Keone Kela had elbow pain and problems down the stretch last season when he was overworked and to the point where the Rangers wouldn't throw him on consecutive days down the stretch as the Rangers and their elite bullpen carried them to the AL West title.
That left a lingering bit of concern over Kela, who burst onto the scene last year as a young power arm who showed he could get high-leverage outs and wouldn't back down to anyone. He's going to be a star and has closer written all over his future.
But now, the Rangers will be without Kela for three months after he needed arthroscopic surgery on his elbow on Friday. It sounds bad, and it's not great, but it could've been worse.
With Kela's workload and history with elbow pain last year, the big concern was that he was dealing with a ligament issue and the consequent Tommy John surgery. Turns out, it was a bone spur that needed to be removed, as it was creating a nerve impingement. The ligament is as strong as ever.
So, instead of a 14-month absence with a questionable future afterward, Kela will be back this season and should be 100 percent pain free. And that's great news for a bullpen that is currently boasting the league's worst bullpen ERA.
