Talbot to be sidelined at least four weeks

KANSAS CITY: Mitch Talbot won't pitch for four weeks, and when he is ready to throw in a game, it will be on a rehabilation assignment in the minors.

""His treatment involves not throwing a baseball for seven days, at which point he is expected to begin an expedited throwing program,'' head trainer Lonnie Soloff said tonight. ""We are expecting Mitch to begin game activity in four weeks.''

But the game activity will not involve returning to the Indians' rotation, but gearing up his pitch count in the farm system.

Talbot threw eight scoreless innings against the Angels April 11 in Anaheim in his last start, which gave no indication that anything was wrong.

""He came in Tuesday with normal pitch soreness,'' Soloff said. ""But the soreness did not go away, so he had an MRI on his right elbow. The results were consistent with a pitcher of his age who had an injury to the elbow in 2009, which is not uncommon.''

Two years ago, Talbot suffered an elbow sprain as a minor leaguer in the Tampa Bay organization. The current injury is being called a strain, which is less serious.