Chris Narveson is a 30-year-old left-handed starting pitcher, and I'd wager that there are far more baseball fans who have never heard of him than there are baseball fans who have heard of him. He has a way of flying under the radar and not calling much attention to himself. But he can be effective, as evidenced by his career 4.19 FIP. As back-of-the-rotation starters go, you could do a lot worse.
But it looks like the Brewers will have to start looking for an alternative. Narveson was diagnosed with a tear in his rotator cuff. And from Adam McCalvy, we learn that Narveson will probably need surgery, and that the surgery would probably keep him out for the season:
"It’s probably surgical, but he’ll get a second opinion and we’ll go from there," assistant general manager Gord Ash said.
Surgery would probably shelve Narveson for the rest of the season, "but it’s hard to say before they do it, because as good as MRIs are, you don’t know the severity before you get in there," Ash said.
Narveson's looking for a second opinion, but it's unlikely he'll emerge with a positive outlook. The Brewers should plan on not having Narveson available for at least a while, and probably all year.
In Narveson's place in the short-term, the Brewers are calling on Marco Estrada. There's a chance that prospect Wily Peralta could earn consideration some time down the road. I also didn't know the Brewers still had prospects. I learned something today!