Yu Set for Exam on Elbow

It's been pretty much an assumed conclusion for quite some time now that Texas Rangers ace Yu Darvish would not pitch again in 2014 after coming down with elbow inflammation and hitting the disabled list in mid-August.

Very soon, it seems, that could become official.

The Rangers ace is set to be examined by Rangers team medical director Dr. Keith Meister on Thursday, and general manager Jon Daniels has made it perfectly clear the club is in no rush to bring Darvish back, even if he's basically healthy.

“We’re in the same place time-wise; the calendar is working against us,” Daniels said on Wednesday. “We will wait to see what the doctor says. We’re going to make a common-sense decision. We’re leaning toward not taking any chances.”

Not taking any chances obviously points to the Rangers officially ending Darvish's season, and it'd be a decision that would be hard to argue. With the injuries the club has faced this season, it's understandable why they'd be gun-shy in bringing Darvish back with nothing but pride to play for.

If he is indeed finished for the year, he'll finish with a 10-7 record and a 3.06 ERA to go with a league-leading 11.3 Ks per nine innings. In what could be a blessing in disguise, it's hard to imagine him finishing anywhere in the top 4 in the AL Cy Young voting, which moves him one step closer to being locked up through the 2017 season due to clauses in his contract that could lead to that final year being a player option.

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