 16 starts over the past two seasons.
"Short term is just allowing him to get back into a throwing program," general manager John Mozeliak said. "I would say in the next week to two weeks we’ll have a better idea of perhaps expected return or perhaps what a rehab assignment might look like. But I would say it’s still about 10 to 14 days away before we make that decision."
Garcia was scratched from a spring start last Sunday after he told the Cardinals that his shoulder didn’t feel right. He had a 3.86 ERA in three spring games this year.
"Really the last couple weeks, since he went on the DL, was really about just sort of slowing things down, allowing him to get that strength back by doing very little frankly, other than therapy," Mozeliak said. "When he starts to feel strong again, then we’ll start allowing him to throw more."
The DL stints for Garcia and Pham are retroactive to March 27. Mozeliak said Pham is expected to see a specialist on Monday.
