Red Sox ace Chris Sale is progressing in his recovery from left shoulder inflammation and could return in time to make multiple starts before the playoffs begin, per Max Gelman of MLB.com. Sale has been on the disabled list since Aug. 18 (retroactive to the 15th), his second DL stint on account of shoulder inflammation since July. Sale had been enjoying a Cy Young-caliber campaign before landing on the shelf, and it’s certainly possible he’ll still end up with the award. While Sale has only thrown 146 innings, he leads the AL in ERA (1.97), K/9 (13.5), rWAR (6.5) and fWAR (6.1).
Here’s more on Boston and its chief rival:
- The Yankees are “very optimistic” injured right fielder Aaron Judge will return this season, manager Aaron Boone told reporters Friday (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). The hulking slugger suffered a chip fracture in his right wrist on July 26, and the team only expected Judge to miss three weeks at the time. Instead, Judge has been out upward of a month, and there’s still “no set date for him to resume swinging a bat,” Hoch writes. In the event Judge is unable to return this year, the Yankees have a nice fallback option in Andrew McCutchen, whom they acquired from the Giants on Friday. McCutchen made his Yankees debut on Saturday, starting in right and going 0-for-3 from the leadoff spot.
- The Yankees are also without closer Aroldis Chapman, who went on the DL on Aug. 22 with left knee inflammation. Chapman’s status for the rest of the season is now in question, general manager Brian Cashman suggested. Regarding a potential Chapman return, Cashman said (via Hoch): “I can’t tell you with a level of confidence or not. I know he’s going through the motions now of getting the treatment necessary and until we see him out there doing what he’s done in the past like he’s capable of doing it, it’s probably best for me to be cautious on that.” Even without Chapman, the Yankees still boast a set of quality relievers, including fill-in closer Dellin Betances. But having to go into the playoffs without the flamethrowing Chapman would still be an unfortunate development for the Yankees, considering the elite left-hander had been in the midst of another dominant season before going on the DL.
- Back to Boston, which has been without third baseman Rafael Devers since Aug. 17 with a hamstring injury. Devers has been playing with Triple-A Pawtucket of late, and the Red Sox don’t appear to be in a hurry to recall him, Sean McAdam of BostonSportsJournal.com tweets. “One thing’s for sure, Raffy’s got to play better,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “That’s the bottom line. We’re here to win games and whoever’s playing best is going to play.” To Devers’ credit, he did homer at the Triple-A level on Saturday. The 21-year-old has fallen flat in the majors this season after an encouraging rookie campaign in 2017, however, having hit just .242/.298/.422 in 423 plate appearances. Third base has been a disappointment in general for Boston, which has gotten subpar production from both Devers and Eduardo Nunez.
“The Yankees are “very optimistic” injured right fielder Aaron Judge will return this season, manager Aaron Boone told reporters Friday (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com).”
Just like they were “optimistic” Judge returns in 3 weeks? One can only hope. But, At this point, I’m expecting Judge to be shut down regular season and playoffs.
Long run ramifications >>>> returning early for Playoffs
What is exactly your point? The sentence fragments and contradictions make it nearly unreadable. Baffled.
My point is, no matter how much I want to be wrong, I think NYY holds him out through the playoffs.
Though wrist chip fractures are 6-8 weeks normally (I think) I have no idea why Yanks said 3 weeks. (initially) I believe Judge misses rest season and playoffs. (Small price to pay IMO, to regain Judge back to 100%)
I hope I’m wrong. This was probably ur 2nd nicest post you’ve ever replied to me. Thanks for toning down this one down to just criticizing grammar.
Long story short, I believe their initial “3 week” prediction of when he’ll return being off-mark, foreshadows Judge misses rest of the season and playoffs. (No matter how much, hope I’m wrong)
I bet the Yankees are looking to play it safe with Judge and purposefully said three weeks to keep the media happy. Can’t imagine Judge not attempting to come back from this injury this year.
Playoff. It’s only going to be 1 game, courtesy of oak or Hou.
If the Yankees play in Houston, Verlander will start for sure and that certainly would cast doubt on the Yanks ability to advance given their past record vs Verlander.
But, the A’s are a different story playing in the Bronx, with starting pitching doesn’t scare ANYBODY back on the second winningest team in the majors!
Take that team out of the cow barn they play in and watch the magic at the ballyard in the Bronx.
Tired of hearing all the A’s fans crow when they haven’t won anything yet…..a bunch of overachieving players with the exception of Chapman.
Oh Yeh, the same bunch of A’s fans that crowed about how GREAT Sonny Gray was!
It was the Yankees that propped up Gray as great by giving up three very good prospects for him after his value was middling (after having been great, changed to poor, and recovered some but not a ton.)
Terrified about this injury!! He may never be the same!!
Kind of like how people were wondering if Tulo would be ready for spring training, and then opening day, and then mid May, and then…..
Devers was rushed. Hopefully he pulls it together and realizes how hard it is to stay. This off season is huge for him.
Totally agree on him being rushed. Let him learn at his pace. Meanwhile Nunez is starting to hit and is a much better 3Bman than Devers. With Kinzler at second, it puts Holt to again be the jack of all trades doing what he does best.
Who needs Chapman?
After today’s game, Betances the first reliever in MLB history to record at least 100 strikeouts in five straight seasons. Rebounded from Thursday to get his second save.
Jk (about the who needs Chapman part) Lets go Yanks!!
Erratic and generally pointless. As usual.
Downvote applied. As usual.
Condescending, mean, rude, hostile. As usual.
Downvote applied. As usual.
I just want to say up finger applied
Upvoted.
xabial is usually one of the nicer and more coherent commenters on MLBTR. Your comment was unnecessary, rude, and accomplished nothing. If you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything.
I will CERTAINLY take your well reasoned and support advice to heart.
That guy is criticizing comments like he was a chef on a crappy cooking show
What a miserable old man, dude get lost and it’s no surprise your wife’s cheating on you but this is not the place to take it out on. Puzzy
of course, it’ll help if no one tells betances its september (idk what it is with him, but as soon as september hits, guy just seems to fall apart).
maybe the yanks can convince him august has 92 days in it so he’ll stop crashing in september
I was bummed about Boston missing out on Donaldson. Let’s hope he doesnt kill us in the playoffs
US? What position do you play?
Shut up I say us too.
Why did you capitalize “us”? Lol, you call someone out and then do that? Anyone with half a brain understood what was meant. And why say “position”? What if a GM said the same thing?
Genius.
How long you spend on this terrible reply? 5, 10, 15?…(minutes).
Wasted effort. Try again.
So funny about what people like you argue about
Calling out dummies, what an ironic name
@Callingoutdummies
Well now you are being called out! He said “us” because he is a fan of that team. So sad you “dummies” could not figure it out. Did you think he is a player? Or maybe he is. How do you know his true Identity
Have to remind myself Devers is only 21 years old.
Devers still finding his way at a very young age… Nunez is coming on very strong as of late…
Devers is the long term answer, not the short term. The Sox should have made a run at Donaldson for the remainder of this season.
Blake Snell is sneaking up on Chris Sale for the al cy young. If he gets his era below 2, things will get interesting.