The Red Sox announced that starter Nathan Eovaldi has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 9, due to low back inflammation. Kutter Crawford has been recalled in a corresponding move and is starting tonight’s game.
This is the second blow to the Red Sox rotation in recent days as Garrett Whitlock also landed on the injured list two days ago. That leaves the rotation doubly handicapped for the next couple of weeks at least. After a rough start to the year, the club has charged their way back into the postseason picture with strong play of late, but now they will have to try to keep that up with diminished starting depth. As of right now, Crawford will join a rotation that also features Michael Wacha, Rich Hill and Nick Pivetta.
The club has an off-day tomorrow but then plays nine games in a row. After another off-day on June 23, they will begin a stretch of 23 consecutive games going into the All-Star break. If Whitlock and Eovaldi can return to health, they can rejoin the club in that latter stretch, though it seems the club’s rotation is going to be tested one way or another. Josh Winckowski, Connor Seabold, Brayan Bello and Bryan Mata are all on the 40-man roster and are candidates to be called up to help, if needed.
The loss of Eovaldi will surely hurt, though, as he’s having another strong season. Through 68 1/3 innings, he has a 3.16 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate, 3.6% walk rate and 45.1% ground ball rate. He is set to reach free agency at the end of the year.
Back injuries are no laughing matter, ask Christian Yelich. It ruins careers
When I rake leaves, it results in agony
Curly – I know what you mean about the raking, palm tree leaves can be quite heavy!
I live in Alabama, we can’t even get marijuana leaves here.
I could rake them all day long & suffer no pain
Curly – Good one! LOL!!
Curly:
1) How do you know Yelich is Christian?
2) Wouldn’t it be more pain-relieving to burn your MJ leaves than rake them?
I’ve never been a fan of pot, but could you imagine that? Every Saturday night, have a pig roast and burn your leaves? A bit like a visit to an opium den.
I hurt my back playing sandlot football in 1978. It still bothers me to this day. My doctor always said “The heart may be the engine, but the back is the transmission. If it goes out, you live, but you don’t go far”
You have my sympathies. I’m generally good, but if I mow the grass or shovel snow, and forget to stretch, it doesn’t take even two hours to start locking up.
JoeBrady, how come I get no sympathy, I can’t even rake Mary Jane leaves. I’m hurt, I’m a victim of coicumstance…
Curly – Need a personal injury lawyer?
If so, contact the offices of Dewey, Cheatem and Howe.
Priceless!!!!
I’ve got a weak back. You know when it happened? A week back.
Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk
Reminds me of an old stooge episode. In the days of knights, the boys all received titles, Curly was Baron, Baron of brains.
I can’t imagine Crawford being called up for more than one start. He hasn’t been effective in Worcester to date. Emergency starter without having to DFA anyone.
Meanwhile, he’s through 5IP w/ 1H and 7Ks. 83 pitches.
Baseball is funny heh
I have to admit, he was impressive.
A tad wild, but he held the fort nicely.
Meanwhile, he’s through 5IP w/ 1H and 7Ks. 83 pitches.
==================================
When they refer to TB north, this is more like I have in mind. I think the last time the RS had some minor league rotation depth was in 2007.
Choices to take the 2 spots are thinner than what was mentioned.. Mata, returning from TJ early last spring, has only made 2 IP rehab appearances this year. Bello, just 23yo at AAA has made only 3-4 starts himself at that level Sale, was reported yesterday is as of this moment far enough along in his rehab where he is at the point of “at the beginning of ST” and if the Sox intend to use him as a starter? Could be a month away.
I see only Seabold and the should be in the pen Winckowski/Crawford as possible options, rest at AAA are of no use, unless they try bringing up Santos/Murphy from AA as a stunner type.
John – In that same article about Sale, Mark wrote it would take about six weeks for Sale to ramp up as a starter. So we are talking August return, again. Not a problem if the Sox trade for a closer before then, but I don’t see Bloom “GFIN” this year. Not with this team, unless they make a miraculous turnaround before the trade deadline.
I know they’ve done well against the dregs of MLB the past few weeks, but once they start playing Tampa/Toronto/Yankees it’s gonna be hard for them to even be in position for Cora to blow games like he did last night.
Actually Bello has made 5 starts now in AAA this year and been effective in all 5. But the team may still think that’s rushing him a bit. If so Winchowski will likely be the choice. Seabold just returned from an IL stint himself and started for the first time last week from that. After today’s effort Crawford earned himself another start.
If Nate needs more time, I sure as hope the RS don’t ramp up Sale too quickly. And Whitlock needs to go back to being a high leverage reliever but circumstances.
YBC – That’s one thing I don’t worry about is the Sox pushing a player too much. They will take their time with Sale, probably with an eye on 2023, just like Paxton.
Sometimes I wish they would rush a player for once
Average – I’d be happier than a pig in poop if they just didn’t give more than one regular a day off at a time. There’s 162 games in a season, they don’t need to rest two or three players in the same game.
That last Anaheim game was ridiculous. Story and Xander don’t need the same off day, if they even need an off day.
Average – Totally agree, and it’s been confirmed the day off for both was scheduled in advance. Cora has a habit of doing this, either scheduling two of the regulars on the same day or not moving a regular’s scheduled day off if another regular is a last minute scratch. The 1-0 loss in Toronto immediately comes to mind, JD was a last minute scratch and yet Cora refused to start Xander at DH and instead left him to sit on the bench for most of the game. As if just swinging the bat is somehow taxing on Xander, what a joke.
FIP doesn’t like Nate nearly as much. Probably because he’s allowed 16 dongs in just 68 innings.
They have Whitlock and Houck’s roles reversed ideally but I do think Houck can be that high leverage closer. Wacha has pitched out of his mind this year so far, I think he’s due for a down turn (I hope not but statistical mean says so). Pivetta has turned it around, I think he’s the key to everything for the Red Sox. Hopefully Nate just misses a couple starts. I’m having Sale come back before August, he’s going to be my closer for this postseason run.
gotta say I disagree. Whitlock has at least proven that he make it more than twice through a lineup and Houck doesn’t have a reliable third pitch.. it’s still a problem for Houck so it makes much more sense to have Houck in the closers role.
I can understand the argument to put GW back in the pen but until last year he was always a starter. He worked his way into a legit prospect. IMO you keep him in the rotation and don’t look back. His floor may be a #3 starter.
I would not say that GW will be Cashman’s worst mistake but for me it’s his most disappointing decision ever. Mature, legit 4 pitch with control starter prospects don’t grow on trees.
I was all for Whitlock becoming the closer, but in retrospect, I think I was wrong. I think he’d be a better closer than Houck, but he might be a much better SP than Houck.
That said, the appeal of a Houck/Whitlock 7/8/9th inning setup remains very appealing.
Come on…Brady….admit it…..thank God for Yankee grooming right!
And don’t come back with the fact that the Yankees let him go…..they had to make a decision on the 40 man which they did and in this case it was the wrong one….but remember how many right ones they make!
Did I something derogatory about the Evil Empire that offended you? I commented on how Whitlock & Houck meshed together.
That said, I appreciate you pointing out that he came from the Yankees.
Right Rocky — all those Cashman moves have resulted in one trip to the WS in the last 25 yrs, which they won because of all the $$$ spent on CC, Tex, et al , not to mention A Rod and his roids.
I still like pairing Whitlock with a LH opener. It allows him to come in and pitch 3-6 innings without the mental stress of pacing himself as a starter.
Joe – Whitlock’s K-rate is too low to be a solid closer.
Especially with the phantom runner rule, the closer needs to be able to miss bats.
I imagine the Dodgers will keep an eye on Eovaldi. I could see Bloom trade him away. With Buheler out for a long time, Dodgers have a deep farm system. Bloom loves those prospects.
The issue would be that the RS aren’t trading anyone while they are in contention, and LA won’t wait that long.
Joe the team’s health and the 14 gms before the AS break — 7 Home & 7 Away vs NY and TB will be the decider on what happens at the trade deadline.
Schedules are never straightforward, and are usually the underlying factor behind good and bad stretches. We have the next 18 games, where we should win 10, maybe 11. We should win at 6+ of the next 14.. Anything can happen, because this is baseball, but I’m not seeing anything that would knock us out before the ASB.
Joe – The definition of “contention” has changed over the years, especially now with the watered down postseason eligibility.
If it’s late July and the Sox are barely above .500 and clinging to the 3rd WC spot, I could picture them trading off some talent. Especially players on expiring contracts that the Sox have no intention of extending.
That falls under the heading of “anything could happen”. But right now, my money would be on buying rather than selling.
I agree they may buy but they won’t trade top prospects for expiring contracts. Most likely they will look to add around the edges with players that will also have value next yr.
However, that could change if they go 3 of 14 or 11 of 14 vs. TB &;NY in those 14 gms before the ASB.
I expect a repeat of 2021 with some small additions. The only name prospects we will trade are those we have little faith in, maybe like Duran and Downs.
We might also take on more salary. :Last year, we were constrained by the cap, and we’ve already exceeded it. Henry’s history is that, once he is over the cap, he doesn’t mind going well over. it is more about the number of years over, rather than the tax itself.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see us take on a high-salary player in exchange for a minor prospect.
Taking on a high $$ expiring contract is always ok as long as they don’t give up a true prospect.
I wonder what kind of deal Eovaldi gets if he recovers quickly enough. He’s having the best season of his career with his numbers trending in the right direction over the past few seasons. If he can come back and make another 15-20 starts, he may or may not get an appearance in a post season game, but he’s set himself up for a nice payday of at least a $20M AAV if not a $30M AAV on a 2-4 year deal.
Wow, $30 M AAV……that’s a pretty ambitious number for a pitcher who has pitched 100+ innings once (2021) since 2018. We all know that overpays are a standard for pitching these days, but his days as a dominant front end horse, regardless of the stretches where he is dominant…..who’s role you can count on over the course of the entire season…based on the evidence since 2018…..really seem to be over.
That’s why I said 2-4 year. I think it’ll be more like 1 year/$18-22M if he doesn’t retire, but if he comes back and pitches 100 innings at the same ERA, yeah, I think someone would give him up to $30M AAV on a 1-2 year deal and he found very well get a $25M-ish AAV on a 3-4 year deal.
But I can also see him retiring or getting incentive based offers based on innings pitched.
So you’re still saying with clarification that you think his pitching is worth $30 on a 1 year deal, with a possibility of that spread over 2….
A 1 year $30 million AAV or even a 3-4 year $25 million/per would be outrageous for a pitcher who has pitched 100 innings only 1 time since the 2018 season and hadn’t for several seasons prior to, while a $15 million dollar over 2 years would be still more than generous for a pitcher who is currently on the IL with the same reasons stated above……not denigrating this guy, he actually pitched pretty well for my Yankees but a more conservative $ number wrapped into an incentive laden contract is probably much more in the cards for his services.
Just saying!
If Eovaldi could be signed for 2/30MM, the Sox should seriously consider that, depending on whether they will be carrying Paxton for the next two years. But Eovaldi has just gone four years at $17MM each. I’m sure his connections will drive hard for a substantial raise in the next contract–meanwhile, he is one of those pitchers around whom there has been and always will be Front Office fear of injury (I mean the arm, not the back). So I’ve been thinking since Detroit signed E-Rod that Eovaldi will do just a bit better in the AAV. Four years at 21MM per, give or take a little. And, to be clear, Boston will not be the signing team.
4 years at $17 Million was a gift given his performance over that period of time so while “his people” would push for an increase, the Sox would be very smart to resist and fall back to something more similar to what he has now with incentives built in that center on his ability to stay healthy and contribute in similar fashion to what he has done in 2021 but now since 2018.
why do you NOT believe we are in contention, the red sox have been on FIRE over the last few weeks, winning series with TREMENDOUS starting pitching, im sry you arent a red sox fan, but dont really have opinions without facts to back them up, they have been one of the best teams in baseball since about the 3rd week of may.
Amanda — Fever and of course KD17 are trolls. The best way to handle them is to ignore their ridiculous posts.
To be fair, FP is here every day, while KD, Parks, and AL 34 have all disappeared.
Fever does a better job of trolling but in the end he always goes back to KD17’s main points that 1. Bloom doesn’t know how to put together a roster; 2. Cora is a terrible manager; and 3. resting players is bad.
I will not argue with trolls that is what they want — ignoring them drives them crazy.
I’ve been doing this close to 20 years on the internet. Let the haters run their mouth. And then when guys like KD are wrong, literally 100% of the time, I can run them off of the site by reminding them of the stupid schitt that they said.
I’m guessing that KD, Parks & AL34 disappearing at the same time as we started winning, is no coincidence.
I respect your view but my experience tells me that trolls only want to control the narrative. Nothing irritates them more than being ignored.
Well, at least during our current winning streak, they’re gone. I think we can agree that’s a good thing. I think the conversations are a much higher quality. I’m happy to hear what the dissidents have to say.
Philosophical differences aside, life in the RSN is good. The EE is not too far away from making this a rout, but in doing so, they’ve helped close the gap between us and TOR/TBR. Is it possible for a RS fan to root for the NYY to go 6-0 in their next two series v TO & TB?
You are not wrong to hope for RS to get #1 WC, but I can’t root for #$!!*# EE
Just mute him., it’s not worth it.
I got real pleasure out of both KD & Fever muting me after I replied a number of times to ignore their stupid comments; that was confirmation that I was winning by not engaging with them.
In all fairness, everyone wins against KD. He was wrong literally 100% of the time last year. Almost like he was trying to be wrong on purpose.