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.
