Arrieta is Dealing with Bone Spur in Right Elbow

The Philadelphia Phillies pitching staff got more bad news, early this morning according to Ken Rosenthal and Matt Gelb of The Athletic,

According to the report, the team was aware of the injury, but were hopeful that Arrieta could continue to pitch and hold off surgery until the end of the season.

Arrieta has a bone spur in his right elbow, according to a source, and it likely will require surgery to remove it — surgery that those involved had hoped could wait until the end of the season.

Arrieta had another rough outing last night against the Mets, in just 4 1/3 innings he allowed 11 hits and six runs, striking out four.

As we head into the All-Star break, Arrieta is sporting a 4.67 ERA in 108 innings pitched, and his WHIP is 1.46 in his 18 starts, not exactly what the Phillies were hoping for, for $25 million.

It sounds like the there is no timetable or surgery planned, the team will use the All-Star break, and hope that Arrieta can get through this and take care of the issue during the offseason.

Arrieta did pitch with a bone spur back in 2011 while with Baltimore, but didn't make it through the full season, finally opting for surgery in August.

The Phillies already have a hole in their rotation, even with Arrieta pitching.  They've been running out Vince Velasquez every fifth day, and have had little consistency from Nick Pivetta and Zach Eflin.

So what will the Phillies do with Arrieta, and at the trade deadline?  The clock is ticking.