Joey Votto is eligible to come off the disabled list Saturday, but the former MVP isn’t ready to return from a strained left quadriceps and there’s no official timetable yet for him to rejoin the Reds.
In fact, according to John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer “the Reds have been vague–perhaps deliberately so–on a timetable with Votto” and manager Bryan Price said that “the protocols moving ahead are undecided.”
There was initially fear that Votto had suffered a significant knee injury, so the quadriceps strain definitely qualified as good news, but assuming that he’ll need at least a brief minor-league rehab assignment before coming off the disabled list it seems likely that Votto is at least a couple more weeks away.
Price has decided on backup catcher Brayan Pena as the primary first baseman in Votto’s absence, which is interesting considering Pena is a career .261 hitter with minimal power, poor on-base skills, and a lifetime .662 OPS. So naturally he’s hit .367 in 10 starts at first base so far.
