Lewis has elbow strain, Chulk promoted

As speculated, Vinnie Chulk has been promoted from Triple-A Columbus to bolster the bullpen.

What wasn’t expected was the news that Scott Lewis is headed to the 15-day disabled list with a left elbow strain. He had an MRI this morning, and the results are expected back this afternoon.

I just talked with Lewis, and he said he doesn’t think this strain is as severe as the tear that forced Tommy John surgery in his junior year at Ohio State. But we won’t know for sure until the MRI results are revealed. Lewis also said the elbow began bothering him in his last couple spring starts (both of which were disasters), but he kept pitching through it, because he thought it was just spring soreness that would fade quickly.

Lewis was scheduled to start Wednesday’s game in Kansas City. The Indians have not announced their plans for that start. Eric Wedge might reveal those plans after today’s game. Anybody in the Columbus rotation (David Huff, Aaron Laffey, Kirk Saarloos, Jeremy Sowers and Jack Cassel) is fair game.

UPDATE: Here’s what Lewis had to say:

“Hopefully it’s not the ligament, but it’s definitely the elbow. It had kind of been bothering me the last few times out. From what I felt, it’s not the same as when I tore my UCL [ulnar collateral ligament]. … It kept getting worse, and I think that’s why I haven’t been finishing pitches. I had been over-rotating my changeup and putting extra stress on it. It’s just not calming down with treatment. Hopefully it’s just tendinitis or something and the shutdown will help.”