Harrison Out Until September

Coming into the 2013 season, the Texas Rangers expected a lot out of Matt Harrison, and with good reason.

Harrison won 18 games last year and had a team-leading ERA among starting pitchers last season and was expected to be almost a "1a" to Yu Darvish's "1".

That vision didn't last long though as Harrison made two bad starts and then landed on the disabled list shortly before undergoing back surgery to repair a herniated disk — something he had to repeat a few weeks later.

Initially, it was thought Harrison could be back in July, sometime after the all-star break, but now it's being reported that he won't be back until September, and that's barring any setbacks once he begins his rehab.

"I haven’t thrown in two months,” Harrison said. “It would be like starting my offseason throwing program. It’s frustrating, but it could be worse. I could have missed the whole year. I want to get it right in the next two months and be back at the end of the year. But it’s probably going to be another two months for sure."

This is bad news for the Rangers and pretty much signals the need to go do something before the July 31 trade deadline to acquire a starting pitcher. You can't expect rookies Justin Grimm and Nick Tepesch to carry on throughout the season, and who knows what the Rangers will get from a rehabbing Colby Lewis?

Looks like Harrison will have to wait until 2014 to have that breakthrough year he was hoping for, and that's a bad thing for the Rangers.

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