The Brewers are planning an ultra-conservative approach with injured starter Braden Looper as the right-hander could begin his first season with Milwaukee on the disabled list.

Looper was scratched from his Brewers debut on Saturday because of tightness in his left oblique muscle. He has improved in the days since, but club medical officials nonetheless decided to shut down Looper for the next two weeks, meaning he will be starting again from scratch about a month after the start of Spring Training.

And that puts him in doubt for the start of the regular season.

“He had a good chance for the home opener [April 10 against the Cubs],” manager Ken Macha said. “We may have to be prepared for getting somebody else ready.”

For now, that somebody is right-hander Seth McClung, who was penciled in to start before the Brewers signed Looper on Feb. 12. McClung will take Looper’s place on Thursday against the Australian entry in the World Baseball Classic.

Looper first tweaked the muscle at the back of the left side of his ribcage when he sneezed last week. Oblique injuries can linger, so club officials decided to shut Looper down for two weeks before he restarts the 10-day progression of bullpens and batting-practice sessions that prepares pitchers to work in a game. After that, he would probably need at least four starts over two or three weeks to build enough arm strength to pitch a regular-season game.

Do the math — two weeks off, 10 days of side work, then another two weeks or so of exhibition games — and the schedule starts working against Looper. Unless he is a very fast healer, he might not be game-ready until mid-April.

“The problem with this particular injury is that while he is vastly improved, we just want to be ultra-conservative, take our time and make sure he is 100 percent,” assistant general manager Gord Ash said. “You don’t want to push a guy out there and then have him aggravate it and then you’re back to square one on it.”

Looper’s injury is similar to the one that dogged left fielder Ryan Braun in August and September. When Looper first felt pain over the weekend, he could pinpoint its source. But it since has dissipated, which Ash said is viewed as a good sign.

“That tells you that there is healing going on,” Ash said.

Looper inked a one-year, $4.75 million contract with Milwaukee just before the start of Spring Training to bolster the team’s thin starting rotation. He’s been on the disabled list just once in his career, and that was in 2007 when he developed shoulder fatigue during his first season as a starter.

Hookscenter.com wire report.