12:20 pm: Pivetta’s flexor strain is mild, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow tells reporters (including Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe). The right-hander could come off the IL as soon he is eligible, barring any setbacks. In the meantime, the Red Sox will skip Pivetta’s turn in the rotation when off days allow and fill in the gaps with either Chase Anderson or Cooper Criswell.
11:56 am: The Red Sox have placed starting pitcher Nick Pivetta on the 15-day injured list with a right flexor strain, the team announced. The IL stint is retroactive to April 6. Brennan Bernardino has been recalled from Triple-A Worcester to fill Pivetta’s spot on the active roster.
It’s been a rough day for the Red Sox so far. Earlier this morning, manager Alex Cora revealed that shortstop Trevor Story is headed for an appointment with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache due to “concern with the bone structure” of his shoulder. His 2024 season could be in jeopardy. The possibility of losing Story and Pivetta will loom large over the Red Sox’s home opener today at Fenway Park.
Elbow problems are always worrisome, especially for pitchers, and especially given the recent rash of injuries to star hurlers like Spencer Strider, Shane Bieber, and Eury Pérez. Pivetta was expected to take the mound tomorrow against the Orioles. Now, he is not eligible to rejoin the Red Sox until April 20. There is currently no timeline for his return. However, it’s getting hard to hear the words “flexor strain” and not prepare for the worst.
Twins right-hander Anthony DeSclafani recently underwent season-ending flexor tendon surgery. Rays righty Drew Rasmussen missed most of the 2023 season and remains on the IL after suffering a flexor strain last May. At the time, he hoped to be back for the stretch run in August and September, but eventually, he needed an internal brace procedure to repair his elbow. To make things worse, flexor tendon injuries often cooccur with UCL injuries. Dodgers starter Walker Buehler initially landed on the IL with a flexor strain in June 2022; two months later, he went under the knife for Tommy John.
A perennial breakout candidate, Pivetta, 31, often underperforms his advanced metrics; he has a career 4.81 ERA and 4.00 SIERA. Still, he has blossomed into a reliable arm for the Red Sox, tossing 498 1/3 innings with a 4.26 ERA and 6.2 FanGraphs WAR since 2020. He has pitched at least 140 innings in each of the past three seasons, and his only previous trips to the IL were due to COVID-19 protocols in 2021. The righty looked especially sharp in his first two starts this season, giving up a lone earned run while striking out 13 and walking just one over 11 innings of work.
The Red Sox, already without Lucas Giolito for the season, will be hard-pressed to replace Pivetta in the rotation if his flexor strain proves to be serious. For his part, Pivetta’s injury could not have come at a worse moment. He is set to reach free agency for the first time this offseason.
What a GREAT opening day!!!!
DBH – The ’04 team ceremony wasn’t all that great. I would love for them to have a proper one, at least an hour long, where the players could talk about their experiences.
Notable absences: G38, Pedro, Bill Mueller, Embree, Mirabelli, Roberts (understandable),and Bellhorn.
Interesting looks: Damon and Manny
Players nobody would ever remember: Jimmy Anderson, Jamie Brown, Mark Malaska, Earl Snyder and Phil Seibel.
Hey Dbh/Fpg… got off work just in time to run to watering hole with Mrs Brais… 4 beers and a Reuben… and it’s time for dreams of a comeback!!! Defense shows it’s ugly self again!!!
Olm – You missed it, Johnny Damon turned the game into an R-rated broadcast … twice!
I’ll have to you- tube it.. bar had music playing/ sound off… funny saw HR and Casas Hit… then it was full belly/ beers and zzzzz’s . Checked box score.. that was all our offense!!!
Olm – There is no player in my lifetime who was more entertaining than Manny …. he’s still got it!
I love this guy ….. enjoy!
twitter.com/user/status/1777379234480009534
Will not lie… only MM and possibly Phil others clueless…
olm – Can you imagine if the 2022 or 2023 Red Sox had won a championship? All the no-names that would be at the ceremony in 2042-2043?
Agreed. Glad they featured Schilling in the retrospective, and that he didn’t show. Despise the man, but respect the player. Glad the Wakefield kids came. They are loved by many on that team and will be looked after well I’m sure. They should put the heart with his # on the clubhouse entrance to the field so every player learns of him, what he stands for, and sees it as they take the field. Just a great guy. So very sad.
Everythings under control. Theres nothing wrong with the pitch clock or any new rules. -manfred
Our arms are about to fall off!! -mlb pitchers
It isn’t the clock, it’s making every pitch at max velo and spin rate
The pitch clock certainly isn’t helping.
Not an excuse however. The sweeper and velo are the main arguments I make. As for Pivetta, he’s been a pretty quick worker between pitches
Angry – That’s like saying you’ve gained weight from the salad dressing you’ve been using, while ignoring the two Big Macs, large fries and chocolate shakes you are eating every day.
Pitch clock has probably 10% of the cause, if that.
dewey – The broadcast guys and Millar all agreed, it’s not the pitch clock …. it’s the velo and sweeper.
I said it first Fever. LOL. Velo and curves starting at a young age. Now the sweeper.
FPG, just got back from work, a 10hr day. Read your reply to “angry” and now I am ordering from grubhub……2 big macs, large fries, strawberry shake and a 6 piece…
These calories are all on your head….
cpd – Haha …. I’ve been there my friend! Mickey D’s has strawberry shakes? I usually go for the chocolate, but I do like strawberry … you’ve talked me into it for next time!
Now the sweeper.
==================
One of the Mariner RPs started off three straight RS hitters with a sweeper. They were unhittable. Three straight 0-1 counts.
Brilliant pitching, but will the pitcher last 6 years?
These calories are all on your head….
===============================
Remember, it is not the calories that make you fat, it is how much time you allow between bites.
“It isn’t the clock”…Are you sure?…My wife recently left me after she found me having sex with her best friend. I totally blame the pitch clock for this. This would have never happened before Manfred instituted the darn pitch clock.
elmininating the pitch clock will not bring your wife back, sorry.
If the wife is doing the timing, there are bigger issues.
yeah – You ever try having sex while using a timer? It could definitely help him hold onto his wife ;O)
@mlb fan,
I’ll never look at the pitch clock again the same way.
you sure it was the pitch clock and not the little league bat you were using…..
Can’t help it. It’s what I was born with. As Buddy Hackett used to say, with what I’m left with, there must me much more in heaven when I get there …
It’s the WBC
@DBH1969
I blame all the rules since the start of MLB.
baseball-almanac.com/rulechng.shtml
Teams used to have to score 21 runs to end the game but then they shortened the game to only 9 innings and whoever had the most points won. That’s really impacted the pitchers ability to control the pace of the game.
Ridiculous!
I know, right? And why do teams get 3 outs??? There’s no mulligans in baseball!!+!
Bring on the Slaughter Rule, like in Little League. Lead by 10 after 6 innings and the game is over. That would cut down on pitches.
Exactly DBH…..It’s not even the fastballs its the torque put on the elbow to get max spin. My brother grew up as a pitcher from little league until 15 years old. At 15 he had a fastball already over 90 mph and played CF. The orthopedic surgeon who led the charge for pitch counts on little leaguers Dr. Carl Nissen explained to us he really wasn’t concerned about fastballs. His concern was the torque put on the wrist and elbow on breaking pìtches to get a max spin rate. That movement is unnatural and without proper rest and icing to bring down inflammation after the game it will lead to UCL or Tommy John surgeries. My brother decided playing CF was best for him, even though his teammates begged him to keep pitching. He was one of the best in the state when he decided he was tired of arm pain.
If they allowed the dreaded sticky substances to return, wouldn’t that alleviate a lot of this stress?
Probably not, you’d just get more movement on pitches. Pitchers will still be throwing max effort. See back in the day when it was understood a starter was going at least 7, they were able to do it by taking some off their fastballs and not throwing 100. That’s why the average starter’s fastballs was just 92-95 or so. They knew they had to save some in the tank because they will be throwing 120+ pitches. So, with the expected pitch count now only being about 90 pitches they are pitching max effort everything. It’s like going to the gym and bench pressing your max and trying to get 90 lifts in. In the past ya did half the weight and put it up 130 times and felt great. That’s why pitchers went longer in games in the past, the whole game wasn’t max effort.
I doubt it. That would just add to the spin rate.. My thinking is that pitchers will do anything legal, and sometimes illegal, to get an edge.
Probably just like all athletes.
Now pitching for the Sox, Bob from section C, row 2!
DBH – NOW we will see how much (or little) depth the Sox have.
This is a huge, huge loss if it turns into a lengthy injury.
Agreed. There was more than enough short term pitching available this off season without needing to sign albatross contracts. How good does Lorenzo look now? And the others?
DBH – Wacha has a 2.25 ERA and 0.583 WHIP.
Lugo has a 0.71 ERA and 1.026 WHIP.
Yes it’s obviously early, but so far it looks like an embarrassing decision to not sign either of those two guys.
Heck, signing Wacha to that one year was one of the best things Bloom did!
Any injury to that rotation is a huge problem.
So true Fever. Anyone not familiar with guys the Sox have at AAA and can start? 3 are retreads/career milb guys, who soft toss their way around. other 2 (Fitts, Gambrel) are 1st season above AA and way, way to raw to start any mlb game, emergency or not.
NO help possible from AA either. Sure, wikleman gonzalez “might” develop into something, but he’s barely pitched at AA. Couple others there that, if lucky could be middle relievers at MLB level.
Sox milb pitching really is that bad.
John – Great points you made! It’s inexcusable, with the plethora of quality pitchers available last offseason, the Sox didn’t sign anybody except Gio (injured), Hendriks (injured) and Joely (sucks).
Is Tommy Milone available ??
Ignorant – At this point I’d take Sammy Malone.
This one is gonna sting..lack of pitching depth will now be fully exposed
Is it Story’s shoulder or elbow?
Shoulder I belive. It was dislocated, and now it seems damage to the bone. Tough break for the guy. No pun intended
“Shoulder or elbow”?…Yes.
Lol!++
MlBfan on his game today!!! And his old lady’s BFF!
Way to celebrate OD, bro!
*article corrected
Oh no, here we go again.
Sheesh
Elbow issues are spreading like herpes in a brothel.
Elbow issues spreading like lines of yayo in the clubhouse of the 86 Mets
Will there be any pitchers in the All-Star game this year?
As I posted above, York…. Bob. Section C, row 2.
Oooo boooy…
Glad the Sox went out and grabbed more good pitchers….oo wait…
Seriously, is anyone else having visions of Henry screaming like a mad man, right now, at his PR department, “More Fenway Park Experience commercials… HURRY!!!!”
DBH – In all seriousness, John Henry had to feel kinda embarrassed looking at that 2004 video and seeing all those truly great 2004 players …. and then looking at today’s lineup.
Like Manny said yesterday, the Sox could use his bat in the lineup.
It is about time that baseball is shut down
Another guy who can have his surgery, then get his cheetos and sit on the couch for a year and get paid.
HOT!!!!
Wow..huge sigh of relief on mild strain and potential to pitch when first eligible..sox dodged.a major bullet it seems
I don’t believe it. They are going to throw this guy out there to pitch and will completely blow his arm out.
Randy johnson
Pedro martinez
Greg maddux
Tom glavine
Never had TJ
Its absolutely a modern epidemic
And manfred doesnt give a crap
He is a disgrace beyond words
The sport should be ashamed of itself
“Should be ashamed of itself”..Faux outrage much?
Manfred’s Mess !!
Cal Ripken Jr.
Lou Gehrig
Everett Scott
Steve Garvey
Never missed a game.
Manfred must force players to stay on the field. Who cares if players get hurt since they brought it upon themselves?! We must keep our small brains entertained! /s
@Johnny utah
Most of those pitchers didn’t throw hard all the time. Johnson averaged around 92mph but was able to dial it up or down as needed. Maddux wasn’t a power pitcher so he relied on actually being a pitcher and pitch to the situation. He got a lot of weak contact and this was during the steroid period. His Fastball didn’t even top 90mph.
@york
You sound like mlb PR team lol
Managing this obvious crisis with excuses to avoid admitting any fault whatsoever
@Johnny utah
I thought I was suggesting that pitchers used to adjust speeds and pitch to the situation, not just throw real hard. I don’t think I was defending MLB or the players.
Yea they adjusted
They also didnt have to sweat out a pitch clock for 2 hours
Mark Buehrle pitched quick all the time. You’d think if it was a time issue, he would have had early arm problems. He rarely topped out beyond low 90s. Buehrle averaged 15.8 seconds between pitches.
The problem is that we’re so focused on lighting up the radar with that 100+ mph throw, but what good is that when you end up having TJS once or even twice for some pitchers? Wouldn’t you want to stay on the field all the time? Pitchers are no longer pitchers, today. They’re chuckers. I chuck balls to my son for BP. I’m not pitching to him. Guy’s throwing 100+ all the time aren’t really pitching anymore.
That’s minimizing pitchers’ abilities as if anyone who can throw hard can be a MLB pitcher. There’s a huge difference between a flat fastball and one with movement. One can argue that making it up to and staying in the big show is more competitive today. The rewards outweigh the risks.
@MLB Fanatic
the concern is not about minimizing pitchers’ abilities but rather highlighting the potential risks associated with prioritizing velocity over longevity and health.
I Just don’t think the human elbow was designed to throw a baseball 100 mph every few days for a period of years.
Tough to be a Red Sox fan, atm, players dropping like crazy….
CTS – You nailed it, the Red Sox view fans as their personal ATM.
I think that’s gonna change in a big way this season if the players don’t stay healthy and over-perform.
I think crisswell provides an interesting option until Pivetta comes back. he seems to have good stuff
They always seem mild in the beginning
LOL Yeahhhh…
This totally effects our chances at the WS… wait.
Yeah, no one likes talking baseball in early April unless it directly correlates with the results of the World Series.
Completely speculation on my part, but isn’t this current era one of the first crops of the “travel team” generation? They get to high school already having played year-round baseball since they were 10 years old with countless reps throwing breaking stuff that really breaks, not just spins. Previous generations played whatever sport was in season rather than just one all year. 18 year olds are showing up to college with the same miles on their arm as a 28 year old in the 90’s/00’s. The statcast/analytic influence can’t be ignored either as there are now countless measurements that directly impact what these guys get paid on the mound.
travel baseball and the showcases were very much a thing when i was in high school in the early 90s..probably grown since but it wasnt uncommon for the best young talent to be heavily involved even back then
In speaking to MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince recently upon his retirement, surgeon Dr. James Andrews said the rash of elbow injuries can be traced back to amateur baseball.
“I started following the injury patterns and injury rates in the year 2000,” said Andrews. “Back in those days, I did about eight or nine Tommy Johns per year in high school aged and younger. The large majority of Tommy Johns were at the Major League level, then the Minor League level, then the college level and then just a handful of high school kids.
“In today’s situation, the whole thing is flip-flopped. The largest number is youth baseball. They’ve surpassed what’s being done in the Major Leagues. That’s a terrible situation.”
Andrews believes the obsession with velocity and spin at the youth level is the biggest culprit.
“These kids are throwing 90 mph their junior year of high school,” he says. “The ligament itself can’t withstand that kind of force. We’ve learned in our research lab that baseball is a developmental sport. The Tommy John ligament matures at about age 26. In high school, the red line where the forces go beyond the tensile properties of the ligament is about 80 mph.”
There you go, I have to believe Dr. Andrews knows what he’s talking about.
Some how, some way, Story’s injury will be Cora’s fault.
Tom – I saw Cora motioning to Story to move over right before the play that injured him.
Haha ….. j/k.