Mick Abel (elbow) has started a throwing progression.

The odds of Abel, who remains limited to playing catch for now, returning before the regular season wraps up appear virtually non-existent as he continues his recovery from arthroscopic elbow surgery back in early July. The encouraging news is that he’s resumed throwing and should have a relatively normal offseason. He was showing some extremely encouraging signs before elbow issues sent him to the injured list back in late April.