Wave of mutilation: The latest injuries

[The Jogger]

Passively Active Green Mile Bad Juju Lightning Rod

This would be a tremendous title under someone's user name.

 

[Bergs]

There was a certain eager gleefulness to counting the Ks piling up, plus no shortage of cherry picking the tail end of last year and the beginning of this.

Wallowing in nihilistic absolutism and gallows humor over disastrously bad performances is the sweet spot/lifeblood of game threading. No one has ever been rooting for the guy to fail.

 

[Daniel_Son]

This Voodoo Bobby stuff is nonsense.

The real explanation is that Chris Sale was some sort of Passively Active Green Mile Bad Juju Lightning Rod.

Imagine you're Chris Sale. You're riding a bicycle. All of a sudden, you experience an intense flash and are whisked away from reality. In your mind's eye you see Rafael Devers take a fastball on the wrist. Raffy goes down, writhing in agony. And it's all so real. You see it. You hear the crowd. It's as if you're riding your bicycle across the infield at Fenway Park as this all unfolds. And then everything around you freezes. And it plays back, in reverse. Raffy rises, the ball rolls towards him, leaps in the air, ricochets off his wrist, and back into the pitcher's hand. And it all fades away. You're Chris Sale. You know what happens next. A bird flies by, startling a pedestrian. The pedestrian sprawls backwards, knocking over a nearby ladder. The ladder falls, striking a potted plant on someone's window sill. The potted plant startles a cat, which runs in front of your bicycle. You swerve, hit a pothole, and fall off the bike. You land on your wrist, and hear a loud crack. And then pain. Horrible pain.

The news reaches SoSH, and folks are incredulous. Some are angry with you for riding the bicycle. Some curse Dombrowski for signing you to that extension. But you know the truth. Dombrowski knew too.

That night, Rafael Devers starts at third base. He's brushed back a bit on a fastball just under his wrists. But he's just fine. It's a thankless job being Chris Sale.

That's what we had. That's what we traded away.

And now, no one is untouchable.

This is beautiful

 

[The Gray Eagle]

Not good news on Whitlock, sigh.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/04/30/sports/red-sox-notebook-garrett-cooper/

Nick Pivetta (elbow) will pitch Thursday for Triple A Worcester in what will likely be his only rehab start before rejoining the parent club. Garrett Whitlock (oblique) is throwing but not progressing at the rate the Red Sox expected as he’s still dealing with pain.

Yoshida will get an MRI today.
Grissom could be a few more days:

The Red Sox initially planned on reinstating Vaughn Grissom from the IL for Tuesday’s game, but they said the second baseman is under the weather.
“I talked to him today,” said Cora. “He doesn’t look great or feel great. So we’ve just got to be patient now and see where he is in a few days.”

 

[Sandy Leon Trotsky]

Not good news on Whitlock, sigh.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/04/30/sports/red-sox-notebook-garrett-cooper/


Yoshida will get an MRI today.
Grissom could be a few more days:

I really don't care how good Whitlock could be as a starter.... I was all for him getting into the rotation in '22 and '23 but his body just can't do it. Keep Criswell in the rotation and permanently move Whitlock into the bullpen.

 

[E5 Yaz]

I really don't care how good Whitlock could be as a starter.... I was all for him getting into the rotation in '22 and '23 but his body just can't do it. Keep Criswell in the rotation and permanently move Whitlock into the bullpen.

Because he won't get hurt if he's a reliever?

 

[Sandy Leon Trotsky]

Because he won't get hurt if he's a reliever?

Again... .he showed in '21 that he could be healthy a full season as a reliever and only a reliever..... Maybe there's no connection but it's all we really have. We definitely know he can't stay healthy as a starter. There's evidence. Again, maybe not conclusive but it's something

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Again... .he showed in '21 that he could be healthy a full season as a reliever and only a reliever..... Maybe there's no connection but it's all we really have. We definitely know he can't stay healthy as a starter. There's evidence. Again, maybe not conclusive but it's something

He did have a stint on the IL in 2021 toward the end of the season so clearly he can't stand up to the rigors of relieving either. We don't "definitely know" he can't stay healthy as a starter. Correlation is not causation. Unless we have evidence that his injuries are directly related to starting and could have been prevented if he was in the pen, it's foolish to dismiss him as a starter.

Now if when he does return from this oblique, there are five guys cruising along in the rotation that "good" Whitlock isn't likely to out perform, by all means put him in the bullpen. But if he's one of the five best healthy starting pitchers on the roster, it makes no sense to hide him in the pen.

 

[Big Papi's Mango Salsa]

Because he won't get hurt if he's a reliever?

I think the bigger thing is "so you don't go into the season penciling him in for 30 starts and covering 180ip."

It's easier to find relief pitchers off the scrap heap and from quasi prospects then it is MLB caliber starting pitchers - Cleveland and TB have been doing this for years. (As an aside, I LOOOOOOVE that Breslow is doing this and really hasn't spent jack on them aside from keeping Kenley in the 9th, I begged Bloom to do similar). So when Whitlock gets injured, you're talking about covering fewer innings if you were only planning on him as a set up man than as one of your top 5 starters.

 

[nvalvo]

I think the bigger thing is "so you don't go into the season penciling him in for 30 starts and covering 180ip."

Like you can with Giolito — no, wait, Pivetta — uhhh...., if only we had a real horse like Gerrit Cole or Framber Valdez.

 

[chrisfont9]

Like you can with Giolito — no, wait, Pivetta — uhhh...., if only we had a real horse like Gerrit Cole or Framber Valdez.

Framber bounced back! Love that kid.

 

[simplicio]

This is beautiful

It's incorrect though.

What's actually happening is Andrew Bailey isn't quite a pitching magician, but in fact a practitioner of some darker arts. He bargained with a powerful demon to achieve unbelievable results from our starting pitchers, but the cost has been steeper than anticipated. Perhaps Breslow bears some of the blame for this; as an inexperienced PBO he may not have fully grasped the intricacies of that contract.

But Short and Smith aren't here because they're replaceable backups who can eventually be cut from the 40 man without organizational loss, they're here because ULGHAZAAZ MUST FEED and we're desperately trying to keep him away from Crawford.

 

[Rovin Romine]

Thought I'd put this here. Pivetta had a rehab start for WOR last night (5/2). Sort of a mixed bag. https://www.milb.com/gameday/ironpigs-vs-red-sox/2024/05/02/752179/final/summary/all

62 pitches, which is good.

1st: control problems. BB, BB, S, S, S, (then with only 2 in and the bases loaded) K, K, K.
2nd: FO, GO, FO.
3rd: K, K, LO.
4th: BB, BB, pulled. Both runners score later.

 

[simplicio]

Some of the walks may have been down to Pivetta's first experience with ABS (he's not a fan).
View: https://twitter.com/tommycassell44/status/1786177573799535045

 

[The Gray Eagle]

Injury updates, some good, one not so good.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/05/02/sports/health-improving-red-sox-starters/

Good health is on the horizon for Red Sox starters.
Nick Pivetta (elbow) pitched three innings for Triple A Worcester Thursday evening, and yielded three hits, four runs, four walks, and struck out five.
And Brayan Bello will make his start for Double A Portland.

Better news on Whitlock, for now:

Garrett Whitlock (left oblique strain), who had been slow to progress, played catch Thursday and will throw his first bullpen Saturday.
“I’m feeling really good,” said Whitlock following the Sox’ 3-1 loss to the Giants in Thursday’s series finale. ”The doctors gave me the green light to start throwing.”
Whitlock went to the injured list on April 17. He tried to urge manager Alex Cora and the medical staff that he could try to pitch through it, but the club immediately shut Whitlock down.
“The whole thing was frustrating,” added Whitlock. “ Just like me thinking I can power through this. And the doctors were like, no, this isn’t something that you power through. Like, it’s still really early in the season and this is an actual injury.”
Once Whitlock began throwing again, the righthander still felt pain in his side which slowed his process. However, the Sox still kept Whitlock’s arm moving to ensure that he wouldn’t be too far behind. Now, Whitlock is finally beginning to feel like himself again.

Not great update on Yoshida:

Yoshida won’t return for the start of the Red Sox’ next homestand. Yoshida underwent an MRI/further testing Wednesday and the team is still gathering information. When asked Thursday if surgery was a possibility, Cora didn’t rule it out.
“That’s why I was saying, we’re gonna gather information and we’ll decide what’s next for him,” he added.

 

[Heating up in the bullpen]

Some of the walks may have been down to Pivetta's first experience with ABS (he's not a fan).
View: https://twitter.com/tommycassell44/status/1786177573799535045

I looked at the pitch charts for each at bat — ABS wasn’t the problem for the walks, he wasn’t near the strike zone. Here’s one example:

 

[simplicio]

I wonder how much of Pivetta's experience is about AAA hitters having learned to swing at less borderline stuff though.

 

[chrisfont9]

I wonder how much of Pivetta's experience is about AAA hitters having learned to swing at less borderline stuff though.

Is that a thing? If there's a different hitting culture at the level just below the majors, that would be very odd and kind of a problem. But hey, maybe?

 

[simplicio]

Wasn't Bobby getting caught looking on a bunch of borderline pitches?

 

[mwonow]

Pivetta talked about how difficult he found the robo-ump. Maybe Dalbec's issues are with humans calling balls & strikes?