Padres place Dinelson Lamet, Keone Kela on 10-day IL

The Padres have placed right-handers Dinelson Lamet and Keone Kela on the 10-day injured list, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The team recalled relievers Nick Ramirez and Nabil Crismatt to fill the open roster spots.

Lamet left his first start of the season Wednesday with right forearm soreness, so it’s no surprise he will miss time. The question is whether Lamet will avoid Tommy John surgery, a procedure he underwent in 2018. Manager Jayce Tingler did offer a promising update on Lamet on Thursday, saying (via Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times) that he “feels very, very good” and will try to throw Friday.

“If everything goes well, we’ll shoot for him to make the start after the 10 days are up,” Tingler added.

A quick return for Lamet would be a significant boon for the Padres, considering his troubling history of serious arm issues and his importance to their rotation. Lamet was a legitimate NL Cy Young candidate during a breakout 2020 in which he recorded a 2.09 ERA with a 34.8 percent strikeout rate across 69 innings, but his season came to an end in late September because of a UCL strain. His recovery from that injury put him behind schedule entering this year.

Kela’s joining Lamet on the shelf because of shoulder tightness, Tingler said (via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com). Like Lamet, health problems have held Kela back during his career. Shoulder woes helped limit the former Pirate to 29 2/3 innings in 2019, and then a positive COVID-19 test and forearm tightness held him to two frames last year.

Despite Kela’s lack of durability from 2019-20,  the Padres elected to take a $1.2M flyer on him in free agency. The results were encouraging until Wednesday, when Kela took a loss against the Brewers after yielding three earned runs on two hits and a walk in a 34-pitch inning of work. Overall, Kela has has allowed four earned runs on eight hits with 12 strikeouts against three walks in 8 2/3 frames.