Shugart, 27, gets the call to the big leagues for the first time. A 12th-round pick of the Sox in 2018, he has been working his way up the minor league ladder since then. He worked exclusively as a starter through 2021 but has primarily been working out of the bullpen since then.

His initial forays into Triple-A ball didn’t go well, as he posted a 6.82 earned run average at that level in 2022 and then an 8.22 ERA there last year. He’s had more success here in 2024, with a 4.98 ERA in 59 2/3 innings. That’s largely come in a multi-inning capacity, as he’s logged those frames over 28 appearances, including five starts. His 10.9% walk rate is a bit on the high side but he has punched out 26.6% of opponents this year and gotten grounders on 46.8% of balls in play.

Baseball America had Shugart on the back end of their organizational top 30 list back in 2019 and 2020 but not in recent years. The Sox are likely going to be leaning on him for a long man role in the coming days. Paxton suffered his injury after recording just two outs, forcing the bullpen to do yeoman’s work. Bernardino tossed an inning a third while each of Lucas Sims, Luis García and Cam Booser tossed two innings. First baseman Dominic Smith pitched a scoreless ninth with the Sox down 10-2 to the Astros. The Sox also did a bullpen game the day before, with Josh Winckowski covering three innings, Brad Keller eating up four, while Zack Kelly and Chris Martin picked up one each.

All told, the pitching staff is fairly taxed and the Sox don’t have another off-day until August 22, over a week from now. Righty Cooper Criswell went on the COVID IL recently and has an unknown timeline. With Paxton now out as well, the rotation is down to Bello, Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck and Nick Pivetta. Perhaps Winckowski will get another shot after throwing three innings on the weekend, or perhaps Criswell can make a quick return. The club also has Quinn Priester on optional assignment and could recall him at some point. But in the meantime, Shugart can sop up some innings, if needed.

Gasper, 28, was also selected in the 2018 draft, but by the Yankees. He came to the Red Sox via the minor league phase of the 2023 Rule 5 draft. He has generally put up positive numbers in a hit-over-power fashion, though he’s always been old for whatever level he’s been playing at. He didn’t reach Triple-A until last year, his age-27 season, and hit .191/.295/.265 in his first 22 games at that level.

This year has gone much better. He’s played 44 Double-A games and 40 at Triple-A. Between those two clubs, he has a 15.9% walk rate, 11% strikeout rate and .341/.458/.559 batting line that translates to a wRC+ of 175.

Despite the massive batting line, Gasper’s not really considered a top prospect, though it would make for a great story if he could engineer a late-bloomer breakout. He has played catcher, first base and second base this year, in addition to a bit of third base time in previous seasons. He figures to slot into the club’s bench mix, giving them depth at various spots.

Westbrook, 29, signed a minor league deal with Boston in the offseason. They selected his contract in June, his first time cracking a major league roster. He has received 48 big league plate appearances so far, hitting just .150/.234/.350 in that small sample. He has always hit well in the minors and that’s still true this year. He has a line of .291/.381/.475 in 71 Triple-A games, drawing walks at a strong 12% clip and limiting his strikeouts to a 17.2% clip.

Defensively, he has played the three non-shortstop infield positions as well as right field this year. Since the trade deadline has passed, the Sox will have no choice but to put him on waivers in the coming days. If any team puts in a claim, Westbrook still has a full slate of options and just a few days of service time.

• The Diamondbacks reinstated Zach Davies from the 15-day IL, while also calling up Drey Jameson from Triple-A and optioning right-handers Brandon Pfaadt and Luis Frias.  Davies made just two starts and threw 9 1/3 innings before going on the IL in early April due to a strained left oblique, but he’ll now return to Arizona’s rotation, beginning with tonight’s game against the Red Sox.  Between Davies’ injury and Madison Bumgarner’s release, the D’Backs have turned to several of their younger pitchers to try and stabilize the rotation, but none of Ryne Nelson, Tommy Henry, Pfaadt, or Jameson have done particularly well in starting duty.
• Garrett Whitlock will be the opposing starter against Davies tonight, as the Red Sox have activated the right-hander from the 15-day IL.  The corresponding move took place yesterday, as Boston optioned left-hander Brennan Bernardino to Triple-A following Friday’s 7-2 win over the D’Backs.  Whitlock has missed a month due to ulnar neuritis, or essentially inflammation of the funny bone near his right elbow.  Whitlock has a 6.19 ERA over three starts and 16 innings this season, and while his results as a starter have been middling over the last two seasons, the Red Sox will continue to give Whitlock looks in the rotation.  Struggling veteran Corey Kluber will be moved to the bullpen to accommodate Whitlock’s return to the starting five.

The Red Sox have stuck with the right-hander through his struggles, and manager Alex Cora indicated over the weekend that Kluber will make his next scheduled start on the road against the D-backs, writes Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. That’ll mean the Red Sox will continue with a six-man rotation of Chris Sale, James Paxton, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, a returning Garrett Whitlock — he’s expected to be activated from the injured list for Saturday’s start — and Kluber. However, Cora declined to commit to the permanence of that arrangement (or lack thereof). Asked if that group would continue to start for the foreseeable future, Cora replied: “For the foreseeable week, let’s put it that way.”

Whether the Sox would pull the plug on Kluber’s tenure entirely or look to move him to the bullpen, as they did with Nick Pivetta, is likely still being determined by the team’s front office. Certainly, the hope would be for Kluber to right the ship and begin to make good on the $10MM contract he signed over the winter, but there’s been little in the way of positives to foster optimism.

Boston’s bullpen, in general, has been solid this season, ranking 13th in the Majors with a 3.84 ERA. However, some cracks have begun to form over the past couple weeks. Closer Kenley Jansen has begun to struggle with his command and had a recent pair of blow-ups, while righty John Schreiber hit the injured list with a lat strain last week.

Last night, the Sox further announced that lefty Richard Bleier is headed to the injured list with shoulder inflammation. After a pair of tough outings early in the year, he’d been pitching well for about a month, working to a 2.77 ERA over a span of 13 innings from April 15 to May 15. However, Bleier was rocked for five runs (three earned) on six hits in 2 2/3 innings over his past two appearances before landing on the injured list.

The Sox didn’t provide a timetable for Bleier’s potential return. He’ll be replaced by fellow lefty Brennan Bernardino for the time being. The 31-year-old southpaw, claimed off waivers from Seattle earlier in the season, has a solid 3.65 ERA in 12 1/3 frames with the Sox since they picked him up, with a hearty 55% grounder rate and 5.6% walk rate helping to offset a tepid 18.5% strikeout rate.

Though Bleier will be out for at least two weeks, the Red Sox could soon be getting healthier in the infield. Christopher Smith of MassLive.com tweets that Yu Chang is slated to head out on a rehab assignment tomorrow, and Christian Arroyo could do the same as soon as Friday. Chang has been out for nearly a month since suffering a hamate fracture, while Arroyo’s been sidelined since early May due to a hamstring strain.

That pair’s impending return will push the Red Sox into some roster decisions, as both have been outperformed by current second baseman Enmanuel Valdez, who’s batting .270/.324/.476 with three homers and three steals in 68 plate appearances. Valdez has minor league options remaining, however, while both Chang and Arroyo are out of options. Boston has also gotten solid work in an even smaller sample from utilityman Pablo Reyes, whom they acquired from the A’s in exchange for cash 11 days ago. In 28 plate appearances, Reyes is batting .296/.321/.407 (8-for-27, three doubles, one walk, four strikeouts). Like Chang and Arroyo, he’s out of minor league options.

2:15pm: The Red Sox are calling up relievers Justin Garza and Ryan Sherriff, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Sherriff isn’t on the 40-man roster but the Sox already have an opening there after designating Ryan Brasier for assignment on the weekend. The corresponding moves to get Garza and Sherriff onto the active roster are righty John Schreiber going on the 15-day injured list and lefty Brennan Bernardino being optioned, per Ian Browne of MLB.com.

Sherriff, 33 next week, has 44 1/3 innings of major league experience but scattered across multiple seasons. The lefty tossed 20 combined innings for the Cardinals over 2017 and 2018 and then 24 1/3 for the Rays in 2020 and 2021. Tommy John surgery in between those stints wiped out the latter half of his 2018 and then all of his 2019. In all of those seasons combined, he has a 3.65 ERA in the majors along with an 18.7% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 56% ground ball rate.

The Rays put Sherriff on waivers at the end of 2021 and he was claimed by the Phillies. A shoulder strain limited him to just 14 minor league appearances last year and he was outrighted off the Philly roster in August. He became a free agent at season’s end and signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox. Through 15 Triple-A appearances this year, he has allowed exactly 3.00 earned runs per nine innings, striking out 24.6% of opponents while walking 12.3% and getting grounders on 47.5% of balls in play.

Sherriff will give the Sox a fresh lefty arm after Bernardino has pitched in three of the past four days, including the last two. Richard Bleier is in the same situation while Joely Rodríguez has just come off the injured list, so the Sherriff-Bernardino swap makes their southpaw contingent a bit less weary. Sherriff still has options himself, allowing the Sox to perhaps reverse this lefty swap later in the year whenever the need arises.

As for Schreiber, he’s emerged as a key piece of the bullpen for Boston, posting an ERA of 2.22 last year while striking out 28.8% of opponents, walking just 7.4% and getting grounders at a 56.3% clip. He worked his way up the bullpen chart, earning eight saves and 22 holds on the season. This year, his walk rate has ticked up to 11.4% but he’s still managed to lower his ERA to 2.12 and pick up another six holds. He had departed last night’s game with lat tightness and manager Alex Cora said after the game that an IL stint was likely, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. His spot will go to Garza, 29, whom the Sox just claimed off waivers from the Angels last month. Between the two organizations, he has a 3.95 ERA in Triple-A this year.

The Sox started the season short-handed in the rotation, as all of Bello, Garrett Whitlock and James Paxton started the season on the injured list. That allowed Tanner Houck, who has worked as both a starter and a reliever in recent years, to get a rotation spot out of the gate. Bello and Whitlock returned from the IL recently, giving the club a difficult decision to make since Houck had gotten off to a decent start. Through four outings, he has struck out 25.6% of batters faced while walking 9.3% and getting ground balls on 58.9% of balls in play. Despite those strong peripherals, his 4.29 ERA is fairly average thanks to a 20% HR/FB rate.

Though that’s not exactly ace-level work, he’s still been arguably the club’s best starter this year. Chris Sale has an ERA of 8.00, Corey Kluber is at 8.50, Nick Pivetta at 4.58 and Whitlock at 6.19. Bello has only made two starts but is at 9.82. Although Houck has frequently moved from the rotation to the bullpen and back, it would have been difficult to bump him right now when he’s arguably been the club’s best starter this year. The club has been running out a six-man rotation recently but has multiple off-days coming up on the schedule, which would make it challenging to continue that. Today’s move provides a bit of clarity on the path forward, allowing Houck to hold that rotation spot for now and see if he can stretch his results over a larger sample.

As for Bello, he hasn’t got out to a great start this year, getting shut down in spring with forearm tightness and missing the beginning of the season. He returned recently but allowed eight earned runs over 7 1/3 innings in his first two starts. He’ll head down to Worcester to try to get into a groove again after the bumpy start to the campaign. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him back up in short order, as he posted a 2.34 WRA in the minors last year and was a fixture of top prospect lists before graduating last year.

Even if Bello succeeds in Worcester, there might be some crowding in the Boston rotation with Sale, Kluber, Pivetta, Whitlock and Houck having the five spots for now. In addition to that, Paxton is rehabbing in the minors, though his last outing was a disaster. He tossed 43 pitches while recording only two outs and allowed seven earned runs.

Beginning his pro career as a 26th-round pick for the Reds in the 2014 draft, Bernardino finally made it to the big leagues last season, appearing in two games for Seattle and posting 2 1/3 innings of work.  Some nice numbers with Triple-A Tacoma in 2022 helped pave the way for Bernardino’s MLB debut, but the results haven’t been there in a small sample size this year, as the southpaw had a 12.00 ERA in six innings for Tacoma this season.

Bernardino’s career has taken him through the affiliated minors (with Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Seattle) and also to the Mexican League for parts of three seasons.  He’ll now add Boston to his resume, giving the Red Sox some extra left-handed relief depth.  Richard Bleier is the only lefty in Boston’s Major League bullpen, as Joely Rodriguez is on the injured list and Ryan Sherriff is at Triple-A.  In all likelihood, Bernardino will join Sherriff as the top left-handed options in Worcester should the Sox feel the need for more southpaw help in the Show.

Kelly was placed on the 15-day IL three days ago due to elbow inflammation, though Kelly was so obviously distraught while leaving the mound that it certainly seemed like he had suffered a more serious injury.  Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters (including MLB.com’s Ian Browne) yesterday that Kelly’s MRI results were going to be viewed by the doctor who performed Kelly’s internal bracing procedure in 2020.  No official word has come about Kelly’s status, though the 60-day IL placement will keep the right-hander on the shelf until at least mid-June.

Bernardino, 31, parlayed a strong showing in the Mexican League into his big league debut with Seattle in 2022. The lefty had been out of affiliated ball since a 2019 run in the minors with Cleveland but posted a 2.20 ERA in 32 2/3 frames with Triple-A Tacoma last season. He yielded three runs in 2 1/3 innings during his brief MLB debut but remained on Seattle’s 40-man roster throughout the winter.

Unfortunately, the 2023 season has begun on a sour note for the journeyman southpaw. In six innings, he’s been slammed for 11 runs (eight earned) on 13 hits, a walk and a hit batter. Two of those hits have been home runs. Bernardino still possesses a strong 11-to-1 K/BB ratio in his brief showing this year, but the bottom-line results are nevertheless unsightly.

The Mariners will have a week to trade Bernardino or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.

10:55am: The Mariners are expected to select the contract of right-hander Darren McCaughan from Triple-A Tacoma, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. He’ll give them a fresh arm in the bullpen after a stretch of games in which they’ve leaned heavily on their relief corps.

The 27-year-old McCaughan has spent his entire career in the Mariners organization. Selected in the 12th round of the 2017 draft, he briefly appeared with Seattle in 2021, tossing nine innings but being tagged for eight runs. He’s spent parts of five seasons with Triple-A Tacoma, pitching to a 4.97 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate and an excellent 5.6% walk rate in 331 1/3 frames. He’s been tagged for six earned runs in 10 innings so far in 2023.

McCaughan has worked almost exclusively out of the rotation in his pro career and made two starts in Triple-A thus far, but the Mariners will presumably turn to him as a potential long man in the ’pen in the event of a short start from Logan Gilbert today. Seattle has an off-day Thursday, which should further help in giving what’s presently a taxed bullpen a bit of a breather. Dating back to Friday, the Mariners’ bullpen has racked up 22 2/3 innings over the course of five games, owing to a combination of extra-innings contests and short starts from the rotation. McCaughan’s last start came on April 7, so he’s fully rested and would be able to give the Mariners several innings today if needed.

Seattle’s 40-man roster is currently full, so they’ll need to make a corresponding roster move in order to get McCaughan to the big league roster.

The optioning of Lewis is arguably the most significant detail here, as he is a former Rookie of the Year and once seemed a lock to be part of the next great Mariners team. Now 27, he burst onto the scene in 2019, making his MLB debut and getting into 18 games. He hit six homers in that small sample and slashed .268/.293/.592 for a wRC+ of 128. He carried that over into the shortened 2020 campaign, hitting 11 homers, stealing five bags and producing a batting line of .262/.364/.437, wRC+ of 127. He was unanimously voted the American League Rookie of the Year that season.

Unfortunately, Lewis has been having a miserable time over the past two years. He suffered a meniscus tear in 2021, which ended his season after just 36 games. His recovery even lingered into 2022, with Lewis beginning the season on the injured list and not getting activated until May 24. Just five days later, his misfortune continued, as he landed on the concussion IL. The M’s sent him out on a rehab assignment over a month later, in early July, returning to the big league club in late July.

Lewis has hit very well in the minors during his various rehab assignments, putting up a batting line of .293/.408/.741 this year for a wRC+ 177. However, his MLB playing time has been much less successful, as he’s hit .143/.226/.304, striking out in 30.6% of his plate appearances in that 18-game sample.

With Mitch Haniger recently returning from the injured list, it seems Lewis got squeezed out of the outfield picture, as Haniger will take regular playing time next to Jesse Winker and Jarred Kelenic, with Moore, Sam Haggerty and Jake Lamb also capable of seeing some time on the grass. Julio Rodriguez is also expected to return from the IL later this week, which will only crowd things further.

The option could potentially have repercussions for Lewis from a service time perspective, as he came into this season with his service time clock sitting at two years and 20 days. Since 172 days is considered a full season, Lewis would need to accumulate 152 days on the active roster this season to cross the three-year mark. The season is about 125 days old at this point by my unofficial count, meaning Lewis is about 27 days shy of crossing over that barrier. If he gets recalled later in the season and makes up that difference, he would qualify for free agency after the 2025 season, but it would be pushed back by a year if he comes up short. He would almost certainly still qualify for arbitration as a Super Two player regardless, as he should finish the season at 2.145 even if he never returns to the big league club. The Super Two cutoff moves from year to year, as it includes the top 22% of players between two and three years of service time. The most recent cutoff was 2.116, with the highest of the past decade-plus being the 2.146 in 2011.

The option of Bernardino is also a notable development as he was the only lefty in the club’s bullpen, with Ryan Borucki getting placed on the IL recently. For the time being, it seems the club will operate with an entirely right-handed relief corps.

That relief corps will evidently include Chris Flexen, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times notes that he has been moved to the bullpen. With the acquisition of Luis Castillo at the trade deadline, the M’s are suddenly dealing with an abundance of starting pitching, as Castillo joins Robbie Ray, Marco Gonzales, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby in the rotation. It seems Flexen has been edged out for the time being and will work out of the ’pen. Flexen is just 3 1/3 innings away from securing himself an $8MM guarantee for next year, as MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently examined. Moving to the bullpen will delay Flexen vesting that salary for next year, though he should still have plenty of time to get over the line.

Wilson made his MLB debut earlier this season, when Seattle selected his contract from Triple-A in late June.  A member of the active roster for a little over a week, Wilson got into three games and made six plate appearances during this cup of coffee in the majors.  The 25-year-old is a veteran of eight minor league seasons with the Diamondbacks, Red Sox, and Mariners, breaking in as a second-round pick for Arizona in the 2014 draft.  Wilson came to Seattle via another trip to the DFA wire, as the Mariners claimed him away from Boston last year.

Wilson has a respectable .250/.352/.406 slash line and 66 home runs in an even 2800 PA in his minor league career.  Between this decent bat and the ability to play all three outfield positions, Wilson has some value to any team looking for outfield depth.

The veteran Milone has a 5.40 ERA in 16 2/3 innings this season, after Seattle selected his minors contract to the big league roster last month.  The M’s have been relatively short on left-handed relief options all season, as Ryan Borucki is the now the only veteran southpaw in the bullpen.  It stands to reason that the Mariners will explore adding more relievers before Tuesday’s trade deadline, but Milone’s injury also gives Bernardino the opportunity to make his Major League debut.

A 26th-round pick for the Reds back in the 2014 draft, Bernardino pitched in the Cincinnati and Cleveland farm systems for the first six seasons of his pro career.  He then turned to the Mexican League, and was pitching for Toros de Tijuana when Seattle inked him to a minor league deal earlier this season.  Bernardino’s return to affiliated ball has been quite successful, with a 3.07 ERA, 7.1% walk rate, and a whopping 40.5% strikeout rate in 44 innings as a starter with Triple-A Tacoma.

Berardino will likely be deployed in a long relief role for as long as he’s on the big league roster, and he could even be a spot starter candidate.  While the Mariners have six starters on paper, the club will be looking to limit the innings of George Kirby and Logan Gilbert, so Berardino could jump in as a piggyback starter or perhaps as a full-fledged starter.