Red Sox reliever Joely Rodriguez left today’s game with what the team described as right torso pain. The discomfort was visible, as The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham (Twitter link) described Rodriguez as “groaning in pain as he went to the clubhouse and was holding onto his side.” The somewhat vague wording of the club’s official announcement is perhaps a positive sign that Rodriguez didn’t suffer an immediate oblique strain, or it could simply indicate that a fuller battery of tests has yet to be run to determine the left-hander’s status.
At the very least, Rodriguez’s injury creates some doubt about his availability with Opening Day just 12 days away. Rodriguez signed a one-year deal worth $2MM in guaranteed money back in November, and the Sox also hold a $4.25MM club option on his services for the 2024 campaign. Rodriguez and Richard Bleier (also new to the Red Sox, via a January trade with the Marlins) were penciled in as the bullpen’s left-handed options, but if Rodriguez has to miss any time, minor league signings Ryan Sherriff or Matt Dermody could have a sudden path to the MLB roster, or the Sox could opt for in-house prospects Chris Murphy or Brandon Walter.
More from Boston’s camp…
- James Paxton threw 25 pitches off a mound today, and told MLB.com’s Ian Browne and other reporters that he felt “good. I wasn’t thinking about the hamstring at all.” A Grade 1 hamstring strain kept Paxton off the mound for 15 days, so the southpaw will have to start the season on the injured list to give himself more time to properly ramp up. The tentative plan for Paxton’s rehab is for one or two more mound sessions, two live batting-practice sessions, and then a return to spring game action.
- The Nationals got an unexpected breakout from Joey Meneses last season, as the 30-year-old made his MLB debut and proceeded to hit .324/.367/.563 with 13 homers over 240 plate appearances. While it seemed like Meneses came out of nowhere, he actually came to D.C. after two seasons in the Red Sox organization, and Meneses hit a combined .284/.333/.530 over 369 PA at the Double-A and Triple-A levels in 2021. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe writes that while the Sox had interest in bringing Meneses back on another minor league deal, but since Triston Casas was going to be the priority at first base for Triple-A Worchester, Meneses might’ve seen a reduction in at-bats. “If we had seen this coming, he’d probably still be here,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said. “Sometimes guys just break through at different points in their career, different ages, different places. Happy to see him be able to do that and just be able to sustain it in the big leagues and the [World Baseball Classic].”
This front office doesn’t see anything coming
Boy, that Christian Arroyo looks pretty good in spring right now. Just waiting for him to defy expectations as long as he stays healthy.
Agreed. Aside from his outfield defense, I’ve liked everything I’ve seen from Arroyo since he got to the Sox. The health thing, yeah… has been the problem. Here’s hoping that luck changes and he locks down the 2B spot for a good while.
Peddy – Are you related to him? I’ve noticed over the years that you have been a big fan and looking at the numbers, I never understand why so I figure it must be a personal connection to him. I liked him as a prospect in SF until he proved he wasn’t able to hit MLB pitching. Bloom grabbed him and in TB he proved it again that he was an excellent minor league hitter but not at the MLB level. Then he didn’t play in 2020 and in 2021 he hit .262 similar to his TB numbers in 20 games during the 2018 season. In six years he’s played the equivalent of a season and a half of games. Either 4 MLB teams have missed on seeing his talent or maybe it’s just not there.
I have nothing against him and I took him in a fantasy draft as a prospect a half dozen years ago but to me he’s a nice utility infielder but nothing more. I’d take him before Kiki but then again I’d take a local HS player before Kiki. haha
I hope he stays healthy and turns into the player you see him to be but I think it’s a long shot.
“he proved he wasn’t able to hit MLB pitching.”
535 PA over 3 years in Boston has resulted in a 102 OPS+, which is above average. Considering he’s a utility infielder, that is very good.
I guess you have to understand hitting more than just ‘batting average’. BA doesnt take into account power and OBP, which Arroyo is good at. Or maybe youre just finding stats (BA) that work for your pre-determined opinion.
He clearly can hit MLB pitching, staying healthy is his vulnerable area.
Honestly, he’s not worth arguing anymore, so I just take it with a grain of salt.
The fact that he thinks I’m related to Arroyo is asinine and holds no logic whatsoever.
And even when something good happens, he refuses to savor the moment and makes the situation against the Sox’s favor.
Rodríguez’s injury isn’t as concerning as the fact that he’s supposed to be part of the opening day roster…
He’s awful. But he fits Cora’s criteria.
milt – Wonder whatever happened to Row Blaze?
I don’t believe he has signed with any team yet.
His FIP is pretty good over the years but everyone is looking at ERA.
More Red Sox notes. Just what we were all waiting on.
The last “Red Sox Notes” was on February 1.
Worcester,* you monster! (love u)
Bloom may have made a lot of mistakes in the past year or so, but at least he still has his precious Kaleb Ort.
He sounds like instructions from The Day The Earth Stood Still. Ort, Kaleb better Niekro. Which is basically telling him to learn the knuckle ball.
whyhayzee – Funniest comment you’ve ever made!!! hahahahaha Guess that shows my age!
That one was over my head.
and Ryan Brasier
I exercise year-round – swimming, long-distance bicycle riding, hour-long stretching 3 times a week, stomach and back exercises along with weights. Regulars I work out with at a club are in there more often than I am (men and women). They work in various professions. I’m an old guy.
These ballplayers are in their 20’s and 30’s. It’s their profession. For them a $1m salary for a year is cheap.
For the life of me I don’t understand how so many of these guys show up for Spring Training and get injured. They know what muscle groups they need to use. One would think they’d hire a qualified personal trainer at the beginning of the year to prep them for when their workload will ramp up in ST. I believe most MLB organizations will let them use their parks workout facilities in the offseason, and even provide certified trainers to guide their routines. I know Scott Boras has facilities that all his players under contract can use at no cost, along with trainers and even sports psychology counseling. Heck, Bob Dylan used to work out for months with boxing sparring partners to prepare for tours – and he got Tom Petty to do the same.
This is really embarrassing.
Do you realize the they aren’t actively trying to get hurt? Like injuries are just random. You can be doing something you’ve done every day for months and something could go wrong, it’s just random. Just because you haven’t gotten hurt doing all the stuff you say you do… which I can’t say I believe… doesn’t mean doing those things makes you immune to injury, sure it make you less likely to get hurt, but you could easily tear your acl running tomorrow
I tore my meniscus during a ten mile hike on the AT the day after I finished running 100 miles in two weeks. Stupid. When you’re 6’2” and 195 pounds you don’t run back to back 50 mile weeks. You injure yourself by overtraining as much as anything. Also, lack of rest. These guys are just overzealous to compete. Too much too soon. A man’s got to know his limitations. And get off my lawn!
Redsoxx_62;
I’m not buying the random.
“I tore my meniscus during a ten mile hike on the AT the day after I finished running 100 miles in two weeks. Stupid.”
Of course. whyhayzee is a tourist. That’s why a professional baseball player should slowly start training in late-December / early-January with a qualified trainer after resting up from the previous season,.
When I first retired I exercised at a local college and audited some classes as well. We may joke about PhysEd majors, but I met well over a dozen people that knew so much about physiology – from anatomy to strain on different muscle groups to nutrition and how each person has to be monitored and directed on an individual course as every human body is unique. The fact is that there have been breakthroughs in monitoring equipment and individual programs for decades now. One graduate student told me a few years ago that the field was “exciting” to work in and that advances were coming so rapidly that is was a full-time job to keep up with them.
Sure, it’s stupid to overexert – that’s my point. Professional athletes have access to numerous physical trainers no matter where they live that should be working with them year-round – preferably keeping the ML teams staff abreast of what they’re doing.
One last thing – Spring Training to to get in game shape for the season. It’s why ST statistics mean nothing. If a player is over exerting himself and does damage…..why? It’s not like when they break camp a guy won’t sniff the ML roster till August if he’s not on the 26 man. Depth Charts change literally every day in todays MLB. Teams go through well over 30 pitchers and 22-24 position players each year that play for them.
I understand getting injured during the season in the heat of battle. I don’t understand all the injuries I’m reading about coming in ST.
It was my impression that obliques typically happen if you’re not in game shape. Or let’s say they’re more likely to happen. It seemed like the White Sox last season had about 3 oblique strains per week. It must say something about conditioning, and just not taking the game seriously enough. Something I have gleaned just lately, is noticing the difference between guys who have immense natural athletic ability and make baseball look “easy”…and it is probably a very easy game for them to play for awhile. These sort of guys play baseball because it’s easy money for them, not necessarily out of any love for the sport. These are the sort of guys who get oblique strains starting around age 29…& then go downhill fast. Then there are the true believers, who love the sport, have a passion for it, and thus are serious about maintaining their training throughout the year and are extremely dedicated. After watching for awhile, you can sorta see who falls into which camp.
I’m almost nine months out from double hip replacement and I’ve been walking twenty miles a week all this year so far and started a running program. I signed up to run a 5K in May. I’ve already hiked a trail 15K. Hopefully I don’t strain an oblique or pull a hamstring or hurt myself celebrating.
Samuel, some context to my torn meniscus: I was asked to run a marathon by my niece’s husband, which I gladly accepted. We ran some training runs together. Nice bonding. The most important month of my training was coincidentally the wettest month on record. That meant long runs were tougher and the trails where I prefer to run were a bit more slippery. I decided to ramp up my weekly mileage instead of the usual 20 milers and the crucial mistake was having my high mileage weeks back to back. Thirty years of running marathons and yet I screwed up and got injured. So I ran the marathon with a torn meniscus, it took me over 5 hours. I’ve run 20 marathons under 4 hours, so it sucked. Haven’t done one since and now I’ve had double hip replacement. Sometimes we just push our bodies too far.
I agree with you about all these injuries. But I will tell you that there is a lot of knowledge in the baseball world about fitness. But it is biased by the male ego and stresses certain activities over others as a result. I swear that running made me able to play baseball against college kids past the age of 40. And I had a teammate who was 60! He was written up in SI and ESPN as kind of a legend. He worked really hard at staying in shape. We talked a lot about it. I think fitness for sports starts with running. Flexibility, balance, strength and the ability to replicate proper form are the hallmarks of an athlete. Proper rest and a good diet and avoiding over training keep you on the field of play.
Samuel, keep working at it, it keeps us young.
I’m going to bookmark this thread. With this country in such awful medical shape, it’s important to note that these wounds are often self-inflicted. Even with people in poor physical condition, it isn’t that difficult to ramp up to 20 miles a week.
Hey hey hey. The hips came from arthritis that was accelerated by chronic Lyme. And I don’t show the bullseye when I get a tic bite. So it was in my system without me realizing. I’ve had it before and I was so sick that it was pretty easily discovered. So now you’re going to tell me that running 68,000+ miles ruined my hips?
Dang it all.
It’s weird seeing an all MLB lineup face an all MLB lineup. I know they want to spread the talent and all, but one would be confused as to which lineup belongs to the US without knowing the rosters. Lol
All 24 players used so far have all been from MLB. I mean, maybe half the guys who aren’t 100% American play for another team, but this is just so overdone!
Boston could always simply carry one lefty reliever to start the season. They have righties who are effective against lefties (e.g. Martin, Schreiber). I’d actually figure that it’s unlikely they opt for another lefty. They already have to find two 40 man roster spots for Alfaro and Tapia; that’s going to be hard enough, they are not going to try to find a third to carry an NRI depth LHRP for a couple weeks. The Rodriguez injury is really good news for Wyatt Mills and Josh Wincowski. There’s suddenly room for both as relievers.
While you don’t want your primary LHRP out for two months, the silver lining of it being an oblique injury would be that it makes the 40 man juggling for Alfaro and Tapia a hell of a lot easier. But I think you’d rather have the primary LHRP back sooner than June, and figure out the 40 man problem somewhere else.
The unsaid part of the argument for not adding a 2nd LHRP: neither of Walter or Murphy are ready, and both should be starting. Those are the only LH options already on the 40 man. If it’s August and you’re in a dogfight for a wild card spot and these guys have 80 AAA innings under their belts, then yeah, you go ahead and convert one into a reliever.
I agree. Add the best RP available, and don’t worry about splits. It’s at the point where the LOOGY concept is pretty much buried.
I haven’t much in Mills. SSS and all, but he doesn’t look like someone I’d like facing lefties. But Winc definitely looks like he should be on the roster.
I think that’s at least the second article criticizing the Sox FO for not recognizing a near-30 journeyman MiLBer was going to be a future star.
Bloom?
Inherited 72M in dead money.
Inherited young, inexpensive talent that produced a net of@5 WAR his first three seasons, including the negative WAR kids. Devers was about it. And he was paid 14M for the 2 seasons following the shortened season
Compare DD. He inherited young, inexpensive talent that produced 70 WAR his first 3 seasons
Bloom inherited what some rated the worst farm system in MLB
DD? The opposite.
Love DD. He was handed a loaded deck and knew what to do with it. But by any standard, he left a mess for his successor for the present, bereft of young right now talent and a ton of dead money and a depleted ready now farm that he used up to win a ring
RS sandwiched 3 last place finishes in and around their last two rings.
Based on the last 20 years and the advent of new CBT rules with parity development bite? The ten Big Market teams can expect to win a WS every TWENTY years.
RS have bested that by looking to future years at the cost of the present year when the infrastructure is shaky and payroll is out of whack. No fake runs.
If the cost of winning a ring or two every ten years is some last place finishes? I’m in. Better than the Y’s close but no cigar every year.
Jury out on Bloom. So far? So good by me.
Fuol-
You need to check again, and define your parameters of dead money, what counts as young talent, what counts as inexpensive talent, etc.
I stopped reading when your leadoff statement was to claim bloom was saddled by ‘dead money’ unlike when Dave Dombrowski walked in the door, and, yet, DD in 2016 faced in excess of 1 in 4 payroll dollars was dead money to just three players – Sandoval, HanRam, and Craig. And if you want to compare total payroll (which Henry DOES care about) and not only CBT figures, youve got to go further underwater with Castillo getting a further another 1 in 14 remaining dollars.) And it only got worse from there when his second year saw pedroia go down from the Machado slide costing yet more…
So, tell us how you count dead money, what counts as a young player, what counts as inexpensive, are you pegging that to FA ideas of war and that someone who is cheaper than the acclaimed FA war is thus affordable, so on so forth.
Because I didn’t even have to go further to notice it was a bloomer-esque evaluation, full of subjective qualifiers and light on how the parameters were defined. Although, I suspect, this thread will drop off the easy to access page and disappear before we get a shot at discussion over known parameters
GASox – Great post!
And the audacity of someone pointing at Dombrowski and screaming “dead money” when just last year Bloom gave $140M to an injured and long-declining infielder.
Not to mention the millions dumped on JBJ and a bunch of awful pitchers.
Rsmith makes no sense with his hyperbole…
In addition to refusing to state which ‘3 consecutive seasons DD was over the penalty’, now he says DD had 4 years of drafts and trades that weren’t bearing fruit when he left.
Einstein rsmith need to realize DD was hired August of 2015. DD’s first draft was 2016. His first international signing period was… the winter 2016 window. The trade deadline had passed when he joined the club, making his first trading offseason…. winter, 2016…
Unfortunately for all Red Sox Nation, DD was let go AUGUST 2019. so let’s not let facts get in the way of Rsmith.
But, so, 2016 draft was in spring of… 2016. Winter of 2016? Same.
So. 2016-2017 – 1 year. 2017-2018 – 2 years. 2018-2019 – 3 years, but, OOPS. DD fired August 2019.
Someone needs to learn about calendars and to count.
Or, do we start the clock on Bloom in 2019 because that’s when he was hired, and, claim there has now been 5 years of failure where blooms drafts and international signings have failed to bear fruit? Doesn’t make sense to count like that to me, but, let’s wait for an answer.
What about all the young talent DD was “saddled” with? A cheap Bogaerts, Betts, Vazquez, Benintendi, Devers, etc, goes a long way in off-setting Ramirez and Sandavol.
I wish DD wouldve saddled Bloom with that type of young talent. They were all still there but much much more expensive. 4 years running and we’re still waiting for a major impact prospect from the DD drafts/trades. Maybe it will be 2023 and Casas, or maybe he’s another Jarren Duran.
The haters, only want to look at one tiny bit of information, while ignoring the bigger picture, because it doesnt work for them. Their argument is paper thin.
Pax should be in the bullpen. He’d be a dominant set up guy and that would limit his innings too. Kinda like how Andrew Miller found his stride when he became a full time set up man.
But I think Pax can still start. Miller was never a good starter. Pomeranz is maybe a comparison. I get what you’re saying and agree but I think Pax still has value as a starter. We will see it how goes, you might be right.
Dead money is pretty simple
Salaries that were paid to players that did not play inning one
In Bloom’s first year? 72 million dollars was paid to players that did not play inning one. Not deferred salaries. Salaries due players in 2020 that were on the RS roster or leftover money due to players on another team
That’s pretty simple. I will leave it to you to look
It up. I know. It takes a little time as opposed to
finding some narrative to fit your “Wells Report” condemning Bloom.
BTW. Craig’s money was also excluded for CBT purposes. And HanRam had an excellent year his first year for DD. Do your homework.
And for a poster that quit reading after the second sentence, your ability to comment on the remainder of the comment is commendable
It’d be nice if the management fielded a 500M payroll every year. Wouldn’t bother me one iota
Take a look at the roster in DD’s first year and count the star players and core making min salaries. The 30M salaries need to be offset by several productive min salary types. To have a ring worthy team.
Again. Do your homework. Take a look at the min salary players that DD had in his first year. Compare
Take a look at how the pundits rated the RS farm in DD’s first year. Compare to Bloom.
By any objective standard. Bloom was handed a challenge. DD? A loaded deck
How is Bloom doing? They hired him for his eye for young talent. Still some time for the young kids he’s traded for, drafted or picked up to shine. Clock is ticking. They all don’t have to be HR’s. And some can be flops. So long as they produce some productive min salary players every year going forward to fill the roster spots.
Jury out on Bloom.
Addendum. The shortened season allowed the RS management to pay only the prorated salaries of the dead money. A blessing for John Henry. Doesn’t change the big picture dilemma for the GM.
I think the same can be said of managers as far as who they inherit and who they develop. It takes awhile to evaluate and the evaluation continues after they’re gone. I still believe in the Bloom Cora tandem. Not quite Epstein Francona level, but I think they can succeed.
Well said. Agree.
Whyhayzee – NO WORSE TANDEM IN BASEBALL. GOING FROM CHAMPS TO CHUMPS IN THREE YEARS IS ALL THE EVIDENCE YOU NEED!!!
Fuol – You’ve sunk to a new low by blaming ERod’s missed 2020 season DUE TO COVID on Dombrowski.
Do you even take the time to read posts? I have not assigned blame to anyone. I just sited reality. I’m a big DD fan. Love the guy. As my post indicates
Did Bloom not have 72 in dead money his first year?
Did he not have what some rated as the worst farm in baseball?
Did he not have a stable of min salary players he inherited that produced anemic WAR totals his first 3 years?
You seem a bit emotional here in your zeal to hate Bloom. Have a drink. Relax. Stick to facts.
Fuo – Dead Money? DD inherited over $40MM in dead money and it rolled through his four years with the club and carried over to Bloom for 2 years.
Bloom did the bonehead pay down on Price and created $16MM more dead money. DD left no dead money for Bloom. Bloom has created lots of dead money since he arrived. Go to Spotrac and count up all the money paid to players dropped by Bloom.
The farm system was 21st when Bloom showed up and it only improved after he tanked 2020 and got 150 points for Mayer and jumped to 9th. That’s not building the farm system through smart trades, that’s building the farm system by failure. I guess he watched what Houston did years ago and thought he would try it. Too bad his picks haven’t produced guys like Altuve or Bregman.
Bloom didn’t inherit a bad team. They won a championship then Cora screwed them in March and April and injuries killed their chances for a FOURTH Division Title and then he was fired for wanting to keep Mookie. If you consider that being a bad GM what the hell is Bloom? Less than an apprentice? I’m convinced the hot dog vendor would have been a better choice for GM and I sure hope I don’t insult any hot dog vendors with that comment!!!
WAR is a bogus number. It’s contrived and can’t be agreed upon across companies producing the number so find a REAL stat to try to berate the world championship roster Bloom inherited.
What irritates the daylights out of real fans are dumb comments like yours that don’t include facts and spew BS all over the website. I hope you are getting paid to make up the lies you just wrote.
It’s emotional to all real fans because Bloom destroyed and dismantled an organization I’ve supported for over half a century.
FACTS are not what you write. LIES and BS describes what you wrote. The data has been presented a thousand times proving everything you said to be false. Go collect your paycheck from Bloom and shut the hell up.
Let Chain play his What-if game with Meneses. Scouting is an inexact science. What he should do is look back in the reports filed from his minor league managers and scouts and see who was getting it tight and who was getting it wrong and why. Then learn from the mistakes made.
What “mistakes”. Meneses was signed for a one-year contract. He played 7 years in Atlanta, but no one seems to think they missed anything. Meneses had a .767 OPS in Triple A at age 29, Wow! Franchy Cordero had .931 OPS at age 26, how long should be have held onto him?
Also, its been 1 season, and 222 ABs. Let me repeat that, he’s only had 222 ABs at the major league level. He could easily turn out to be a flash in the pan.
ELV – Exactly. Well put. Rsmith stopped taking comments because he’s only here to aggravate readers. hahaha
You hit on one more thing Bloom promised and didn’t deliver on. He was supposed to analyze the minor league system and improve it. The numbers have gone down despite Mayer being added. The development of players has slowed. And a lot of the same old people are making the same wrong calls when it comes to personnel. The farm system seems even more political than it was when Bloom arrived. Nearly a decade ago the farm system thought Swihart was better than Mookie!! So did the rating services since they rely heavily on the input from the team’s farm system managers. It’s no better today. The same guys who raved about how great Jeter Downs when he showed up in the minors got to see him DFA’d. Those that raved about him should have been fired as you have pointed out.
Great comment!!
Pulled – After the Mookie trade, Bloom said the benefit of the trade was freeing up money to extend other homegrown stars.
Obviously, he lied because he didn’t even make an honest effort in keeping Xander.