Frankie Montas reportedly out 4-8 weeks with broken rib

LOS ANGELES -- So much for Frankie Montas being one small step away from helping the major league club. The Dodgers' hard-throwing right-hander reportedly has a broken rib and is expected to miss four to eight weeks, per Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.

The Dodgers said that there is no timetable yet for Montas' return, and only that he suffered a re-aggravation of a stress reaction in his rib. Montas will undergo further diagnostic testing in the next few days.

Montas already had rib resection surgery to remove his first right rib on Feb. 12 that kept him out of action for three months. This new incident stems from that procedure, but with a different rib that was stressed but not cracked at the time of the procedure, per both Rosenthal and Andy McCullough of the LA Times.

Triple-A Oklahoma City placed Montas on the seven-day disabled list on Monday, retroactive to June 17, as he experienced the new discomfort.

Montas, who put up a 2.25 ERA in 16 innings between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A OKC since his return with 22 strikeouts and just three walks, would have been in line to make the start that Nick Tepesch will make on Friday in Pittsburgh, and in fact that was the Dodgers plan before this injury, per McCullogh.

Four to eight weeks is a wide range for a timetable, but either way it puts Montas on the shelf until after the All-Star break. It's just a matter of whether he will return in July or in August.