Goldschmidt sits out, but elbow has improved

All-Star 1B getting closer to returning

When the doors to the Diamondbacks’ clubhouse opened at 2:15 p.m. Friday reporters immediately flocked to the wall where the team’s lineup is electronically posted every day.

Only this time, there was no lineup. The reason was obvious: Manager Torey Lovullo had yet to decide if he would write Paul Goldschmidt’s name in the lineup after Goldschmidt had missed four straight games with inflammation in his right elbow.

Eventually the lineup went up, and it had Daniel Descalso at first rather than Goldschmidt.

Whatever alarms went off were quieted a few minutes later, however, when Goldschmidt and Lovullo said that it wasn’t a setback but the Diamondbacks just following their injury protocol.

“I told him I could play,” Goldschmidt said of his conversation with Lovullo. “But that’s his decision.”

Goldschmidt had been playing through elbow tightness for about a week before taking what Lovullo said was a scheduled day off on Sunday. When the discomfort persisted Monday, Goldschmidt returned to Phoenix that night to undergo an MRI on his sore right elbow the next morning.

Lovullo said Goldschmidt’s elbow has felt better each day he’s been out, and that Friday was his best day yet. But he said team protocol is for an injured player to go through his complete pregame routine before he returns to the lineup. So Goldschmidt, who had swung only in the cages prior to Friday, took batting practice, threw pregame and fielded grounders. He also was out on the field early, playing catch with head athletic trainer Ken Crenshaw.

“Just to get out there and make sure I was getting loose,” Goldschmidt said. “Wanted to do that a little earlier so I could give them a rundown of how I felt. It felt good.”

Lovullo said there’s no way to know if going full speed in games will exacerbate the injury, which is one reason he wanted Goldschmidt to go through his full pregame routine Friday.

“I asked him to ramp it up and get as much out of it intensity-wise as he possibly could and then just report back to me and see how he feels,” Lovullo said. “He does everything powerfully. How can you simulate that? You can’t. That’s why I want to make sure (Friday) is a good test day where he can get as close to that as possible. It made so much sense to go from 10 percent to 60 percent instead of 10 percent to 100 percent.

“This one will have more of a snapshot, the color of the picture. I’ll get feedback about his availability today and see how he feels when he wakes up (Saturday).”

Lovullo said Goldschmidt would be available to pinch-hit Friday if his elbow responded well to the pregame work.

“If he comes back to me and says he feels great and the game is on the line in the right situation I will definitely use him,” Lovullo said.

Goldschmidt said he understood the process the Diamondbacks wanted to put him through even though he felt good enough to play.