4:30pm: Boston announced that Garrett Whitlock will get the start for Thursday’s contest. The Red Sox also reinstated catcher Kevin Plawecki from the COVID-19 injured list this afternoon, optioning fellow backstop Connor Wong to Triple-A.
2:57pm: The Red Sox announced this afternoon they’ve added right-handers John Schreiber and Tyler Danish to the major league roster as replacements for Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford, both of whom have been placed on the restricted list. Schreiber had not previously been on the 40-man roster, while Danish had.
The Sox are kicking off a series in Toronto this evening, and players who aren’t vaccinated against COVID-19 are barred by the Canadian government from crossing the border. Under the terms of the 2022 health and safety protocols agreed upon by MLB and the Players Association, players who miss games because of their vaccination status are placed on the restricted list and don’t receive pay or service time.
Schreiber returns to the active roster, where he could get an opportunity to suit up in the big leagues for a fourth straight year. He made 18 appearances with the Tigers from 2019-20, posting an ERA above 6.00 in both seasons. Boston added him on a minor league deal during the 2020-21 offseason, and he spent the bulk of last season at Triple-A Worcester. He tossed 66 1/3 innings over 33 appearances, posting a 2.71 ERA with average strikeout and walk numbers and a strong 50% ground-ball rate. Boston selected him for one three-inning MLB appearance during their late-season COVID outbreak, then returned him to the minors.
This season, Schreiber has allowed four runs (two earned) in 10 1/3 frames with the WooSox. He’s punched out 13 batters against just two walks and will temporarily replace Crawford as a right-handed bullpen option for acting skipper Will Venable. The Red Sox’s press release noted that Schreiber had been “added” to the active roster, not that his contract had been selected. That could indicate he’s up as a designated COVID substitute, in which case Boston would be able to return him to Worcester and off the 40-man roster without clearing waivers. Danish could be assigned back to Worcester but would remain on the 40-man, since he was on there prior to today’s call.
Houck and Crawford figure to return to action when the Sox come back stateside Friday, beginning a weekend series at the Orioles. Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta and Michael Wacha are lined up for the first three games of this week’s set in Toronto, with their starter for Thursday’s game yet to be determined.
DFA Shaw , bringt Triston Casas! DFA Bradley and give Duran a chance
JBJesus’ batting stats are above team average and his defensive stats are still elite. He’s not the most pertinent issue with the team, and Duran isn’t gonna help much
Fletcher – You are right. Kiki goes before JBJ!! Think about those words. He’s leading off!!! Or batting second. Not typical for a guy batting under .200 after a month. I guess it pays to have the manager baby sit you as a child!!!
Nepotism – just one more reason Cora needs to go.
Let Duran stay and play every day. Glad he’s playing well but last year and this spring training, he proved to me he’s far from ready to help the big club. Sadly because I like Shaw, I can understand that move although I thought his ball at the Trop was fair and if it was called a home run, no one would be asking for his release.
Kiki is one of Cora’s buddies. He’ll stay right where he is.
While the Sox need to hit which they will when the weather warms up, they were outclassed in the field by Tampa. KH gives great defense so he’s not their problem.
KD – How do you like Cora (you know he’s relaying moves to Venable) putting a guy with a total of 3 IP over the last 4 years into a bases loaded tie game 8th inning high leverage situation?
I think the Sox should sign Oliver Perez, we need more relief pitchers off the scrap heap to put into high leverage situations.
That trade deadline fire sale is looking more and more likely.
This is where having the unvaccinated players really hurts. Houck being unavailable this series just took Whitlock out of any possibility to pitch in that pretty clear spot that he would have since he’s starting on Thursday. Just a disaster strategy wise.
goat – Where did you hear Whitlock will return to the pen? I think he’ll be staying in the rotation for a while.
And you can’t expect to win too many games when you score just 15 runs combined over the past 7 games.
Maybe Dalbec is ready to heat up, but half the team has been bad at the plate … especially Shaw, Arauz, Plawecki and the two Christians.
And Cora’s other buddy, Vazquez, will catch 80% of the games no matter how bad he performs.
Are you giving the starting job to KP Fever? Wong looks fine in small doses but that’s KP as well. Teams run like hell on KP who has throughout his career been best as a part-time player. CV is not the problem. Hitting and the pen are why the team is off to a slow start. If they don’t stop losing tonight, the way they lost on Saturday can lead to an eight game losing streak.
dewey – No, once the Stallings trade fell through I resigned myself to the fact that Vazquez would be the starting catcher for one final year.
But there’s no doubt in my mind Plawecki doesn’t drop that can-of-corn infield popup that Vazquez dropped to lose the game last week.
And as we’ve known for years, Eovaldi doesn’t pitch as well when Vazquez is catching him. It’s no coincidence Evo’s best game of the year last night was also the first time Vazquez didn’t catch him this year.
In all fairness to Vazquez, he’s being overworked. It’s quite ironic that despite Cora’s notorious history of over-resting most players, he forced Vazquez to catch the most innings in MLB last year. That was certainly a factor in Vaz’s mental errors and poor play last year.
I agree with you that hitting and the pen have been Boston’s two biggest problems, although the defense hasn’t been all that great either. I think the hitting will improve over time, but putting together a bargain-basement bullpen with guys off the scrap heap usually doesn’t end very well.
KP has been a surprise with the bat but simply can’t control a running game. Vasquez has played because there simply isn’t anyone else. Everyone makes an occasional mishap. Look last night at the Mets-Cardinals game.
FPG – You beat me to the punch. Daily mistakes. Been harping on it since Cora arrived. He proves he’s not fit to manage daily with his illogical batting orders, his illogical pitching changes and the huge number of games he rests his starters so “his guys” the bench warmers can play more. When the manager relates best to the guys that don’t deserve to play because they remind him of himself, the team’s in trouble!!
It took Einstein Cora over a dozen games to figure out Verdugo was hot enough to replace Kiki at the top of the order and due to the nepotism he uses daily, Verdugo comes up and Kiki stays forcing JD their second hottest hitter farther down in the order. Completely illogical but standard Cora. It’s not about winning, it’s about making those closest to him happy.
Just wait until Devers catches up on his errors. Despite 7 balls that should have been errors so far, he has yet to get one error. That means after 15 games he’s due for 3 very soon.
This year is resembling both 2019 from a luck stand point and bad preparation during Spring Training and 2020 from a performance standpoint. The talent level needs to be carried by Bogey, JD and Devers and the others need to have better than normal years. That’s simply not happening. The big three are doing their job but Story hasn’t clicked yet, Kiki looks like the .241 career hitter I’ve been reminding everyone he is, Vazquez and Plawecki aren’t hitting, Dalbec isn’t hitting, and JBJ is batting better than Kiki. Only Verdugo provides the needed excellent year so far that is needed from the non big 3 hitters.
Likewise, Nate is carrying the load as always but with Sale out all four other SPs need to have good enough starts to keep the team in the game. The pecking order should be Nate, Tanner, Whitlock, Hill and pray for rain (throwback comment to Spahn, Sain and pray for rain) since nobody is doing well enough to own that 5th spot.
Wacha has had moments that haven’t been disappointing but not enough for me to feel comfortable when he starts. As a hot and cold pitcher, he needs to start with a back-up in place should things go badly. If after an inning if it looks like he’s having a good game then he stays in or you shift to the back-up in inning two. He’s a right handed clone of E-Rod because he’s incredibly inconsistent. Thank goodness he’s a lot cheaper!!!
I laughed at E-Rod’s numbers in Detroit so far. A HUGE I told you so from me is in order!! The guy isn’t much different than Perez, a $3MM to $5MM a year #5 or # 6 pitcher that Bloom almost got stuck paying $18MM for. Thank you Detroit, we owe you one big favor!!!
Based on the skillset of the Bloom guys, the FIRE SALE would be for DD’s guys the “TAKING OUT THE TRASH” event would be for the Bloom guys. Addition through subtraction would happen if Kiki goes. If Cora could treat him equal to his ability and play him at 2B and hit him 8th or 9th I’d keep him but as long as he’s on the team a good hitter is missing a spot at the top of the order and that translates into wins not happening.
Cora never cares about what’s best for the team so lets ship him first. Maybe he could be a bench coach in LA and Bloom could go back to work with his mentor in LA too. Heck, I’d take Price off their hands if they took Cora and Bloom and I’d feel like it was a big win for Boston!!
KD – How did you like that bullpen management last night?
Who woulda thunk that if you bring in 7 relief pitchers, at least one of ’em might not have his pitches working for him. Absolutely mind-blowing!
Where there’s smoke, there’s a Fire Sale waiting to happen.
I have no idea why this team traded Renfroe for JBJ, but I suspect I know why. He cannot hit that contract is a ridiculous albatross around the team. Shaw was another cheap signing by Bloom. We needed a solid starter, sign Schwarber, and bullpen help. Except Bloom went cheap and it shows. We needed better production at first base and Schwarber would have been far better hitter than Dalbac. This team looks like Baltimore is the only thing keeping them out of last place this year. Next year they may loose JD Martinez and Boggaerts as well.
I liked the JBJ trade but ONLY because it was assumed Bloom would either bring back Schwarber or replace his bat. But with neither happening, a third of the lineup is anemic because it almost always has JBJ, Vazquez, and one of Story/Arroyo/Arauz.
Still cracks me up that Bloom didn’t think Suzuki is worth $85M however he thought Story is worth $140M.
Need to make moves at 1st base. Bye bye Travis Shaw. Hello kid? Dalbec to bench.
soxshortstop – Check the minors. Casas is nowhere near ready to be brought up. Dalbec is a slow starter and a short Spring Training is impacting lots of hitters. Kiki keeps batting high in the order while hitting under .200. Why not Kiki to the bench? He’s a lifetime .241 hitter!!!
A .903 OPS seems pretty good for Casas
Casas more than ready
vtadave – Break down his numbers further.
His average is .262 so he hasn’t mastered hitting AAA pitchers
His walk rate is .133 so he’s been walked a lot which won’t happen in MLB
His Isolated Power is .246 which means he’s power numbers are good
His SBs don’t exist but they don’t need to at his position.
Did you check his batting average by level of the minors?
Promoting a .250 hitter to the majors is a dumb move if you are in a cold strreak which Boston is in right now.
AAA – .255 in 26 games
AA – .284 in 77 games
Hi=A – .429 in two games
A – .254 in 118 games
ROK – .000 in 2 games
A .255 hitter after 26 games tells you he’s ready? Seriously? It tells me he hasn’t mastered AAA pitching. If he’s hitting .300 after 100 games then sure bring him up but he’ll probably hit about what Dalbec will be hitting at that point so you aren’t improving the team’s chances of winning.
Grasping at straws is the phrase for what you are suggesting.
ROBERTO RAMOS
Dalbac is not the answer. You need better hitting there than Dalbac can give and Shaw is done as well.
Welcome back to the bigs, John Schreiber. I never felt the Tigers gave you enough of a chance, especially considering you’re home-grown.
How can you say he never got a chance? The years he was with the Tigers he gave up more runs than the Lions scored.
I read “John Schreiber” a little too fast, and was trying to decide which “Dukes of Hazzard” joke to use before I realized my mistake.
Tyler Danish would have paired well with Todd Coffey and George Creamer; however, I prefer my Joe Black.
SAN ANTONIO TUMBLEWEEDS
BOISE POTATOES
They need to figure out the bullpen. So much inconsistency there that it is costing us games. Cora should have named a closer long ago and not made it a mystery who comes in 7th, 8th, or 9th. We have already had a bad start and if it continues, we won’t be going anywhere.
I know our offense has been bad but mismanagement of the bullpen has cost us games.
Eovaldi should have pitched the 8th tonight but Cora and Venable keep pulling pitchers to save them for later. But what about the games we are losing now? Hands down Cora was great in the postseason but he manages the regular season games poorly.
Pwndroia – agreed, Eovaldi’s pitch count was plenty low enough to pitch the 8th inning. The Red Sox should have signed an additional high leverage bullpen pitcher in the offseason.
Cora at times punts on games. He makes strange pitcher changes that leaves fans scratching their heads….
JC – You totally nailed it with your last paragraph.
Cora has gone on record saying early season games aren’t as important, which is total BS.
And I know that nobody currently in the pen has been very dependable, but Cora had at least 4 better options than Danish.
If the Sox have a losing record at the trade deadline, they will punt on the season … mark my words.
I figured they probably punted on the season in order to build up the farm when they signed retreads Wacha, Hill and Paxton.
The problem with not winning early games is you end up burning your staff for nothing. Wait until 05/02 and there are two less relievers to choose from should the starters not consistently go long.
suit – I agree on Hill and Wacha, but Paxton I think they are intending to be a multi-year guy. He won’t fetch anything this year, even if he returns in July.
If Hill and Wacha have any trade value at the deadline, they will be traded along with JD and Bogaerts. There is no way the Red Sox can compete with the roster the Blue Jays have or the Yankees have. Even if Sale had never gotten hurt Boston needed a RF with pop.
JC – The Sox should have won 3 of 4 up in Toronto, but the managing robbed them of a victory Tuesday… and today was quite possibly the WORST managed game of Cora’s career.
Xander given the day off after a 4-hit game? Sure, can’t have a hot hitter on the team … Cora MUST do what he can to cool off Xander.
And Xander allowed to take the day off even with JD unavailable? SERIOUSLY?
Arroyo allowed to play SS instead of Story? SERIOUSLY?
Arroyo had started only 12 games at SS in his entire career, and 9 of those 12 starts came in 2017. It was poetic justice the Sox pitching gave up ZERO earned runs, and still lost the game because of an error by – WAIT FOR IT – Christian Arroyo!!
Travis Shaw, a guy who has been hitless and walkless ALL SEASON, starting as the DH? SERIOUSLY? I know Cora had to have his FIFTEEN pitchers, he may as well have stuck one of them in as DH.
So the Sox lost a 1-0 game with Xander sitting on the bench for most of it, and Story watching Arroyo attempt to play shortstop. There you go, THAT’S the kind of manager Alex Cora is … and we are seeing what happens when he doesn’t have a bunch of All-Star caliber players on the roster. He’s the Grady Little and Jimy Williams of the 2020’s.
Meh….everyone goes 50-50 and your fate is what do you do with the other 62 games….what that means is you play basically 500 ball all year and go on a couple winning streaks and you are in the playoffs….Cora is right the team doesn’t have to be on fire to start the year but it can’t be in the basement either. Competition is strong in this division no one will win more than 95 games. Its not like the Dodgers or Mets where both clubs gonna easily clear 100….If we are under 500 come the All-Star break then I’d panic about the season otherwise right now it’s meh. It’s about getting the lineup right, rotation set and bullpen roles handed out. If Whitlock is going to the rotation the closer should be Robles and Diekman as his set up. Casas needs at bats right now so you the team should not call him up until the all-star break, same for Duran. The team really overperformed last season. Kiki and Renfroe played out of their minds, well above career expectations. The three all-star players in Devers, Bogarets, and JD all did well with the bat and then in the 2nd half Dalbec and Kiki got as hot as any hitters can get. Schwarber was the icing on the perverbial cake. This season only Verdugo so far is playing as well or better than last season. I wouldn’t be surprised if the team regressed back to their averages which makes this roster a 500 ball club or maybe even a bit worse.