Saito update — the news isn’t good

I’m frantically writing on deadline and don’t have time to write this up myself, so here is the email from Dodgers PR chief Josh Rawitch, which just came over.

Please forgive the delay, but Saito wanted to make sure he reached his family first before it was released to the media.

He has been diagnosed with a sprained ligament in his right elbow and he will rehab the area for an estimated six weeks, at which point he will be reevaluated.

Ned is here at the All-Star Game, so getting him is going to be tough. He just gave me this quote to pass along.
“We’ll get together with Joe and come up with a plan. Obviously, it is not easy replacing someone like him. As far as trading for a closer, its a lot like trying to acquire a shortstop – it’s a premium position and most teams don’t carry an excess. We also have candidates within the staff. Many times closers are discovered in times like this. We’ll know more about what we’ll do short-term in a couple of days. And we’ll know more about Saito’s status as the rehab develops.”
We will put Saito on the 15-day DL and have a corresponding move on Friday.
Thanks and again, sorry for the delay.

Josh