Red Sox place Garrett Whitlock on the 15-day IL
The Red Sox shared some positive news on Garrett Whitlock prior to their three-game series opener against the Rangers from Fenway Park.
Whitlock had an MRI on Monday that revealed the right-hander has a bone bruise and no structural damage, Alex Cora said to reporters on Tuesday.
“Bone bruise, so now it’s just about getting treatment, all that stuff,” said Cora to reporters. “We’ll assess the situation next week and obviously no timetable, but for how bad it looked or whatever people were thinking ligament-wise and all that stuff, this is kind of like the closest thing to good news.”
Boston will place him on the 15-day injured list and will recall left-hander Brandon Walter and right-hander Tayler Scott from Triple-A Worcester. James Paxton was also added to the Paternity List opening up the other roster spot allowing the Sox to add two pitchers.
The 27-year-old left his start on Sunday against the Blue Jays after just working one inning. Whitlock was initially diagnosed with right elbow stiffness He told reporters after the game that he had been “dealing with” his elbow feeling stiff before his start.
This would be his third stint on the injured list this season. His last came when he missed 27 games for right ulnar neuritis. “This doesn’t feel very nervy,” Whitlock said. “So it’s not really like that.”
Following Whitlock’s MRI on Monday, it was initially reported that the club wasn’t considering his injury to be a major setback for the righty.
The Sox will need to piece work their rotation together as the limp towards the All-Star break.
Losing Whitlock for any extended period of time is not ideal for the Sox. Boston already has Chris Sale and Tanner Houck on the IL. Sale is unable to return until August due to being transferred to the 60-day IL and Houck’s status remains up in the air following surgery on his face.
Houck will need to build arm strength back before he can be a viable candidate to rejoin the Red Sox’ rotation.
Walter and Scott will provide depth this week but once Paxton returns from Paternity Leave, Scott is the likely odd-man out.
Boston has just three health starters in Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford and Paxton with the other two spots in the rotation being filled by relievers.
Josh Winckowski, Nick Pivetta and Chris Murphy can give the Sox bulk innings leading up to the All-Star break. The Red Sox will get four much needed days off during the break and will reset the rotation for the second half of the season.\
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