The Red Sox received a highly promising start from southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez last night, as Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald reports. While Rodriguez wasn’t quite up to the top velocity he showed last year, he was working comfortably at 93 mph and said he expects to see gains in that department as he continues to build up. The youngster made his 2016 debut just one day before the calendar flipped to June after a prolonged absence due to a knee injury. Boston will surely hope that Rodriguez can provide a boost to a rotation that has had its share of concerns over the season’s first two months.
Here are a few more injury notes from around the game:
- Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud could head out on a rehab assignment this weekend, Rubin reports. His return could provide a big boost to a New York club that has suffered some notable health issues of late. Fellow young receiver Kevin Plawecki has struggled at the plate in d’Arnaud’s stead and could end up being demoted, per Rubin, who says that the team is pleased with what it’s getting from veteran Rene Rivera behind the dish even if he, too, isn’t hitting much.
- There was good news also for the Indians, who expect to start righty Carlos Carrasco on Thursday, as Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal tweets. It seems that Carrasco will be limited to around eighty pitches in his first outing back, but will obviously be expected to ramp up from there. The 29-year-old allowed just six earned runs in his first 22 frames on the year before suffering a hamstring injury.
- The Twins will place third baseman Miguel Sano on the 15-day DL after he suffered a left hamstring strain. As MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger reports on Twitter, Sano is hopeful that he won’t be out any longer than the minimum, though we’ve certainly seen hamstring issues linger and the organization will want to ensure it doesn’t turn into a bigger issue. Prospect Max Kepler will return to the majors to take his roster spot.
- The Angels appear to have lost infielder Cliff Pennington to an aggravation of his own left hamstring injury, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports, with a DL stint seemingly likely. That could means that Kaleb Cowart or Brendan Ryan will be headed back to the big league club, though the former was just sent down and the latter requires a 40-man spot.
I feel a heck of a lot better about the Red Sox rotation now that Buchholz isn’t in it.
Amen
Should the Mets play TDA primarily as C (starting 2/3 or 3/4 of games), and risk his shoulder? Or should they keep 3 Cs and use TDA as the RH half of their 1B platoon, and behind the plate about 1/3rd time?
The Red Sox need to trigger a couple of trades to solve the Buchholz problem and their concerns about LF.
How about a deal with the Brewers where the Sox send P Matt Barnes, P Joe Kelly, C/LF Blake Swihart and Mets C- Travis Arnaud to Milwaukee, and receive C-Jonathan Lucroy and LF Ryan Braun in return.
Part B of this deal would involve sending C- Jonathan LuCroy, UT/LF Brock Holt, P Clay Buchholz and RP Heath Hembree to the Mets in return for P Matt Harvey, RP Addison Reed and C- Travis Arnaud who will move on to the Brewers.
The Sox lose Barnes, Kelly, Swihart, Holt, Buchholz and Hembree but get Braun, to play LF, Harvey to take Buchholz’s starting job and Reed, to take P Carson Smith’s place out in the bull pen.
And who is going to replace hembree and Barnes in the rotation? Not interested in giving up so much to get a pitcher that’s been only slightly better than Buch this season and a PED user past his prime.
Sorry, I meant in the bullpen, not rotation.
Pennington you suck