Morin (neck) placed on DL; Meyer called up
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ANAHEIM -- The Angels placed right-handed reliever Mike Morin on the 10-day disabled list Friday with neck tightness, clearing a roster spot for right-hander Alex Meyer, who was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake and started the club's series opener with the Blue Jays.
Manager Mike Scioscia said Morin first complained of neck soreness a week ago, though the issue flared up in Houston. The move is retroactive to Thursday, meaning Morin is eligible to be activated on April 30 at the earliest.
"We hope [it's] not very serious," Scioscia said. "But it set him back enough to where he needs to take a step back and go on the disabled list. He's having some tests and we'll get him evaluated."
Morin, 25, has logged an 8.10 ERA over 6 2/3 innings this year. He is the third Angels reliever to hit the disabled list this season, following right-handers Huston Street and Andrew Bailey.
Bailey, who has been sidelined since April 10 with right shoulder inflammation, threw on Friday for the first time since being diagnosed. Street, meanwhile, will be out until at least June 1 after being transferred to the 60-day disabled list earlier this week.
Street missed most of Spring Training after suffering a lat strain on March 3, so he said he's fine with having more time to gradually build up his arm and eventually accrue enough innings in a rehab assignment. He hopes to begin throwing off the mound at the end of next week.
"I think that was in large part the business of baseball roster decisions," Street said. "It doesn't really move my timeline back. I think the timeline was somewhere around the middle, end of May, so it made a lot of sense from a team perspective. For me individually, it goes back to that idea: 'Do you want to get five innings or eight innings? How long do you want the Spring Training to be?' And now putting me back to June 1, it allows you to get kind of that full Spring Training in a rehab, which probably will be beneficial to me as a player."
Ace right-hander Garrett Richards, who has been out since April 6 with a biceps strain, is "making progress" but still has not been cleared to throw, according to Scioscia.
"He's just doing his weight work and waiting until he gets the clearance to pick up a baseball," Scioscia said. "We're not sure when that's going to be yet, but our medical department is obviously paying a lot of attention to it."
Worth noting
• Infielder Luis Valbuena (strained hamstring) ran the bases Friday and is expected to begin a rehab assignment within the next five to seven days.
• Right-hander Vicente Campos (elbow median nerve irritation) is scheduled to pitch in a rehab assignment with Class A Inland Empire Sunday.