Grant: How Rangers are handling Yu Darvish's latest stint on disabled list

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Rangers and Yu Darvish did everything right.

And still his recovery from Tommy John surgery hit a bump in the road Monday.

The Rangers built in extra rehab time, accounting for some rest time during a 14-month recovery window. Darvish followed the program to the letter. The Rangers kept him on strict pitch counts and gave him extra rest between his first few starts. Darvish did away with his split-finger pitch, which puts added stress on the elbow.

It may do them all good down the road, but for now, the Rangers and Darvish will have to deal with issues that have dogged Tommy John returnees since, well, the time of Tommy John.

Darvish is going back to the 15-day disabled list with a sore shoulder. MRIs on his shoulder and neck Monday showed nothing acute, general manager Jon Daniels acknowledged, but there is continued soreness and the Rangers aren't about to push him after just three starts.

"That was good news," Daniels said of Monday's exams. "But he continues to have discomfort in the area, and we're going to give him more time to recover. The way we are categorizing it, it's not unusual for somebody coming back from surgery to have some soreness in another area. We are going to treat it cautiously and get him going again."

There was no inflammation that required an injection. The Rangers are simply giving him some time to rest, though Daniels said there was no prescribed minimum amount of rest time before he tests the shoulder again. He could throw as soon as later this week -- if he feels well. For now, Cesar Ramos, who started Monday in Darvish's place, would appear to be the leading candidate to fill in. But veteran Kyle Lohse is in the minors, and A.J. Griffin is on a rehab assignment.

Darvish left his last start against Houston on Wednesday after five innings because of shoulder stiffness. In an exam after the start, team physician Dr. Keith Meister found no structural issues with the shoulder. Darvish tried to throw again Friday and Saturday in preparation for his then-scheduled Monday start. On Saturday, he cut the throwing session short because of continued soreness.

This is not terribly uncommon. Just in the last year, two high-profile pitchers returning from Tommy John surgery have had to slow things down a bit because of achiness in other areas not necessarily connected to the elbow ligament.

Both Miami's Jose Fernandez and the New York Mets' Matt Harvey missed starts at some point last season, their first year back from Tommy John. Fernandez went on the DL seven starts into his return with right biceps tendinitis and missed a month. Harvey made just three starts in a one-month period around last year's All-Star break, then took a 10-day break in August.

Harvey also went 3-1 with a 3.04 ERA in seven starts from mid-September through the World Series.

The Rangers have World Series aspirations. A healthy, strong Darvish is key to those. If a bit more rest now means a stronger Darvish at the finish, they'll accept the tradeoff.

Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant