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Keone Kela to the d.l., Phil Klein recalled

Keone Kela has been placed on the disabled list with an "elbow impingement," and Phil Klein has been recalled

By Adam J. Morris
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The Texas Rangers have placed Keone Kela on the 15 day disabled list with an "elbow impingement," per John Blake on Twitter.  Phil Klein has been recalled to take his place.

This is...ominous.  Kela was used extremely heavily last season, with a workload much greater than he ever had shouldered before, and ended up being limited late in the season due to elbow issues.  Kela has seemingly been healthy this year, but has not been as sharp as usual, having allowed three home runs so far this season after giving up only four all of last year.

There were concerns expressed heading into this season about whether the workload of Kela, Jake Diekman, Shawn Tolleson and Sam Dyson from last year would take a toll this year.  Its premature to say that's why Kela is on the d.l., of course, but still...it is worrisome.  The question now is whether this is something short-term, or if he could miss significant time.

With Klein, Alex Claudio and Nick Martinez all up, the Rangers now have three guys who can go multiple innings.  It remains to be seen whether Luke Jackson or Matt Bush might be called up in the near future.

UPDATE -- Some good news (relatively speaking):

Ligament damage, of course, would be a precursor to Tommy John surgery.

Of course, per Jeff Wilson, he could be out until the All Star Break anyway: