The Cincinnati Reds have placed All-Star right-hander Hunter Greene on the 15-day injured list. Greene is dealing with what the Reds describe as right elbow soreness. A corresponding roster change is not expected until tomorrow.

Hunter Greene was in the midst of one of the best seasons by a Reds pitcher in a long time. In his 24 starts this season, he had thrown 143.1 innings with 162 strikeouts. His ERA of 2.83 is third best in the National League. His 5.5 WAR (Baseball Reference) leads the National League. He has also allowed the fewest number of pitches per 9 innings in the National League this season (5.8).

Not that every injury is good, but for pitchers, it shouldn’t be an arm injury. While an elbow problem is generally better than a shoulder problem, Greene has had a serious elbow injury in the past and underwent Tommy John surgery in 2019. At the time of the announcement, listing the injury as mere “elbow soreness” doesn’t really tell us much.

It will be interesting to see what Cincinnati does to replace Greene in the rotation. The 40-man roster does not have a single starting pitcher currently playing in the minor leagues. Lyon Richardson has played some starting pitching this year, but was recently pushed out to the bullpen, where he plays more of a long relief role.

Looking beyond the 40-man roster, Julian Aguiar would make a lot of sense. The Reds’ reigning minor league pitcher of the year has a 3.79 ERA in 22 starts between Double-A and Triple-A this season. He throws a lot of strikes and has solid stuff across the board. Cincinnati would have to add him to the 40-man roster this offseason anyway to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Since Greene couldn’t return until September, the roster would be two players larger if the Reds called up Aguiar by the time Greene could return, and Cincinnati could keep Aguiar and not pick up an option if they didn’t want to.

Other options in Triple-A would be 34-year-old Casey Kelly, recently signed from Korea, 31-year-old Brandon Leibrandt, 31-year-old Randy Wynne or 28-year-old Justus Sheffield.