The Red Sox are placing right-hander Richard Fitts on the 15-day injured list, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports, and Michael Fulmer’s contract has been selected from Triple-A in the corresponding move. The club has now officially announced the move, and designated Fitts’ injury as a right pectoral strain. The Sox have an open spot on the 40-man roster, so no further transaction is needed to bring Fulmer to the active roster.
It seemed inevitable that an IL stint was coming for Fitts given how he abruptly left yesterday’s game in clear discomfort after throwing a pitch in the sixth inning. The Red Sox initially described his injury as “right shoulder pain,” so the fact that the issue has now been identified as a pec strain could be viewed as relatively good news. Still, Fitts could be facing an absence of well beyond 15 days depending on the severity of the strain, and no recovery timeline has yet been announced.
Fitts is now the sixth starting pitcher on Boston’s injured list. Chris Murphy (Tommy John surgery) and Patrick Sandoval (internal brace surgery) are out until at least midseason, and there hasn’t been much news on Kutter Crawford (patellar tendinopathy) since he began the season the 15-day IL. Brayan Bello (shoulder strain) and Lucas Giolito (hamstring strain) have both thrown multiple Triple-A rehab outings and appear closest to returning, but both will get at least one more start in Worcester before a decision is made about their activation. The Red Sox aren’t going to rush either back just in lieu of Fitts’ injury, as since the club has an off-day on Thursday, they don’t need a fifth starter until April 22 at the earliest.
The timing could allow Bello or Giolito to fit rather smoothly into Fitts’ place, though that doesn’t change the fact that the Red Sox pitching staff has been hit pretty hard by the injury bug in the early going. All of the rotation absences opened the door for Fitts to join the starting five in the first place, as he won the job with an impressive Spring Training and then delivered a 3.18 ERA over his first three starts and 17 innings.
Between this season’s work and the 1.74 ERA Fitts posted in his first 20 2/3 big league innings in 2024, Fitts now has a 2.39 ERA over 37 2/3 frames at the MLB level. His strikeout rate stands at only 14.2% and his 5.04 SIERA is far less flattering, but Fitts has good chase rates despite the lack of strikeouts and his 7.7% walk rate is solid.
Fulmer could also be utilized in the starting mix, as he has started two of his three games with Worcester this season. Whatever the role, Fulmer is surely happy just to finally be back in the majors, following a a UCL revision procedure that sidelined him for the entire 2024 season. The Red Sox signed Fulmer to a two-year minor league deal in October 2023, with the understanding that Fulmer would spend 2024 rehabbing and then be ready to go for this year.
Fulmer began his big league career as a starter with the Tigers in 2016, and enjoyed immediate success as the AL Rookie of the Year. An All-Star season in 2017 further seemed to cement his place as a big part of Detroit’s future, though his production took a step back in 2018, and he missed all of 2019 recovering from Tommy John surgery. Fulmer struggled in his return to the Tigers rotation in 2020 but then transitioned to relief pitching, and seemed to find a second wind to his career. Over 190 1/3 innings from 2021-23, Fulmer worked as a reliever for 172 of his 177 games with the Tigers, Twins, and Cubs, and delivered a 3.55 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate, and 9.4% walk rate.
A return to rotation work in the context of Fulmer’s past struggles and his long injury layoff may seem unusual, but Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said the team was viewing Fulmer as a possible candidate for at least bulk innings (if not a full starting job) even before signing him to that minor league deal. It will be interesting to see how Fulmer is deployed now that he is part of the 26-man roster, and whether or not manager Alex Cora could get creative with Fulmer in a variety of roles to best maximize his potential.
We’re getting near the bottom of the barrel.
Dick Fitts
I wanna go there but I won’t.
Thaaaank you…
Okay Nation… sometimes it’s not all Chicago style dogs and stuffed pizza… sometimes I have to eat crow and be humbled and humiliated by the tens of White Sox fans I’m about to encounter at whatever they call that place at 35th and shields… I will have to sit there to chants of sweep!!! Ridicule of how the swept us in 05 and worse off!!, Fisk played more games for us!!! But I will do this.. my team, OUR team needs me.. I will cheer loudly, I will sing shipping up to Boston with Dirty water oncore, proudly and my so good so good so goods will be heard back in Cicero!!!If this is what it takes, then I’m ready for it!! ( one thing I won’t do…. Is mention I’m president of Brais fan club, they hate the Cubs)
The future of the season rests on your shoulders.
Root early, root often, root hard. Godspeed.
Olmtiant, excellent work today. Things are looking better already.
Glad I’m on 4 blood pressure pill!!!
I now have a blood pressure cuff on the dining room table because of my Lyme and IVIG treatments. I will NEVER bring that thing downstairs for watching baseball. Those numbers would be off the scale.
olm – Was that you I heard sneeze really loud right as Crochet threw his last pitch to Meidroth in the 8th inning?
hayzee – Word of advice, I wouldn’t entirely trust the accuracy of those things. You could test your BP twice within 3 minutes and get two drastically different results.
And if the first result is higher than expected, your BP could go up much more on the second test because you’re so stressed about the first result.
BTW – Lyme CT is a really beautiful town.
lol!!! Not to one of ours!!! But in back swing and possibly opposition in bowling…
olm – I didn’t say it was an intentional sneeze, it was likely an accident! LOL!!
Maybe it was Chris Getz who sneezed?
Olm – You probably didn’t see my earlier post. I told everyone how last year it was a similar situation, Sunday in Chicago and Boston was fighting to avoid their 3rd loss of the series. You were there too! They won that game and it turned around their season, they went on a nice winning stretch. I predicted today would be DJ Vous all over again. Nice job!!
Hayzee/ FPG… mission accomplished… for reference.. saw milt Wilcox pitch 8-2/3 perfect only to see Jerry Hairston ph a single in 80’s… only fitting guy traded for would break it up… needed it / got it … baton passed to you FPG!!!
olm – Despite attending over 700 games in my life, I’ve seen only two no-hitters …. Nomo in Baltimore and Buchholz at Fenway on Labor Day, also against Baltimore.
Almost as enjoyable, I was right behind the plate when Carl Everett broke up Moose’s 2-out, 2-strike bottom of the 9th perfecto on Sunday night baseball when he was with the Yankees.
Fair warning – the last 3 games I attended were the last 3 in Texas :O(
FPG!! Perfect your DUE!!! Seen Don Money hit into tripe play ( around the horn, not the show) at old county stadium , and my Bro who has seen maybe 1/4 the games I have saw that and the Forsch brother toss a no no for St. Louis back in 80’s I believe ( jealous) but …. That’s baseball!!!! … I would be so torn… I’m such a…. I don’t think I would want to see the beloved no hit…. Now a perfecto??? lol
Hey either way enjoy Tampa!!! And a big possibly thank you in order!!! When I told Mrs Brais about cheap tickets.. She’s like we can go!!!( as a kid she grew up in Clearwater for a few years) .. said flight to Tampa and all would still be cheaper than Wrigley!!!
olm – Yes I’m definitely due, but these days I’m lucky if I see just a complete game from a starting pitcher!!
The Stein is very hitter friendly, so it’s more likely I’ll be standing for homeruns than for a no-no.
Speaking of former players who played some third base, did you know that George Boomer Scott is the one who invented the term “Taters” to describe homeruns. That is one of my all-time favorite slang baseball terms!
Do you know why he invented it?
“I love my taters, my sweet potaters, and I love my home runs just like taters,”
How about that!
Good thing he didn’t love meatloaf or liver more than potaters!!!!!
olm – Thanks! Well they play at Tampa one more time this year in September, which is during Tropical Season and peak Hurricane Season, so I wouldn’t advise booking a trip too soon!! I have yet to decide if I’ll be going to that series, probably only if they are still in contention and the weather forecast is okay.
Welcome back Fulmer.
With Giolito and Bello looming, will Fitts even return to the rotation when healthy again?
I’m sure there will be opportunities… Let’s get him healthy first?
If he Fitts
No.
Dodged a bullet there pec strain is way better news than shoulder
Yeah not bad by Fitts considering he has had the frozen tundra outings
Bad – He was also very good in Arlington.
But yesterday was tough, if he hadn’t gotten injured he would have gone at least 8 innings and they probably win the game.
Teams have not had a lot of success with RP to SP conversion as of late. Given this context, the Red Sox’s decision to rely on Michael Fulmer, a reliever returning from elbow surgery, to fill a starting role is a significant gamble. The scarcity of successful precedents underscores the risks involved in such a strategy.
Business writing version:
Fulmer starting? Really?
York..Are you sure they look at fulmer as a starter? Fitts slot in the rotation doesnt come up for another 5 days minimum plus with bello or giolito very close and dobbins available doesnt this move look more geared toward long relief? Correct me if im wrong but it seems like poor rostor management to bring up a guy to sit for that long unless they plan to start him sooner and build in extra rest for everyone else…your point on converted rp to sp is valid but frankly nothing new and probably didnt really need to be voiced in this space since most here likly know this already and see it as obvious..
Why not hunter Dobbins?
Dobbins started a game yesterday so he is on same schedule has fitts was it wouldnt make sense to call him up till fitt’s turn in the rotation comes up. A guy like fulmer who pitch in long relief now makes more sense than someone who needs to rest for 4 days
Pool – They don’t even need to replace Fitts this week. Crochet could pitch on normal rest Friday. It’s against the ChiSox at Fenway, they will be overmatched against him and he could probably leave after 5 innings with a nice lead. But Cora as usual wants to give his pitchers plenty of rest, so it will probably be a fill-in Friday.
Fpg after last weekend they must sweep chicago imo