MINNEAPOLIS -- Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Jonathan Broxton has been shut down from throwing again for at least another three weeks after suffering a setback with his right elbow just before he was to have come off the 15-day disabled list.
As a result, club officials won't say at this point that they are counting on getting Broxton back the rest of the season.
"We don't have a timetable now,'' Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "We did this once before, where he was shut down for three weeks and did all the stuff to return, and then we got back here. It's just hard to say now that we're going to get him back in six weeks or seven weeks or eight weeks. To me, at this point, if we get him back, great, all the better. But we have to kind of move forward.''
Broxton underwent an MRI on Monday in Los Angeles and then consulted with team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who determined that the MRI showed a worsening of the bone bruise in Broxton's elbow and that the best course of action was to shut him down again.
Broxton made two rehabilitation appearances for Triple-A Albuquerque last week and appeared to come through them with no issues.
"He had no pain during (the rehab), nor the next day when he threw,'' Dodgers medical-services director Stan Conte said. "It was the next day after that when he felt soreness when he woke up, and then he felt it when he threw that day.''
It is merely the latest bump in the road for Broxton, who was an All-Star closer less than a year ago but since then has essentially lost the closer's job twice, allowing a total of 45 hits in 36 2/3 innings and posting a 6.63 ERA while blowing six of his 16 save chances. He has been on the 15-day disabled list with the bone bruise since May 6, and the closer's job is basically gone, having been taken over by rookie Javy Guerra even though Mattingly won't officially anoint Guerra with the title.
Conte said surgery isn't a consideration for Broxton at this point.
Tony Jackson covers the Dodgers for ESPNLosAngeles.com.