The Red Sox lose yet another player to injury.
Following Saturday’s win over the Tigers, Red Sox manager Alex Cora informed media, including Ian Browne of MLB.com, that second baseman Vaughn Grissom would need to be placed on the 10-day disabled list due to a “mild” hamstring injury. Grissom left the game after pulling up while running out a groundout earlier, so catcher Connor Wong took his place at the keystone.
According to Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic, Cora told reporters that Wong’s surprise appearance at second base was due to utility infielder Romy Gonzalez’s absence, but he did not say what was wrong with Gonzalez or whether he would be ready Sunday afternoon.
The news concerning Grissom is yet another devastating injury blow for a Red Sox team that has struggled to remain healthy this season, particularly at the positional level. Grissom has played only 23 games this season after being sidelined until May due to a hamstring ailment sustained during spring training. Fortunately, as Browne mentioned, the strain affected his left hamstring, whereas Saturday’s ailment was a right hamstring strain. Because Grissom’s injury is new, he should be able to return to activity sooner than if he had re-injured the same hamstring as before, but he will still miss at least the next 10 days without a firm date for his comeback.
When Grissom has been healthy enough to play, the beginning of his Red Sox career has been challenging. In 86 plate appearances with Boston this season, he has a.159/.209/.163 batting line. That’s a particularly difficult pill to swallow for Red Sox fans, given that veteran southpaw Chris Sale, who was traded to Atlanta in exchange for Grissom, has dominated with a 2.12 ERA and NL-best 2.11 FIP in his first ten starts with the club, helping to anchor the rotation alongside Max Fried in the absence of ace Spencer Strider.
While Grissom’s contributions thus far will not be tough to replace, his absence will further exacerbate the Red Sox’s other positional problems. Trevor Story, Triston Casas, Tyler O’Neill, and Masataka Yoshida are all already on the injured list, with Story sidelined for the season and Casas facing an extended layoff. Fortunately, the club’s condition does not without silver linings. According to MassLive’s Christopher Smith, Cora stated that O’Neill’s ailing knee has responded nicely to a cortisone shot, and the club expects the outfielder to be out for no more than 10 days, allowing him to return to action early next week.
Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe said that Yoshida is no longer suffering from the thumb injury that kept him out of action last month. That won’t help the Red Sox in the immediate run because Yoshida will still need to recover from a month of rehabbing the injury before returning to the big league club, but it’s an encouraging indication for a team that will be without Grissom for at least a few weeks. Yoshida and O’Neill were hitting at an above-average rate overall at the time of their injuries, and if fit, they should be ready to come into the club’s outfield mix as vital pieces with Jarren.
The Red Sox should be relieved by O’Neill’s expected return because it will let the club to employ versatile rookie Ceddanne Rafaela, who has primarily played center field this season, on the infield dirt while Grissom is sidelined. Meanwhile, the team is expected to rely on Enmanuel Valdez and David Hamilton in the center, with Gonzalez potentially a potential contributor if he returns to play in the coming days.
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