The Red Sox have placed right-hander Joe Kelly on the 15-day disabled list with a right shoulder impingement, manager John Farrell told reporters, including the Providence Journal’s Tim Britton (Twitter link), following tonight’s game. Kelly left the game in the first inning after facing just four batters and walking two of them. He’ll join left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez on the disabled list and further deplete the Sox’ rotation for the time being, though it’s not clear exactly how long Kelly will be sidelined. The taxing night on the relief corps, though, will likely lead to another move for the BoSox, as Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald tweets that Farrell said the club will discuss making an additional roster move to offer some reprieve to a beleaguered bullpen that worked 9 1/3 innings of relief in tonight’s 10-inning game.
A timetable on Kelly, or at least further details on the matter, should be available in the coming days, but Scott Lauber of ESPN Boston tweets some potential context for the ailment, noting that Kelly’s teammate, Travis Shaw, tells him that he went more than four weeks without even throwing a ball upon being diagnosed with an impingement in his own right shoulder last October. Of course, it’s entirely possible that Kelly will face a shorter layoff from throwing, but Farrell did concede that it “looks like he’s going to miss some time,” Britton tweets.
The Sox do have a number of alternatives to step into Kelly’s spot in the rotation, and it’s also worth noting that Rodriguez is nearing a minor league rehab assignment, as he’s said to be slated for a 70- to 75-pitch appearance in an extended Spring Training game on Saturday. In the interim, the Sox will have David Price, Clay Buchholz, Rick Porcello and Steven Wright in their rotation, and that quartet could be joined by one of Roenis Elias, Henry Owens or Brian Johnson — each of whom is currently in the rotation at Triple-A Pawtucket and is on the 40-man roster. Owens pitched most recently (yesterday), so his current schedule would seem to align the best with the big league club’s need for a fifth starter, which will arise on Sunday in Houston.
roadapple
Don’t any of these trainers have players doing Egoscue therapy? Could probably fix his shoulder impingement between starts.
What a joke.
vwnut13
It’s kind of like Sandoval being on the DL, it really doesn’t hurt the team.
aggee10
Keep thinking that
User 4245925809
No offense guys, only want to point out that if you look at this Henry Owens link and every other one here at MLBTR it’s always the incorrect one for Boston prospect Henry Owens each time.
Nobby
GLO, LJ. Say hello to CPT Flint for me.
Nobby
That just means Farrell will get fired face to face very soon.
madmc44
That’s why you put some people on AAA rosters that have had ML experience and are ready to move up.. I am a Sox fan but injuries happen to every team—DD and JF make the choice do you want a relief pitcher or an unnecessary infielder that can’t hit or a 4th OF in Chris Young that is being paid $6 M to bat against LH’ders and has a hard time even against LH.
Pitching is the name of the game—it is now and it always will be.
You have Owens and Johnson–one takes Kelly’s spot and one takes Rutledge’s spot on the roster.
User 4245925809
Issue now is they need another reliever after burning through just called up Hembree and Ross for 3IP each last night. Hembree should have been on the roster out of ST, as was decent last year and has been dominant early on at Pawtucket and blew away the Rays for 3IP last night.. Touching 96 on his fb with a good slider.. They send him down and it’s 15 days before can call him backup. Nobody else at Pawtucket is as good as Hembree, tho they do have several useful relievers.. Escobar, marban. I think they should go with a 3 man bench and send back down Hernandez since they already have 1 guy in Rutledge who can play 4-5 positions in Rutledge, along with Holt who plays 7. Could work for few days until get over this short term issue.
stymeedone
Now we know why they cancelled Sandoval’s appt. with Dr. Andrews – Kelly needed it, instead.
raysdaze
Thats a shame for the Sox, who already had such a soft rotation after Price…hopefully it’s not his rotator