Angels frustrating injury luck continues as two relievers will miss substantial time

The Los Angeles Angels got more brutal injury news with two of their relievers. Both Austin Warren and Jose Quijada have been placed on the Injured List with injuries to their throwing elbows. Phil Nevin announced that both relievers will miss substantial time with their injuries.

Losing Austin Warren hurts, but isn't the end of the world. Warren was unlikely to last the entire season with the big league club, but I was looking forward to seeing more than two appearances from him.

Losing Jose Quijada on the other hand is a much bigger deal. He struggled in his last two outings, but now it's safe to assume his elbow had something to do with that. His velocity was way down in his last appearance. The southpaw was a major factor late in games and prior to his two rough outings was dominant. Now, the Angels and their ineffective-at-times bullpen will have to find a way without him for what could be a very long time.

LA Angels get more bad injury luck with latest injuries to two relievers

Phil Nevin said yesterday that Austin Warren will be shut down from throwing for 4-6 weeks. Once those 4-6 weeks pass, assuming no setbacks, he'll then have to ramp up. I wouldn't expect to see him in an Angels uniform until sometime after the all-star break at the earliest.

If that wasn't bad enough, Nevin said the results from Quijada's MRI were worse. The left-hander has ligament damage and is seeking a second opinion. Surgery is on the table. Assuming there is ligament damage, my guess is he undergoes surgery and is done for the season. It's just a guess, bu I think that's a fair one.

Losing Quijada isn't something this Angels bullpen can afford exactly. Outside of Matt Moore and Carlos Estevez, who is there to trust late in games? Andrew Wantz was one of the better options, but he's back in the minors. We hope Chase Silseth turns into that, but he's made one relief appearance. Chris Devenski has looked good so far, but he's made two appearances. We hoped Aaron Loup and Ryan Tepera would be reliable, but that ship has sailed at this point. Quijada was hard to trust, but he was better than the guys they have right now outside of Moore and Estevez.

Angels relievers have ten losses. The team as a whole has 14 losses. While the bullpen has good ERA figures, they've blown games late that the Angels had leads in. Losing Quijada and Warren for substantial amounts of time when the bullpen is already not great in my opinion is not good news.