Red Sox outfielder Rob Refsnyder was hit by a pitch on his foot during yesterday’s Grapefruit League contest. He told reporters after the game that he had a “crack” in his pinky toe, per Ian Browne of MLB.com. Today, the club confirmed to reporters that Refsnyder has a fractured left pinky toe, with Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe among those to relay the news.
The club hasn’t provided a timeline for the recovery, but it seems certain that Refsnyder will begin the season on the injured list with Opening Day now just two weeks away. All injuries are different, but just for a point of reference, Joe Musgrove suffered a toe fracture in late February last year and returned to the club almost two months later in late April. Sean McAdam of MassLive estimates the injury could cost Refsnyder four to six weeks.
Refsnyder wasn’t going to be an everyday player for the Sox but was likely to be in the short side of a platoon. The righty swinger has drawn walks in 13.8% of his plate appearances against southpaws in his career, helping him produce a line of .270/.376/.380 and a 111 wRC+. That’s compared to an 8.4% walk rate, .219/.296/.308 batting line and 67 wRC+ against righties.
His lefty-mashing has been even more pronounced in recent seasons. He earned a free pass in 15.9% of his trips to the plate against lefties last year, compared to a 15.2% strikeout rate, and slashed .308/.428/.400 for a 133 wRC+.
The Sox have a number of left-handed hitters in their outfield and designated hitter rotation, including Jarren Duran, Masataka Yoshida and Wilyer Abreu. Righties Tyler O’Neill and Ceddanne Rafaela are in the mix as well but Refsnyder would have factored in on occasion when there was a tough southpaw on the mound. That won’t be option for manager Álex Cora early in the schedule as Refsnyder will be working his way back from this injury.
In the meantime, that could open up a bench role for someone else. C.J. Cron is in camp as a non-roster invitee while Bobby Dalbec is one the 40-man roster, but with one option year remaining. It was reported last month that the Sox were interested in adding a righty-swinging outfielder to help pair with Duran, Yoshida and Abreu. They later added Cron but he isn’t an option on the grass.
Given the club was already interested in a righty-swinging outfielder and Refsnyder is now set to miss some time, perhaps they will have a bit of increased urgency to get something done with a free agent before the season starts. Michael A. Taylor, Tommy Pham and Adam Duvall are still available, while free agent Robbie Grossman is a switch hitter who is better against southpaws.
So much for that HOF
Only delays his induction by an extra year.
YBC – Yet another thing Ref has in common with Judge.
Oh man, that was a zinger.
Woo.
Yeah.
The good news is that the trainer for Red Sox has been gaining rave reviews for his work on the back fields. Expect Rob to be back on his HOF timeline in no time.
Unfortunate for Refsnyder. Hoping he heals up quick
I am sure he will put his best foot forward.
Had a toe-hold on that platoon job until he got toe-holed.
@This one belongs to the Reds
You’re a real heel for that pun. It’s just instep with conversation. You have become my arch enemy :o)
Refsnyder responded with, “My presence in that lineup can only hurt my chances” Ahahaha!
Do spring injuries guarantee Refsnyder goes on the Major League IL?
this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home
Duvall and Taylor have entered the chat.
They would have signed Duvall long before this if they were interested.
Full Metatarsal!!!!
Opens the door for Bauer
Is there an injured list for active Hall of Fame players?
Great, who are we gonna trade now for Cease?!
You get a Cease! You get a Cease! Everyone gets a Cease!
In all seriousness hopefully Cole just has inflammation Clip!
I hope so, man. I just don’t trust the Yankees on reporting injuries accurately. They always play word games and communicate a downgraded version of the injury results.
It is really concerning to me to have Cole see a top surgeon when he reportedly has inflammation and needs rest. Those two things seem…incongruent.
Cashman and Boone have a history of getting colorful with injury reports. Look at how they handled Rizzo’s concussion last year…
@Clip Michael Kay is assuming nothing on his show. Best case scenario is July since he’ll need time to ramp up again. Fun fact: He’s also never shared a meal with Boone in six years so you both have that going.
I don’t see a real need to replace Refsnyder with a FA. It’s not like he’s playing full time.. O’Neill may get more at bats.
Yeah we really don’t need him since it seems likely that Rafaela will make the roster now
Doubt it personally. 6 weeks in AAA and the team gets an extra week of service time. He’s gotta be the best option by a mile to be in the majors before Refsnyder is back.
terry – I agree. O’Neill, Rafaela, Abreu and Duran …. 4 OF’ers for 3 OF spots, so what’s the problem?
Plus Yoshida will probably be getting a few starts in LF
Redsoxx – WHY? He sucks.
I can’t believe people are arguing a guy with NO ERRORS can’t play CF but a guy with the most in history at 3B is ok to play 3B.
As long as Devers plays, the OUTFIELD Is absolutely insignificant from a defensive perspective and the hitting splits don’t matter either. You are fine tuning a high performance engine that has junk yard parts.
The team has good enough defenders in Duran, Rafaela, O’Neill, Abreu, Casas, Grissom, Story and Reyes.
The team can play any left handed hitter against lefty pitchers and righties vs righty batters to see if the players are more than one dimensional hitters. It’s not like the 66 wins are going to be close to making the playoffs. See what you have and stop with the metrics crap when you don’t have anything above league average players for the most part.
You want to knit pick over whether Judge is better than Soto then dig 20 levels down in meaningless metrics to feel good about yourself. Figuring out whether Yoshida should play defense is a no brainer just like Devers and as long as either plays defense, the team is not trying to win.
The problem is Duran, Abreu and Yoshida all hit Left handed and modern Baseball demands RH/LH platoons at every position (unless you are a superstar) because LH hitters are not allowed to hit against LH pitchers, which i find mostly ridiculous (not sure if you are old enough to remember the days when Wade Boggs, Scott Cooper, Mike Greenwell and Mo Vaughn played everyday, regardless of what hand the pitcher threw with)
No. The problem is that all the Sox outfielders except Rafaela and Abreu are limited to left field by their defensive shortcomings.
The problem is Duran, Abreu and Yoshida all hit Left handed and modern Baseball demands RH/LH platoons
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Which means that they only have 2 RH OFers? Ceddanne and O’Neill?
The problem is that all the Sox outfielders except Rafaela and Abreu are limited to left field by their defensive shortcomings.
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Except for Duran and O’ Neill, who can both play CF.
Yes. Rafaela may also see time at 2B with Valdez also hitting from the left side while Grissom is out
They also have Reyes as a RH U player.
Ketch – Duran was average-ish in CF last year (0 OAA) and probably has the traits for RF in a pinch, especially in away parks. Refsnyder can play all three OF spots although he’s better on the corners. And O’Neill is a GG-tier LF who has moved around in his career when needed with decent results (0 OAA, 0 DRS) at CF/RF in a ~450 inning sample.
So really just Yoshida is limited to LF, and he’s DHing.
Rsox – I don’t think there’s a chance of that. Valdez and Reyes will cover 2B while Grissom is out. Ceddanne will be playing CF if he gets called up; no sense burning a year of service time to play him at a position he’s less impactful at for a few weeks. His bat isn’t enough of a plus for that.
Rsox – We don’t have a SP1 or SP2, we don’t have a defender to play 3B, we have two DHs, a SS that can’t hit and a starting staff that is inexperienced. People are worried about lefty righty match-ups? Seriously? Or is this simply a boredom debate since there is nothing else to talk about?
I love what you wrote and I wish others could wake up and stop with all the metric analysis that isn’t worth the time or effort to even review.
Excellent comment.
When it rains, it pours. There is nothing but bad news between when camp breaks out and Opening Day. One thing after another.
Ignorant – We didn’t lose our only studly pitcher for 2 months. Is our news really bad? For all we know, Giolito could have sucked and our ERA and WHIP just improved. Refsnyder is a rounding error.
Boston’s rain cloud is not injuries, it’s the front office and ownership. Cease could have been had for next to nothing but Breslow couldn’t make it happen. So many mistakes far outweigh any bad luck with injuries.
Dalton Guthrie and Romy Gonzalez are RH hitters having decent springs and can play multiple positions so i wouldn’t rule out either of them to replace Refsnyder til he’s ready to return
White flag!!
Better to have a crack in your toe than a toe in your crack, I suppose.
If only his name was Umpsnyder, this never would have happened.
Gonna bring Red Sox back to the negotiating table with Boras–BoSox will need to sign a commensurate talent, Who’s left in the Boras stack of cards?
Something something Refsnyder, Clint Frazier, Miguel Andujar.
You should also include Sox legend Blake Swihart
Blake’s wife still calls him “untouchable” lol.
This guy is a Geico caveman at this point
Does any player in MLB/MiLB history have a higher ratio of MLBTR comments to actual accomplishments?
So I see we have a pitcher named Booser……Fair enough… or I guess close enough… have to hang my hat somewhere??!!
JD Davis just hit the open market and his salary is just how Henry likes ‘em – paid by someone else.
Granted, Davis couldn’t play right field at Fenway. But know who else can’t? Refsnyder!
Really this opens the door for Dalbec. Both Refsnyder and Dalbec only have one baseball-related skill – each can hit LHP. And Dalbec, unlike Guthrie and González, is already on the 40 man roster.
And can play 1B/3B when Devers or Casas needs to DH or have a day off vs a LH SP.
The need is for an OF, though. I don’t think you’re sitting Devers, Casas, or Yoshida (unless we get second half Yoshida) against lefties. What’ll actually happen is Dalbec will DH, Yoshida will play OF, Abreu will sit, and O’Neill will shift over. So now Dalbec’s bat needs to be enough better than the next guy to justify worsening both corner OF spots. Refsnyder (or another RHH OF) doesn’t have that problem.
A roster spot for a guy who is a bad defensive 1B/3B, who strikes out 1/3 of the time even against LHP, and who is a black hole against RHP is a hard sell for me. I would rather give Abreu the ABs and see if he can improve against LHP.
I’m not one to root for injuries but this time off for Rob could benefit Rafaela quite well. I’m a big Rafaela fan but could have seen him starting off in AAA this year given their roster. Boston knows what they have in Refsynder and this now gives Rafaela a chance to slot into the #3 or #4 OF for Boston early on (depending on if a LHP is pitching or not). If Ceddanne starts out the year hot, he could secure his place on the 26 man roster for 2024 and help him blossom into an integral part of the Boston lineup. Every injury opens an opportunity for another player and hopefully Rafaela can take full advantage of this.
If Rafaela is up, he will be playing every day. Refsnyder was a backup playing the weak side of a platoon, so I don’t think this is a reason to call him up. Call him up in mid-May and get an extra year of service time.
IF he’s called up. You got that right. It would make sense to keep Rafaela @AAA for at least a few weeks to get the extra year of control. It’s not like this team is going to the playoffs. (unless of course they purchase tickets)
The coolest name among all the MLB players. Disagree? Name one cooler.
Pedro Cerrano
Dick Mountain
Orval Overall
Dick Fitz
Even if it is just Spring Training, the pitcher who threw the pitch that struck and injures a batter that results in lost time for the batter should be suspended for the same length of time that the services of the batter are lost to his team. “Oops, Sorry” and “It’s just part of the game”, just don’t make it anymore in the high stakes world of professional baseball.
MLB = Wake up and crack the whip.
When one team/organization is penalized due to an injury to their player caused by the negligent actions by a member of the opposing team; that team should justifiably also incur an equal, offsetting penalty.
Incoming mute for the genius that is Jacksson and his movement of one single solutary deep thinker!
Jacksson is a true single issue voter. He has staked out the hill he’s determined to die on. He’s the only one jumping on this bandwagon.
If it’s clearly retalliatory and the guy gets hurt, sure. Otherwise why punish an accident?
Bill Plummer passed away yesterday.
For six weeks or so they will be fine with the position players they have. What they need is Monte and a 2d. SP.
The Sox need to commit to starting Dalbec vs every LH SP in a 1b/3b/DH rotation to find out if he can platoon.
Dalbec isn’t worth committing to in that way. A no-glove corner IF type who can’t hit RHP at all and can’t be trusted to make contact against LHP has such a narrow band of usefulness he should just play if needed.
It would be different if he were a RF with above-average defense, for example.
Nope John Henry won’t open up his purse for another OF!
fba – I just watched Moneyball again, wow John Henry comes across as an arrogant tool. If he agrees to bump up the payroll, it’s unlikely to be for an OF’er.
Refsnyder’s another one of those league average Chaim Bloom guys that appear on the roster one day and then you look up and wonder why they’re playing so damn much.
Enough with running scrubs out there, John Henry.
Look at his splits vs LHP and what his salary is. It makes sense.
So with all the excitement this week over a bad pick-up getting hurt, a bad player getting hurt and no new acquisitions on the horizon, is it safe to say the 66 win prediction might be a tad overly optimistic?
Lets face it, the best part of 2024 will be watching guys like Houck, Casas, Duran, Rafaela all develop into much better players and laughing at Cora as he walks to the mound to replace a pitcher and he can’t remember the name of the guy he’s bringing into the game.
Sure am glad we wasted $17MM on Grissom, $38.5MM on Giolito and $8.5MM on O’Neill. That money could have got us an all-star SP. Breslow with training wheels. That’s what describes this season..
Why people don’t fire people as soon as they recognize they can’t do the job is beyond me. Ego? Unwillingness to admit mistakes? Or just an owner who doesn’t give a darn about how bad the team looks.
Did anyone see the huge haul the CWS got for Cease? hahaha The idea that Breslow couldn’t have matched that blows my mind. Refsnyder could have been part of the package and we still would have offered more!!!
Troll : friendly bet of who was closer . 66 is your number. I am going to go 63 . Hopefully we are both wrong .
There is no reason to make a move because your fifth OF / weak-side platoon guy is going to miss the first 2-4 weeks. They will likely make do with what they have.