Cincinnati Reds place Nick Lodolo on Injured List, activate Mike Moustakas

If you are a player on the Cincinnati Reds, the Injured List is where you go. That’s just part of the rules of the 2022 Major League Baseball season, it would appear.

Even though the team has lost pretty much every key player still around so far this season for at least a little bit of time, there were still healthy Reds on the roster who had not yet done their time as of Thursday morning. That list got shorter, however, when the club announced they’d placed talented rookie starter Nick Lodolo there, too.

It’s a lower back strain, as The Enquirer’s Charlie Goldsmith relayed, one that still seems a bit nebulous in its origin and depth. Considering Lodolo did not look at all in agony during his most recent outing - one in which he fanned 7 against nary a walk in a brilliant 79 pitch outing against the Cardinals - the hope is that it’s simply a short-term issue that’ll merely cause him to miss a start or two.

This is the Reds we are talking about, though, so I’m fulling expecting his back to just fall off any minute. Donovan Solano was still on crutches yesterday thanks to a hamstring pull a full month ago, after all.

Taking Lodolo’s space on the roster, for now, will be Mike Moustakas, who hasn’t really shown anything akin to big league caliber play since the Assyrians defeated the Hittites at the Battle of Nihriya. Who will take Lodolo’s turn in the rotation this weekend, however, remains to be seen.