Red Sox right-hander Zack Kelly underwent an ulnar nerve transposition revision in his throwing elbow, the club announced. The Sox had announced a few weeks ago that Kelly would require surgery, though the procedure didn’t take place until today.
While Boston didn’t provide a recovery timetable, Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports the team isn’t ruling out a return in September. That the 28-year-old reliever could potentially make it back to an MLB mound this season counts as good news considering Kelly’s injury initially seemed disastrous. He was visibly distraught when he sustained it on a pitch during an April 12 outing in Tampa Bay. The general concern was he’d suffered some form of ligament damage, but an MRI instead revealed it was a nerve issue.
Fortunate as it is Kelly won’t require Tommy John surgery, he’s still in line for an extended absence. The Sox have already placed him on the 60-day injured list. He’ll be paid at the MLB minimum rate while he recovers.
In other Boston pitching news, righty Garrett Whitlock went for a medical evaluation today. Whitlock himself is on the injured list due to ulnar neuritis, though his issue seems far less serious than Kelly’s. Jen McCaffrey of the Athletic reports that Whitlock avoided any new symptoms during today’s examination (Twitter link). According to McCaffrey, he’s been cleared to begin throwing from 45 feet.
Whitlock will be out until at least the second week of May. It’s not clear if or how long beyond the minimal stint he’ll require on the shelf, though it’s a relief he’s throwing within five days of his IL placement. Manager Alex Cora has already told reporters the Sox will keep Whitlock in the rotation — where he’s pitched this year after bouncing between starting and relief last season — whenever he’s ready to return.
Wink and Crawford appear to have Kelly’s old gig on lock.
Still, a drag for Kelly, hope he gets back out there.
Is transposition revision the same as gender neutral?
Are you sure you didn’t just make a Paul Assenmacher out of yourself
Touché.
Are you making fun of ligament re-assignment surgery?
It takes a lot of nerve to do something like that.
-3 games above .500.
-In the playoffs if they started today.
-Leading the league in Come From Behind Victories.
-Toughest opponent record, so far, in all of baseball (.569).
Now hater’s response: “Youre not looking at the other side of the coin, you need to exclusively look at the Starting Pitching to see the whole picture”. Wait, what?
I don’t know where you guys are seeing all that suckage. This team’s got talent. You’re missing some great baseball, by being so stubborn.
We are exactly where we should be. This is really like almost all good. but not great teams. We’re on pace for 88.84 wins. With some health, maybe we win 91-92. with some injuries, maybe we win 78-80. We have so many people in here that want to hate EVERY move.
The 100-response threads hating every AAA depth move. All the complaints about losing guys that might rank #30 on our prospect list. All the complaints every time someone has one bad game. I think you are 100% spot-on correct:
“You’re missing some great baseball, by being so stubborn.”
This is fun. I had to leave the TV when the RS were down 1, but I felt that we could easily overcome a one-run deficit. That’s when BB is fun. Folks need to just sit back and enjoy it.
Joe I feel your same optimism.. knowing we were 3-16 vs them last year… all stars up and down line up I was nervous to say the least… Kluber pitched fairly well ( one mistake) same with houek.. these games I feel were most definitely L last year.. but winning game one… I was upset at 6 run inning but I had a funny thought that hey this game is still possible if we hold them to 6…. ( glad my buddy Brais had night off) they are scrappy/ fun to watch and as you said… I to am enjoying watching this team!!!
Joe: I agree with everything but your limit on wins.
Pace: 88.84
Your low range: 78 wins, which is -10.84 off the pace. (which I agree with)
Your high range: 92 wins, which is +3.16 over the pace.
Why so low? No reason this team cant win 95-96 games.
My reasons:
1) Lots of young players are coming up, if this pitcher cant do it theres a Murphy, Mata, Walter, Politi, Broadway to take his place. And the same can be said for the hitters (Hamilton, Dalbec, Abreu, Fitzgerald, Alfaro). Having depth like this is something we havent had in a long time.
2) Lots of injuried players ‘could’ come back and help (Rodriguez, Paxton, Story, Duvall, Mondesi).
3) Red Sox have over 14M to add a player at the Deadline. 14M translates to a very good player or two. They could easily take on a 28M player (annual salary) and still stay under the Threshold.
4) Schedule turns a page soon, and should be much easier over the next few months. Teams that looked like threats before the season, arent anymore (Mariners, Guardians, Cardinals).
No reason this team cant contend.
SS has been a thorn so far. I noticed David Hamilton is playing SS for the Woo Sox and showing promise. He may get a shot after the All-Star break with the big club. Valdez seems to have settled in at 2B as has Arroyo. Wong has taken the starting C slot along with Duran in CF.
The pen has been pretty solid and the rotation is getting stretched out. There appears to be some Paxton availability in the event a starter goes down or a long reliever is needed.
I like what I see in Beantown…
Mondesi and Story on the way.
overthemonster.com/2023/5/4/23710224/are-we-lookin…
MLB team goes on a 5 game winning streak and win 13 out last 19 and 29 boards on MLBTR would light up with discussion. 1 team’s board goes quiet. Guess the team. Faux Fans.
74 wins.
This is a heck of a run. I wasn’t concerned about Bello, but like everything else, it’s good to see him have a good game. And based on the rotation ERAs, it feels like we have a lot of upside. It’s amazing. Wong, Duran, Winc, Crawford, and now maybe Bernardino maybe. That’s a lot of support from non-key contributors.
Is this the TB system where they keep coming at you, wave after wave?
“Is this the TB system where they keep coming at you, wave after wave?”
Definitely TB system, with Big Market sprinkled in.
Tampa Bay style:
Develop farm system with trades primarily bringing in prospects, instead of shipping them out.
Big Market style:
Every year add a Story or Yoshida to the mix. Keep the team around Salary Cap (slightly above/slightly below).
I always thought the key for Boston was to add one starting position per year, and one SP, closer or setup guy, plus the occasional bench jockey or RP. If we can do that, we can easily afford one more expensive FA.
We spent a lot of years without the mandatory additions. We had the Theo guys, but they were aging out., and Devers & Benni from Cherington, and a couple of kids from DD. It just wasn’t enough.
I still don’t think we have a lot, but with Wong, Duran, Casas, Houck, Bello, Whitlock, Winc, maybe Crawford & Verdugo, I can kind of see the platform for our next big run. Way early for this type of speculation, but we have a lot of control years for some decent guys.
“Way early” Not at all this was the plan from the get-go with Bloom and its right on schedule. We just needed patience, but few Red Sox fans have it. Nor the understanding of how long recovery takes when the team is completely depleted.
Next on tap is FA Starting Pitcher for 2024. They have plenty of Cap Room, so Im expecting someone from the list of Urias, Nola, Yamamoto, Giolito, Montgomery. I figure Ohtani to LA. And at 500M, they can have him.