The latest injuries: a permanent wave?

Petagine in a Bottle

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 13, 2021
15,167
Heineman is the other position player option, but given Romy being unavailable today, Dalbec should probably be the move so we have a 3B backup.

O'Neill is supposed to be available early next week.
Heineman is an interesting option in that they could play Wong at 2b. But yeah, probably and hopefully just a very short term move no matter whom it is.
 

nvalvo

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
22,584
Rogers Park
What’s the roster move here? Dalbec is the only available infielder on the 40. (Edit- the only available IF/OF, period).
Excellent question.

It isn't just Grissom to replace for a few weeks; we also have Yoshida hitting off a tee now and O'Neill hopefully returning before him, before Casas' return from the 60-day (in 3 weeks?) requires bumping someone from the 40-man. I would want to avoid calling up Dalbec, who has a 40% K-rate in AAA right now; that doesn't seem like a great plan if he'll be called on to play at all.

So taking that into account, I suspect that we may come to some sort of resolution of the Cooper/Smith experiment in the coming days as well, and maybe a Dalbec DFA, in order to rebalance the 40-man away from 1Bs who can't hit.

There are a few guys off the 40-man hitting well in the minors who will be rule-5 eligible this fall (and thus need to be rostered if they're going to be).
  • SW IF Nick Sogard (.848 OPS in AAA)
  • LHH 1B/C/DH Niko Kavadas (.995 OPS in AAA)
  • RHH IF/OF Matthew Lugo (1.069 OPS in AA)
I might honestly go with Lugo.
 

E5 Yaz

polka king
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Apr 25, 2002
95,267
Oregon
@PeteAbe
Bunch of moves for the Sox:
* Vaughn Grissom on 10-day IL with a right hamstring strain.
* Romy Gonzalez on 10-day IL, retroactive to 5-31, with a left hamstring strain.
* Garrett Whitlock to 60-day IL.
* Selected UTIL Jamie Westbrook. He has no. 73.
* Recalled Bobby Dalbec
 

Coachster

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 3, 2009
9,244
Maine
@PeteAbe
Bunch of moves for the Sox:
* Vaughn Grissom on 10-day IL with a right hamstring strain.
* Romy Gonzalez on 10-day IL, retroactive to 5-31, with a left hamstring strain.
* Garrett Whitlock to 60-day IL.
* Selected UTIL Jamie Westbrook. He has no. 73.
* Recalled Bobby Dalbec
@E5 Yaz, did you edit that list so the Dalbec news came last? If it was first, I would have said 'oh f*ck' and stopped reading.
 

Petagine in a Bottle

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 13, 2021
15,167
Westbrook is from Springfield, but appears to have grown up in AZ. Has played all over the world, so a pretty cool story. Having a solid year in Worcester, with a 267/364/436 line. Good year for the Yankees AAA club last year. Hope he makes the most of his opportunity!
 

simplicio

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 11, 2012
9,005
I'm happy for Westbrook, finally getting the call after toiling in AAA since 2018. Will be interesting to see which of them stays once O'Neill returns.
 

Fishy1

Head Mason
SoSH Member
Nov 10, 2006
7,964
Westbrook is from Springfield, but appears to have grown up in AZ. Has played all over the world, so a pretty cool story. Having a solid year in Worcester, with a 267/364/436 line. Good year for the Yankees AAA club last year. Hope he makes the most of his opportunity!
Westbrook has always shown solid patience, low K rates, and some pop. I remember being surprised when we signed him that he'd never gotten a chance with a big league team, given his success. Good for him!
 

The Gray Eagle

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2001
17,777
Westbrook like to call himself Barrell Man because he barrels up the ball so often. Also, he looks a little like a keg on legs.
https://www.audacy.com/weei/sports/red-sox/meet-the-red-sox-player-they-call-barrel-man

Clearly, they really don't want to add Meidroth or Sogard to the 40-man right now, so we get more Bobby D. Personally I would have given Sogard a shot and if we had to DFA him later, seems like not a big deal. But maybe they feel like he has a future as a utility guy.

Also, more bad luck for Romy. He has looked like a solid, useful player whenever he's been healthy, but...
 

mwonow

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 4, 2005
7,507
Yep. too bad for Romy and the newest Vaughn. And too bad they can't mash them up - they'd have one guy who's available to play, and one who needs a wheelchair.
 

AbbyNoho

broke her neck in costa rica
SoSH Member
Jan 20, 2006
12,196
Northampton, Massachusetts
Westbrook is from Springfield, but appears to have grown up in AZ. Has played all over the world, so a pretty cool story. Having a solid year in Worcester, with a 267/364/436 line. Good year for the Yankees AAA club last year. Hope he makes the most of his opportunity!
He was born in a Springfield hospital but grew up in Holyoke until he moved to Arizona. He's my nephew's second cousin, which means nothing but is kind of cool.
 

Petagine in a Bottle

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 13, 2021
15,167
Wow, they are kind of out of guys to call up, aren’t they? DFA Heineman to get an OF up? Maybe Walter to the 70 day? Ugh (Edit- Heinemen is up!)
 

Rovin Romine

Johnny Rico
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
25,961
Miami (oh, Miami!)
Wow, they are kind of out of guys to call up, aren’t they? DFA Heineman to get an OF up? Maybe Walter to the 70 day? Ugh (Edit- Heinemen is up!)
Yeah, they have no minor league position players left on the 40 man, and they just added one of their "break glass" options in Westbrook.

As far as fungible OFs go. . .Contreras had a good May but isn't hitting well overall. I think he's the most likely OF you add and just DFA afterward to clear a 40-man spot.
 

Humphrey

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 3, 2010
3,419
He was born in a Springfield hospital but grew up in Holyoke until he moved to Arizona. He's my nephew's second cousin, which means nothing but is kind of cool.
Is he related to Lawrence Westbrook; who played hoop at Minnesota but came from Arizona? Lawrence's dad was definitely from Holyoke, so I got to think it's his brother or cousin.
 

Cornbread55

New Member
Jul 16, 2005
6
The Promised Land
Is he related to Lawrence Westbrook; who played hoop at Minnesota but came from Arizona? Lawrence's dad was definitely from Holyoke, so I got to think it's his brother or cousin.
Yes, he is. There are at least half a dozen folks from that family who have excelled at sports at various levels (college+). I teach in Springfield, and 2 former colleagues of mine are his cousins, and they are ecstatic. He sounds like a righteous guy.
 

Fishy1

Head Mason
SoSH Member
Nov 10, 2006
7,964
Pretty crazy looking at the fangraphs injury report. Few teams that really rival the Sox in terms of volume of guys injured from my quick perusal. 20 DL stints for the Sox (13 currently). Six of which are 60-day, and with one guy maybe headed for 60 day (Grissom).

White Sox have 19 DL stints. 19 for the Athletics (10 current). 16 for the Yankees (9 currently, 6 on the 60 day), but with the exception of Cole and Schmidt, mostly to relief pitching depth. 17 to the Rays, 7 currently (most of their injuries occurred in March, and their guys were largely back by May). Rangers have had 19, with 12 guys currently injured, NINE of which are on the 60 day IL). Giants also have 20 guys who've hit the IL this year, with 7 of them on the 60-day.

So the Sox aren't uniquely injured, but they're definitely at the bottom of the barrel in terms of volume of guys who've been on the DL and number who are currently on the 60 day. Unsurprisingly, the list of teams with the most injured guys has a lot of middling-to-bad teams.

The difference between 20 and 15 or so may not seem massive, but when you consider the Sox have lost 3 starting pitchers (Giolito, Whitlock, and Murphy), two starting position players (Story and Casas) and Grissom has effectively been on the 60 day DL, it's starts to seem pretty insane.

https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/injury-report?&timeframe=all
 

simplicio

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 11, 2012
9,005
Is Grissom's new hammy that bad? I thought it was more minor than that.

Shout out to the White Sox losing 3 outfielders in two days, that's skillful.
 

Fishy1

Head Mason
SoSH Member
Nov 10, 2006
7,964
Is Grissom's new hammy that bad? I thought it was more minor than that.

Shout out to the White Sox losing 3 outfielders in two days, that's skillful.
I think it's unclear. Could be a light pull, could not be. But they sent him for imaging, which they didn't do for Romy, for example, who also strained his hamstring, and is expected to come off the 10-day DL pretty fast.

Excited, by the way, to see what Romy might do with a little more time. He's been hitting the ball hard at elite rates and striking out very little in the small number of at-bats he's been given.
 

GB5

New Member
Aug 26, 2013
773
Word from the Twitter world is that Martin is joining the DL party, being added today.
 

budcrew08

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 30, 2007
9,049
upstate NY
The Martin IL trip is for anxiety and you can’t heal that like a bad hamstring. Hopefully Chris will be OK, baseball be damned.
 

The Gray Eagle

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2001
17,777
I hadn't heard anything before about Yoshida going on a rehab assignment, so that's something.
Unfortunately, Casas still isn't swinging a bat at all.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5541825/2024/06/04/red-sox-wilyer-abreu-injured-list/

With Abreu out and Vaughn Grissom and Romy Gonzalez landing back on the IL over the weekend with hamstring strains, the active roster is thin. Tyler O’Neill is nearing a return from a knee injury after a rehab stint in Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday. He could be activated on Wednesday or Thursday when the team heads to Chicago. Masataka Yoshida, who’s been out since May 1, is expected to begin a rehab assignment this weekend. Triston Casas is still not swinging a bat.
The Glob says there's a good chance O'Neill will be back tonight:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/06/04/sports/red-sox-place-wilyer-abreu-10-day-injured-list-with-ankle-sprain/
Left fielder Tyler O’Neill (knee) is set to return after emerging healthy from Tuesday’s game as the designated hitter (0 for 3, strikeout) for Triple A Worcester. Manager Alex Cora said there’s a good chance O’Neill will be active for Wednesday’s series finale, but since spring training, the Sox have never featured the club at full strength.
Same article has more on Casas-- "very much unlikely" he will be able to play by June 21:
Triston Casas, recovering from a ribcage strain, aimed to return from the 60-day injured list on June 21, the first day he was eligible. However, considering Casas still isn’t swinging a bat, that date is very much unlikely.
Cora revealed that while the first baseman has been taking grounders and working out in the weight room, Casas is still experiencing pain in that area when he swings.
“When he [rotates], he still feels it,” Cora said. So whenever he feels better about it and he doesn’t feel pain, then is the next step. It’s not about treatment or whatever. It just kind of had to heal on its own.”
The Sox have felt the impact of losing Casas, who was a force in the middle of the order in just his second full season. The left handed hitter had a line of .244/.344/.513 with an .857 OPS and six homers in just 22 games prior to the injury.
And also Yoshida:
There’s a chance Masataka Yoshida (thumb sprain) will begin a minor league rehab assignment this weekend. The designated hitter’s timetable for a return to the parent club, however, will be based on how he feels.
“I think it’s up to him,” Cora said. “We can speed up the process with [pitching machines] and all that but there’s nothing more realistic than getting at-bats in really game situations. We will see how he reacts from it.”
Romy G could be back Sunday:
Romy Gonzalez (hamstring strain) is progressing. The Red Sox remain hopeful the utility player will return to the club as soon as he’s eligible to come off the injured list, which would be as soon as Sunday.
 
Last edited:

Archer1979

shazowies
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
8,823
Right Here
At this point, I'd be reluctant to have all the players on the active roster travelling together. 25 players, 25 cabs seems like a prudent approach.
 

YTF

Member
SoSH Member
Pretty crazy looking at the fangraphs injury report. Few teams that really rival the Sox in terms of volume of guys injured from my quick perusal. 20 DL stints for the Sox (13 currently). Six of which are 60-day, and with one guy maybe headed for 60 day (Grissom).

White Sox have 19 DL stints. 19 for the Athletics (10 current). 16 for the Yankees (9 currently, 6 on the 60 day), but with the exception of Cole and Schmidt, mostly to relief pitching depth. 17 to the Rays, 7 currently (most of their injuries occurred in March, and their guys were largely back by May). Rangers have had 19, with 12 guys currently injured, NINE of which are on the 60 day IL). Giants also have 20 guys who've hit the IL this year, with 7 of them on the 60-day.

So the Sox aren't uniquely injured, but they're definitely at the bottom of the barrel in terms of volume of guys who've been on the DL and number who are currently on the 60 day. Unsurprisingly, the list of teams with the most injured guys has a lot of middling-to-bad teams.

The difference between 20 and 15 or so may not seem massive, but when you consider the Sox have lost 3 starting pitchers (Giolito, Whitlock, and Murphy), two starting position players (Story and Casas) and Grissom has effectively been on the 60 day DL, it's starts to seem pretty insane.

https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/injury-report?&timeframe=all
The big issue in all of this for any team is not only the number of injuries that have occurred, but how many are injured at the same time and the effect on the 40 man roster. For example, ATM the Sox are currently carrying 3 catchers because the last remaining player on the 40 man roster is a catcher.
 

Sin Duda

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
1,148
(B)Austin Texas
Did MLBers really watch the whole game again after playing? That had to be a small minority, maybe bench players trying to gain every edge. Now, I'm sure they get a cut-up of their PAs and fielding plays before they're done showering.
 

Fishy1

Head Mason
SoSH Member
Nov 10, 2006
7,964
Did MLBers really watch the whole game again after playing? That had to be a small minority, maybe bench players trying to gain every edge. Now, I'm sure they get a cut-up of their PAs and fielding plays before they're done showering.
I think his point was that he was so horribly anxious about his performance that he watched the whole game over and over again.

As for today's players, yeah, video review is advanced enough now that any Joe Schmoe (or Sin Duda!) can cycle through any of the players at-bats on a given night just by using the MLB video player. Literally you can see every pitch of the game, for free.
 

sezwho

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
2,461
Isle of Plum
I think his point was that he was so horribly anxious about his performance that he watched the whole game over and over again.

As for today's players, yeah, video review is advanced enough now that any Joe Schmoe (or Sin Duda!) can cycle through any of the players at-bats on a given night just by using the MLB video player. Literally you can see every pitch of the game, for free.
Recall Remy saying something similar, that he took an 0-4 home. Not just rethinking/revisiting, but being on edge with family.
 

Sin Duda

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
1,148
(B)Austin Texas
I know it's not the Sox, but ESPN reports "the Orioles received a double dose of terrible news this week: Starters John Means and Tyler Wells were both lost for the season with UCL damage that requires Tommy John surgery. Both pitchers have undergone the procedure before."

Let's see how they hold up with such news.
 

The Gray Eagle

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2001
17,777
Glob Yoshida update: he hit against a pitching machine, but felt some pain when he got jammed:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/06/06/sports/red-sox-netflix-anxiety/

Cora doesn't sound particularly impressed.

Yoshida took swings off the Red Sox’ specialized pitching machine. Overall, Yoshida felt good but got jammed on a few pitches and felt some pain.
Cora’s response to that?
“Well, get the bat head out,” said Cora.
The remark might have been a bit tongue in cheek. But underneath Cora’s statement was some truth. The Sox need to get Yoshida back in action.
The Sox DH has been on the IL for more than a month. While with the A’s in 2018, Matt Chapman — now with the Giants — had a similar injury roughly a week into spring training after getting a cortisone shot.
Yoshida could start a rehab assignment this weekend. But that will be up to him. The Sox are hopeful that when he does begin one, it won’t be too long, considering he will just be expected to DH.
“We won’t need to get his feet under him and all that stuff,” said Cora. “So, whenever he feels ready, he’s ready. I don’t know how many at-bats that’s going be. With him it’s very simple timing wise. When he’s ready to compete at this level, we’ll bring him here.”
That comment about Matt Chapman's similar injury is weird, like they forgot to include the next sentence.

This article from June 2018 talks about Chapman going back on the DL that season after the cortisone shot:
After feeling fine swinging the bat in January and February, Chapman began to feel the pain again during spring training and received a cortisone shot. The pain had lingered throughout the season, but it reached a boiling point Thursday.
“I was trying to push through it and obviously just couldn’t do it anymore,” Chapman said. “The last couple of days I really started noticing it again. It probably wasn’t good of me to not say anything. I wanted to be out there for the team, but at the same time, you can’t hurt the team.”
Looks like after the shot, Chapman started the season on time, played through pain, had to go on the DL in June, then was back in about 3 weeks and hit well afterward.

Yoshida got a cortisone shot a while back, and was apparently taking BP and doing well last weekend, according to the Herald:
https://www.bostonherald.com/2024/06/01/red-sox-masataka-yoshida-triston-casas-tyler-oneill-alex-cora-injuries/
Masataka Yoshida took batting practice with his teammates on Saturday afternoon, a promising step forward for the Red Sox designated hitter, who hasn’t played since April 28 due to a thumb injury.
“I’m glad I was able to hit pain-free, that was something I accomplished today,” he said in the dugout after (via translator Yutaro Yamaguchi).
With Yoshida no longer feeling pain, Alex Cora expects batting practice will be “every day” moving forward.
Yoshida got some hand injury advice from Pedroia:
“Pedroia was very helpful, because he went through something similar,” Cora revealed.
The legendary Red Sox second baseman famously injured his thumb on Opening Day 2013, and played through pain until mid-November, once Boston had won their third World Series of the century. He and Yoshida communicated through the medical trainers, Yamaguchi relayed.
Yoshida is already looking ahead to beginning a rehab assignment, though that won’t happen immediately.
The Glob article on Casas: he hopes to be able to start swinging a bat soon:
Casa is hopeful he can begin swinging by the end of the week, the first baseman told NESN Wednesday.
“Hopefully,” said Cora with a smile. “He’s been saying a lot lately. That means that he’s feeling better.”
Casas will return once he’s pain free. At times, he felt some pain when rotating, which is why he hasn’t been swinging. But now, Casas seems to be progressing.
“He’s been reacting well to everything,” said Cora. “He’s been patient, too. If he’s saying [he hopes to swing a bat by the end of the week], it’s probably going to happen.”
 
Last edited:

Fishy1

Head Mason
SoSH Member
Nov 10, 2006
7,964
O'Neill is hopeful he won't need IL time. Color me skeptical.

O'Neill walked off the field gingerly with one out in the bottom of the third inning in Friday's eventual 7-2 loss to the White Sox, accompanied by manager Alex Cora and a trainer. The 28-year-old felt discomfort in his knee catching a Paul DeJong fly ball in the second inning.
O'Neill was activated off the 10-day injured list on Wednesday after missing nine games with right knee inflammation. He was hopeful this flare-up will not require another IL stint.
“I still don’t think the diagnosis has changed,” O’Neill said. “Nothing structural or any worry about that. Just a bit of a flare-up. Hopefully give it some time, let it calm down a little bit. Really hoping it’s just a couple of days.”
Cora noted the Red Sox will discuss leading up to Saturday's game whether they need to make a roster move to avoid playing shorthanded, even if it's just for a few days.
 

geoflin

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Feb 26, 2004
787
Melrose MA
If the roster move is Heineman again, and I think he's the only available position player on the 40 man, why even bother. Especially if it means O'Neill, who might be ready in 3 days, has to be out for 10.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 23, 2009
22,608
Maine
If the roster move is Heineman again, and I think he's the only available position player on the 40 man, why even bother. Especially if it means O'Neill, who might be ready in 3 days, has to be out for 10.
Can't imagine the move would be Heineman if O'Neill goes back on the IL. As I pointed out in the lineup thread, they can move Bryan Mata to the 60-day IL to clear a space to add another position player to the 40-man. That has to be preferable to adding a third catcher to the roster.

Though with the versatility of the bench players they have now, they might be able to survive just sitting O'Neill out for a couple days, or even just DHing to keep his bat in the lineup but him otherwise off his feet. Aside from the presumed starters (Duran, Rafaela, Refsnyder), they have at least four more guys who have played the outfield in some capacity in their careers: Dalbec, Smith, Cooper, and Westbrook. While not ideal, they could get by with one of those guys handling a few innings here and there as needed.