The Red Sox announced that left-hander Chris Murphy has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list, as Murphy is ready to return to action after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2024. In corresponding moves, Boston placed right-hander Luis Guerrero on the 15-day IL due to a right elbow sprain, and righty Justin Slaten was shifted from the 15-day IL to the 60-day.
Murphy hasn’t pitched in a big league game since September 2023, and his total MLB resume consists of only 20 appearances and 47 2/3 innings during his 2023 rookie campaign. The southpaw’s 3.88 SIERA was over a run lower than his 4.91 ERA, as Murphy’s 23.1% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate were both solid, and he didn’t have great batted-ball luck in the form of a .321 BABIP.
With his recovery period now complete, Murphy will get another crack at the bigs and give the Sox another left-handed relief option. Aroldis Chapman has taken over closing duties, and the Sox have been using Justin Wilson and Brennan Bernardino in lefty depth roles. Murphy figures to get plenty of opportunity in providing innings and a fresh arm within a pen that has performed respectably well in covering for a rotation that largely struggled.
Friday’s 9-0 loss to the Blue Jays wasn’t a banner night for Boston’s pen, as Bernardino was charged with four runs over an inning of work, and Guerrero allowed two runs in just a third of an inning. Guerrero’s elbow strain developed in the aftermath of yesterday’s outing, and MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith writes that for now, the injury isn’t considered serious enough to merit an MRI for further examination.
Guerrero got his big league career off to a very nice start when he tossed 10 scoreless innings over nine relief appearances in 2024, and it wasn’t until his fourth outing of 2025 that the righty finally surrendered his first earned run. Things have been shakier since, as Guerrero has a 4.15 ERA over his 17 1/3 frames and has more walks (14) than strikeouts (10). A tiny .188 BABIP has helped Guerrero manage okay bottom-line results despite those rough peripherals, but the larger concern for the moment is his elbow health.
Shoulder inflammation has kept Slaten out of action since late May, and his IL stint will now stretch until at least the end of July. The move to the 60-day IL isn’t really a surprise since Slaten only started throwing this weekend, so he’ll need some time to properly ramp up before returning to the relief corps. Speaking of minuscule BABIPs, Slaten’s .188 mark is the chief reason behind his 3.47 ERA in 23 1/3 innings this season, but the hard-throwing right-hander has also done an excellent job of limiting hard contact.
Work Murphy in slowly but in very limited watching, I was impressed and thought he could be a weapon. With the way this team has been up and down, a good showing now could become a trade candidate at the deadline. I hope not but he makes very little and if he’s finally healthy, he can help so many teams down the stretch. I’m not holding my breath but I’m hoping it’s with Boston.
I too was impressed with Murphy and his ability to go multiple innings when needed. The team this year is really killing their pitchers (to some extent, every team is doing that). They are just in so many close games.
Wait, I feel like I seen this one before…