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Red Sox Activate Eduardo Nunez, Tzu-Wei Lin Placed On Injured List

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The Boston Red Sox activated infielder Eduardo Nunez from the 10-day IL today, per an official team release. Infielder Tzu-Wei Lin heads to the injured list in the corresponding move.

Nunez went down on April 18th with a mid-back strain after a rough start to the year. The 31-year-old was hitting only .159/.178/.182 at the time of the injury. He was primarily utilized at second base to start the year, but top prospect Michael Chavis has staked a claim to the keystone in the interim. With Nunez, Dustin Pedroia and Brock Holt all on the injured list, Chavis, 23, took full advantage by hitting .310/.442/.619 with four home runs and ten RBIs. Nunez will have to fight to take back playing time coming off a disappointing .265/.289/.388 in 2018, his first full season in Boston. Nunez makes $5MM this season, and he will be a free agent at the end of the year, so it’s not inconceivable to think the Red Sox could cut bait if Nunez doesn’t start producing – though injuries to other Boston infielders and his pedigree as a useful .277/.312/.406 career hitter likely grants Nunez a fairly long leash.

Lin, 25, becomes the latest Boston infielder to occupy the injured list in 2019. He sprained his knee in Chicago on Friday and now heads back to Boston to undergo testing. Lin is primarily a middle infielder, though he has played all over the diamond during his Boston tenure. He was 4-20 so far this season as one of the many Boston infielders to sample second base.

In a related depth move, former Phillie prospect Cody Asche joins Triple-A Pawtucket after having his contract purchased from the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Independent League, per the Skeeters. Asche made good use of his time in Sugar Land, hitting .250/.375/.400 in six games with the Skeeters since signing in mid-April. Last appearing in the majors in 2017 for the White Sox, Asche, 28, spent time with both New York organizations in 2018.

East Notes: LeMahieu, Holt, Inciarte, Cano

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The Yankees announced today that an MRI showed inflammation in the right knee of infielder DJ LeMahieu. He suffered a contusion on Friday night and has been limited since. It’s a tough balance for the Yanks, who are already pressing numerous players into unexpectedly significant roles. While the preferred course might be to put LeMahieu on the shelf and bring in a replacement, the club is surely wary of keeping him out longer than needed and must also keep a close watch on 40-man roster pressures. It’s a tough spot — one that makes the club’s ongoing success all the more impressive (and frightening for the rest of the American League East).

Here’s more from the game’s eastern divisions:

  • Brock Holt’s path back to the majors has encountered another roadblock. The Red Sox utilityman is now dealing with a shoulder injury, as Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com was among those to report. Details aren’t yet known — he’s due for a medical exam tomorrow — but it seems Holt came down with the ailment recently. He has been working back after suffering a scratched cornea. Holt, 30, turned in a strong .277/.362/.411 slash in 367 plate appearances last year. His absence is amplified by the fact that both Dustin Pedroia and Eduardo Nunez are also on the injured list at the moment.
  • Braves outfielder Ender Inciarte left tonight’s game with a hamstring injury. Initial indications are that he is in good shape, skipper Brian Snitker told reporters including David O’Brien of The Athletic (Twitter link), but the true condition of the muscle will be more apparent tomorrow. It’s conceivable that a roster move will be needed. The club wouldn’t necessarily need to bring up an outfielder, though it’s already running out an eight-man bullpen. Adam Duvall surely wouldn’t mind an opportunity. He’s playing at Triple-A for the first time since 2015 and doesn’t seem to want to stay (.306/.388/.647 with seven home runs and 16:11 K/BB through 98 plate appearances).
  • It seems that Mets second baseman Robinson Cano has avoided a significant injury after being struck by a pitch on Sunday. X-rays on his hand were negative, so it seems the club needs only to wait for the swelling to subside before it’ll be able to slot him back in the lineup. Cano is off to a solid but hardly overwhelming start to his tenure with New York’s National League entrant. Through 108 plate appearances, he carries a .270/.324/.430 slash line with three home runs. UZR and DRS have soured on his glovework a bit in the early going, though it’s tough to put too much stock in a short-sample run of defensive metrics.

AL Injury Notes: Ohtani, Yankees, Red Sox, Athletics

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The Angels’ Shohei Ohtani won’t make his season debut during their homestand from April 30-May 5, manager Brad Ausmus told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and other reporters Sunday. The two-way star is still on the mend from the Tommy John surgery he underwent on his right elbow last October, which will keep him from pitching this season but won’t prevent him from helping the Angels’ offense. Los Angeles entered Sunday with a middle-of-the-pack offense, though designated hitters Albert Pujols and Kevan Smith have only combined for average hitting to this point relative to their position. Ohtani was far better than that as a rookie in 2018, when he slashed .288/.361/.564 with 22 home runs and 10 steals over 367 plate appearances.

  • The injury-ravaged Yankees may have to start dipping into the Double-A level to fill their roster at this rate, as a couple more of their players – infielders DJ LeMahieu and Gio Urshela – left Sunday’s game against the Giants with ailments. LeMahieu departed with right knee inflammation, while Urshela exited after Giants reliever Nick Vincent hit him in the left hand with an 88.5 mph pitch. Luckily for New York, X-rays came back negative in both cases, though LeMahieu will undergo an MRI on Monday (via ESPN.com, Jon Heyman of MLB Network and Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News). LeMahieu and Urshela have handled third base with aplomb in place of Miguel Andujar, who’s one of 13 Yankees currently on the injured list.
  • Red Sox infielders Dustin Pedroia and Eduardo Nunez are set to embark on rehab assignments, manager Alex Cora said Sunday. Meanwhile, fellow banged-up infielder Brock Holt was scratched from his Triple-A rehab game Sunday because of right shoulder soreness (links via Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com). Pedroia landed on the IL on April 18 with yet another left knee injury, but he’s “a lot better” now, according to Cora, who announced he’s likely to play with Double-A Portland beginning May 2. Nunez, down since the 19th with a mid-back strain, will go to Triple-A Pawtucket on Monday and could be back in Boston by May 6, Cotillo writes. Holt has been on the IL since April 6 with a scratched right cornea, and there’s no word on how serious his shoulder problem is. When healthy, Pedroia, Nunez and Holt have posted pitiful production this year, which helps explain why Boston second basemen have recorded the AL’s worst fWAR (minus-0.9).
  • Athletics first baseman/outfielder Mark Canha suffered a wrist sprain Sunday and may require a stint on the IL, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Slusser notes the A’s could recall Skye Bolt or Dustin Fowler to replace Canha, who has hit .200/.377/.375 with a pair of HRs in 53 trips to the plate this year.

Red Sox Select Josh Smith

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The Red Sox have selected the contract of righty Josh Smith, per a club announcement. He’ll make a start today for the club if the scheduled contest isn’t rained out. Reliever Travis Lakins was optioned down to open active roster space.

Smith, 31, saw 127 1/3 innings of big-league action from 2015-17 but failed to make it back up last year. He owns a 5.30 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 at the game’s highest level. (Note: another hurler by the same name also pitched in the upper minors last year with the Red Sox. He’s now with the Indians.)

Though he has never posted dominating numbers in the upper minors, Smith has struck out better than a batter per nine at the Triple-A level since the start of the 2017 season. He has racked up 23 strikeouts against five walks in 16 2/3 innings in three starts for Pawtucket to open the present season.

Prospect Notes: Hernandez, Sheffield, Senzel, Bichette, Vlad Jr., Luzardo

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Here’s the latest on some prospects of note from around the game:

  • The Red Sox brought up top pitching prospect Darwinzon Hernandez for his first taste of the majors, with Alex Speier of the Boston Globe first reporting the move. Hernandez, a 22-year-old from Venezuela, still needs to iron out his command but has shown some impressive swing-and-miss capabilities. It was on display tonight, as he allowed five baserunners but also racked up four strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings in relief.
  • Left-handed pitching prospect Justus Sheffield will join the Mariners on Friday for his first action with his new club, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports on Twitter. He’s expected to piggyback with Yusei Kikuchi for a start; it’s possible he’ll be dropped back to Triple-A thereafter, though that’s not yet clear. While he already has 13 days of MLB service on his odometer, Sheffield won’t be able to reach a full year of service even if he stakes a permanent claim to a big-league roster spot. Sheffield hasn’t been himself thus far at Triple-A, carrying an 11:14 K/BB ratio through 18 1/3 innings.
  • It’s possible the Reds will soon welcome top prospect Nick Senzel to the majors. As Fletcher Page of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports, Senzel is back in the lineup at Triple-A after recovering from a sprained ankle. There’s no guarantee that he’ll be promoted in the near-term, but the organization doesn’t have much cause to hesitate at this point. Senzel can no longer achieve a full year of MLB service in 2019; the club is sitting at five games under .500 and can’t wait long to make its move. Once Senzel gets his timing down and gets comfortable in the outfield — he’s lined up in center field tonight for Louisville — he’ll likely be called up.
  • The Blue Jays got some unwelcome news on exciting infield prospect Bo Bichette. Robert Murray and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported on Twitter that Bichette had suffered a broken hand. As Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca tweets, the fracture was to the second metacarpal of his left hand. Widely considered one of the game’s very best prospects, Bichette will now need to get back to health before he can begin pressing for a major-league promotion. Meanwhile, anticipation grows that teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will soon get the call; Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs tweets that some around the game anticipate it’ll come this week.
  • Top Athletics prospect Jesus Luzardo is beginning to work back toward the hill, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Twitter links). He’s moving from 75 feet to 90 feet tomorrow, so it’s still rather early in his progression back from shoulder soreness. Slusser estimates that it could take four to six weeks before the prized southpaw could be ready for game action. In all likelihood, he won’t be seen as a candidate for a MLB promotion until he has at least a few Triple-A starts under his belt and the club feels confident there aren’t any lingering issues with the joint.

AL East Notes: Sanchez, Orioles, Draft, Red Sox, Jays

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The injury-plagued Yankees could welcome Gary Sanchez back to the lineup as soon as Wednesday, manager Aaron Boone told reporters Sunday (link via Newsday’s Laura Albanese). He’ll suit up for a rehab game with Class-A Charleston today, and barring any kind of setback, that’ll line him up for a midweek return against the Halos. Boone spoke optimistically but also vaguely about injured regulars Aaron Hicks, Miguel Andujar, Giancarlo Stanton and Troy Tulowitzki, declining to put a specific timetable on any of the bunch.

Here’s a look around the division…

  • The Orioles, who hold the No. 1 overall pick in this June’s draft, currently are considering high school shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman but haven’t made any firm decisions as to who they’ll take, per MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubtako. It’s of course worth noting that with more than a month to go until the draft, a different player could soar up the pre-draft rankings and thrust himself into the mix for the top selection. Similarly, a currently projected top pick could still give teams cause for concern and/or incur an injury. Both Rutschman and Witt were pegged as top-three overall picks in the first of what will be several mock drafts over at Baseball America, where Rutschman was projected to go to Baltimore.
  • The Red Sox expect to stick with internal options in the rotation following Nathan Eovaldi’s injury, writes Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. Hector Velazquez will be the leading candidate to step into the rotation, though Marcus Walden could also be an option. Manager Alex Cora downplayed the possibility of opting for a bullpen day in place of Eovaldi, voicing a clear preference for someone who can go out and pitch at least five innings. If the Sox want to go with a nonroster option, Cotillo notes that righty Erasmo Ramirez could again be selected (he’s already cleared waivers following last week’s DFA and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Pawtucket).
  • With Matt Shoemaker down for the season due to an ACL tear, the Blue Jays are weighing options to replace him in the rotation, writes Laura Armstrong of the Toronto Star. The top traditional starting pitching candidates look to be righty Sam Gaviglio (who made 24 starts for Toronto a year ago), lefty Thomas Pannone, right-hander Sean Reid-Foley and right-hander Jacob Waguespack. However, the Jays could also more creatively look to deploy an opener — a strategy with which skipper Charlie Montoyo is quite familiar from his time in Tampa Bay. In that instance, someone such as Gaviglio or Pannone could handle multiple innings in relief of an opener, thus shielding the team’s weakest starter from the opposing lineup’s most dangerous hitters the first time through the order. For now, the Jays have several off-days looming on the schedule, limiting their need for a fifth starter and lessening the urgency of the decision.

AL Notes: Olson, Semien, Athletics, Red Sox, Swihart

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Here’s the latest from around the American League…

  • In an interview with Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (link to Bowden’s Twitter feed), Athletics GM David Forst said that Matt Olson is expected back in the lineup within the next two weeks.  Olson underwent surgery to move his hamate bone from his right hand back on March 22, and while no timeline was given, MLBTR’s Jeff Todd noted that players who underwent similar procedures typically were able to return within six-to-eight weeks.  If Forst’s projection is correct, that would put Olson on the low end of that time frame, which is good news for the A’s.  Olson hit .250/.339/.502 with 53 homers over 876 plate appearances in 2017-18, and also delivered some outstanding defense at first base, earning him a Gold Glove last season.
  • The Athletics have been talking to shortstop Marcus Semien about a contract extension, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney writes (subscription required).  This isn’t the first time the two sides have discussed a longer-term deal, as Semien and the A’s were known to be talking as far back as July 2017.  Since that time, Semien entered into his arbitration years, and is earning $5.9MM this season with one more arb-eligible year before hitting free agency after the 2020 season.  He’ll be 30 years old when he reaches free agency, so Semien could potentially be interested in locking down an extension now (as so many players have in the last two months) rather than face a potentially scarce free agent market as a player entering his 30s.  Semien posted a career-best 3.7 fWAR in 2018, making some great strides in his defense while delivering another season of slightly below-average (95 wRC+, 96 OPS+) hitting.
  • Also from Olney’s piece, he speculates that the Red Sox could become a popular deadline seller if the team continues to falter throughout the season.  It’s still very early, of course, and the Sox did just complete a three-game sweep of the AL East-leading Rays.  But if Boston did fall out of the pennant race, players who could be free agents in the offseason (i.e. Rick Porcello, Mitch Moreland, and opt-out candidate J.D. Martinez) could all potentially be moved for some needed prospects.  Perhaps more importantly, moving some salary could also allow the Sox to get under the maximum luxury tax penalty threshold of $246MM.  It would only be a one-year reload for the club, as the Red Sox would look to contend again in 2020 in their final year of team control over Mookie Betts.  It doesn’t seem too likely, by the way, that Boston would look to shop Betts, even though he has rebuffed the team’s overtures about a contract extension.
  • The Blake Swihart era in Boston came to an unceremonious end on Friday, as the Red Sox dealt Swihart and $500K of international bonus pool money to the Diamondbacks for minor league outfielder Marcus Wilson.  The Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato looks back at Swihart’s rocky development through the Sox farm system, which included injuries, multiple position changes, and an inability to truly unlock his heralded hitting potential even in the minors.  As highly-touted a prospect as Swihart was, “the organization could never come to a clear consensus on his ability.  There was always a disconnect and it existed through multiple regimes in the front office and field staff,” Mastrodonato writes.  This manifested itself in a seeming lack of confidence in Swihart as a regular catcher, though Mastrodonato notes if the Sox were going to deploy Swihart at different positions, it was unusual that Swihart wasn’t considered to fill Boston’s third base void prior to the 2017 season.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/21/19

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The latest minor moves from around baseball….

  • The Red Sox have outrighted Erasmo Ramirez to Triple-A, Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe reports (Twitter link).  Ramirez was designated for assignment on Friday and had the option of rejecting an outright assignment to become a free agent, so it appears as though the right-hander has decided to remain in the Sox organization after clearing waivers.  The 28-year-old signed a minors contract with Boston in the offseason and appeared in one Major League game, though that lone appearance was enough to guarantee Ramirez’s big league salary.  As Masslive.com’s Christopher Smith notes, Ramirez’s salary will still count against Boston’s luxury tax calculations for the season.  Terms of Ramirez’s guarantee aren’t known, and while it surely isn’t an exorbitant amount, every dollar counts for a Red Sox team that is trying to stay under the $246MM maximum tax penalty threshold.

AL East Notes: Snell, Pedroia, Jays, Vlad Jr.

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The latest from around the AL East…

  • Blake Snell continues to be on pace for a quick return from the 10-day IL, as the Cy Young Award winner told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) that he felt good following a bullpen session on Saturday.  A fractured toe sent Snell to the injured list last week, though the southpaw could potentially be pitch on Wednesday, his first eligible day to be activated.  Since the Rays have an off-day on Thursday, however, the team could also wait until Friday to activate Snell, just to make sure the ace is entirely recovered and ready to go.  More details could be known on Monday, as manager Kevin Cash said Snell could throw another bullpen that day.
  • Dustin Pedroia is also hopeful of a minimum IL stint as he recovers from his latest knee problem, telling media (including Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald) that his injury was “just a weird freak thing” rather than a more serious setback.  The Red Sox second baseman explained that his cleat caught in the dirt while he was swinging during Wednesday’s game, leading to an ominous-sounding popping feeling in his knee when it failed to turn along with the rest of his body.  Given that knee injuries have limited to Pedroia to just nine games since the start of the 2018 season, he admitted that the pop “more kind of scared me than anything….We’re going to let it calm down for a few days and it should be all right. It just twisted the wrong way.”  Given Pedroia’s recent injury history, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Sox wait beyond the 10-day minimum to activate him from the IL.  In the opinion of Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, the team should give Pedroia more minor league rehab time before his return, as Pedroia had only a four-day stay in the minors during his first rehab stint this season and looked shaky at the plate once he reached Boston’s MLB roster.
  • Speculation continues to swirl over when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be promoted to the Blue Jays’ roster, now that more than enough days have elapsed on the service-time calendar for the Jays to gain an extra year of control over the star prospect.  Guerrero was slowed by an oblique injury suffered during Spring Training, though he hasn’t looked any worse for wear in his return to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, posting a whopping 1.324 OPS over his first 20 plate appearances.  The Jays would like to see Guerrero play in three consecutive games as part of his recovery process, though as MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm notes, this has yet to happen due to multiple rainouts on Buffalo’s schedule.  Assuming the Bisons get some good weather on their four-game series in Syracuse this week, Chisholm speculates that April 26 would seem to be the earliest potential date for Guerrero’s Toronto debut, when the Blue Jays begin a series against the Athletics at Rogers Centre.

Nathan Eovaldi To Undergo Elbow Surgery

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MONDAY: Eovaldi will go under the knife tomorrow, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports via Twitter. The club anticipates that the righty will be sidelined for four to six weeks, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com tweets.

SATURDAY, 4:27pm: Eovaldi is indeed “leaning” toward minor elbow surgery to clean up loose bodies, per Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe.

10:37am:Red Sox right-hander Nathan Eovaldi has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a loose body in his elbow, per MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. Bobby Poyner will take Eovaldi’s roster spot (Twitter links). The move is retroactive to April 18th.

This is not a new injury for Eovaldi, as just last season he had arthroscopic surgery to remove a similar loose body, causing him to miss roughly two months of the season. Obviously, Eovaldi recovered just fine, but the injury is still a blow to the defending champs as they have yet to play up to the level of expectations thus far in 2019. There has been no indication as to whether or not this current IL stint will require surgery. NBC Sports Boston’s Evan Drellich posted this report from November which gave Eovaldi a clean bill of health, though of course, Eovaldi has put a few more miles on the elbow since then.

The injury hits after just four starts this season in which Eovaldi did not record a decision, totaling 21 innings with an even 6.00 ERA. It was certainly a rough start as his walk rate was up (4.71 BB/9), strikeout rate was down (6.86 K/9), and he  surrendered 2.57 home runs per game on a 25% HR/FB rate. Those numbers were bound to normalize at least somewhat over time, though obviously this new injury revelation might speak to his early season struggles as well.

Poyner, 26, will join the team as a left-handed option out of the bullpen for the time being. He went 1-0 with a 3.22 ERA across 20 appearances out of the Red Sox pen last season with an impressive 9.7 K/9 to 1.2 BB/9 in the admittedly small sample.

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