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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 22, 2022 14:58:35 GMT -5
Blue Jays @ Red Sox Tuesday, 23rd August 2022 7pm @ Fenway
Stripling 5-3/ 2.93
Winckowski 5-6/5.19
Blue Jays kick off crucial series in Boston FLM
This week's American League East clash in Boston features a role reversal from the norm as the Toronto Blue Jays begin a three-game series against the Red Sox with a commanding upper hand in the standings.
The opener is Tuesday night.
The Blue Jays entered the week in a virtual tie with Tampa Bay and Seattle atop the wild card standings after taking two of three from the Yankees in New York.
Despite a 4-2 loss in Sunday's series finale, Toronto has won four of five. Across those five games, the team's starting pitchers have allowed just three earned runs in 30 innings.
"(We're) pitching really, really well," interim manager John Schneider said after Sunday's game, in which Alek Manoah allowed just one earned run on four hits in six innings. "Starting pitching, bullpen ... I think you look at the way our pitching performed, it was a really good series."
Boston, meanwhile, was unable to pick up its third consecutive series win after Sunday's 5-3 loss to Baltimore at the Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pa.
"It's not an easy day, travel-wise and all that," manager Alex Cora said. "But then when you get here and you forget about all the luxury and the five-star hotels and traveling and all that, and you get connected with kids and the whole atmosphere, it was awesome."
It was a memorable day, but the loss dropped the Red Sox to six games back in the wild-card race.
Franchy Cordero's game-tying home run in the eighth inning went to waste as the Orioles pulled ahead a half-inning later against oft-used reliever John Schreiber.
Neither he Blue Jays, nor the Red Sox, have announced who will pitch on Tuesday.
Boston was originally set to start Nathan Eovaldi, who was scratched from his scheduled Thursday outing in Pittsburgh with a sore trap muscle. However, Eovaldi's return to the rotation will be delayed as Cora said the righty "hasn't been able to bounce back."
"I feel like it's going a little slower than we had anticipated it. But I am feeling a lot better every day," Eovaldi said. "It's just how far we can push it back. We want to make sure that it's 100 percent, especially going down the road for this home stretch."
Eovaldi, who said he felt comfortable enough to pitch in his original slot, is hoping to avoid another stint on the injured list. He was reinstated on July 15 after dealing with low back inflammation.
The Red Sox hope to have first baseman Eric Hosmer available after he missed Sunday's game with lower back pain.
Former Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., who was signed by the Blue Jays on Aug. 9 after being released, has driven in three runs over his past two starts. He hit a two-run double during Saturday's 5-2 win in New York and drew a bases-loaded, game-tying walk in Sunday's seventh inning.
The series will mark Bradley's first time facing the organization that drafted him in 2011. His playoff experience will come in handy in the young clubhouse.
"I'm just trying to help out any way I possibly can," Bradley said. "Obviously, it's a really good team. I'm excited to be here. ... It's going to be fun (competing in a playoff race). There's going to be a lot more attention, but (I'd just tell the rest of the team) to enjoy the moment and have fun."
--Field Level Media
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 22, 2022 15:03:24 GMT -5
SP Probables
24th- 7pm- Berrios 9-5/5.39 vs TBA
25th- 7pm- Gaussman 9-9/2.99 vs TBA
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 22, 2022 15:04:02 GMT -5
Boston Red Sox likely to place Nathan Eovaldi on injured list (trap muscle); Josh Winckowski will start in his place Tuesday
Published: Aug. 22, 2022, 3:47 p.m.
By
Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
The Red Sox will likely place starter Nathan Eovaldi on the injured list Tuesday due to trapezius muscle (neck/back) soreness, an industry source said Monday. Boston announced that right-hander Josh Winckowski will start Tuesday’s game against the Blue Jays. Enter your email address here to receive the Fenway Rundown email newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday.
Winckowski was optioned to Triple-A on Friday and was only eligible to be recalled within 15 days if he replaced an injured player (which will be Eovaldi). Eovaldi, who was scratched from his scheduled start Thursday with the trap issue, hoped to avoid the IL but will now be shut down for a couple of weeks. Manager Alex Cora told reporters Sunday that Eovaldi would not pitch Tuesday as hoped. Eovaldi’s 15-day IL stint can be backdated three days to Saturday, which makes him eligible to return Sept. 4, at the earliest.
Eovaldi is 5-3 with a 4.15 ERA in 18 starts this season and last pitched Aug. 12 against the Yankees. He previously more than a month from mid-June to July 15 with lower back inflammation. Winckowski is 5-6 with a 5.19 ERA in his last 12 starts and gave up six runs in five innings against the Pirates on Thursday. He is a better matchup against a righty-heavy Toronto lineup than lefty Rich Hill, who is available on regular rest.
The Red Sox have not announced the rest of their rotation for the Toronto series. Kutter Crawford (Wednesday) and Michael Wacha (Saturday) would be available on regular rest. But Hill, who last pitched Wednesday, is available as well.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 22, 2022 15:06:11 GMT -5
Red Sox standings update: Boston now 6 games back in wild card race with 40 games to go; 6.8% of reaching playoffs
Published: Aug. 22, 2022, 10:56 a.m.
By
Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
The Red Sox finished off their road trip in a disappointing fashion, losing to the Orioles in the Little League Classic on Sunday night. Boston went 3-3 against the Pirates and Orioles, losing two of three to lose ground in the wild card race against Baltimore.
The Sox are off Monday before welcoming two teams ahead of them -- the Blue Jays and Rays -- to Fenway Park for a six-game homestand.
Here’s where things stand entering Monday’s off day:
IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY: Red Sox would be out of the playoffs; Tampa Bay, Toronto and Seattle would make it as wild cards (all three of those teams are tied)
WHERE THE RED SOX STAND: 7th in the AL wild card race (3 teams make it); 6 games back for the third and final spot. Boston has a 6.8% chance to make the playoffs, according to FanGraphs.
AL WILD CARD STANDINGS:
Rays: 65-55
Blue Jays: 65-55
Mariners: 66-56
____________
Twins: 62-57 (2½ games back)
Orioles: 63-58 (2½ games back)
White Sox: 62-59 (3½ games back)
Red Sox: 60-62 (6 games back)
SUNDAY’S SCORES -- Boston lost ground to Tampa Bay, Chicago and Baltimore
Rays 3, Royals 2
Yankees 4, Blue Jays 2
Athletics 5, Mariners 3
Rangers 7, Twins 0
White Sox PPD
Orioles 5, Red Sox 3
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 22, 2022 16:56:40 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 3h When a team is successful nobody ever emails to say, "The coaches and trainers must be doing a great job."
But when a team plays poorly all of a sudden they forgot how to do their jobs apparently.
In reality, those people work even harder when a team struggles.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 23, 2022 3:52:23 GMT -5
The schedule is there for the Red Sox to make up ground, but it’s very hard to be hopeful By Christopher L. Gasper Globe Staff,Updated August 22, 2022, 2:55 p.m.
This homestand is the Red Sox’ last stand in a season being sucked into the gravitational pull of irrelevance. The six games starting Tuesday at Fenway Park against the Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays represent the last chance to flip the switch and the script, to render September something more than academic around here.
What’s that? Many of you have already written off the Sox, signed their death certificate, and moved on to Patriots season. Rightfully so; the team hasn’t given you anything to believe in since June. There are zero indicators the Sox are suddenly going to salvage this Bridge Year, one marked by organizational ambivalence, stark underperformance, unacceptable roster shortcomings, and American League East futility.
It feels as though chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and the baseball ops department channeled a high school graduate not ready for the rigors of college and took a gap year. The Sox simply took a year off from genuine contention to find themselves and sustainability.
The good news is if Boston bombs this homestand against the Jays and Rays, both of whom entered Monday six games ahead of the Sox as owners of the top two AL wild-card spots, we can finally take this season off life support, and put it out of its — and our collective — misery. We can cease with the team-proffered pretense of playoff contention.
That conceit, fueled by the addition of the overkill third wild-card berth, has been propping up a season on its last legs. It’s one spouted by players who politicked to keep the team intact at the trade deadline like J.D. Martinez, reinforced by always-upbeat manager Alex Cora, and sold by Bloom, who revealed his true assessment of this team when he traded away starting catcher Christian Vázquez for prospects.
The Sox’ playoff hopes are a longer shot than Ted Williams’s famed red-seat blast. Fangraphs pegged the Red Sox with a 6.4 percent chance of making the playoffs Monday.
Following Sunday night’s 5-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in the delightful MLB Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pa., the last-place Sox stand at 60-62 with 40 games to go. That’s essentially a fourth of the season unwritten, so as tempting as it is to say it’s already over, technically, it’s a bit premature.
The “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?” Sox still have some say in the requiem for this season.
Thirty-one of their final 40 are against teams ahead of them in the standings. After Sunday’s loss, in which the team’s most reliable reliever all year, John Schreiber, melted down like a Little Leaguer’s ice cream cone left in the sun, the Sox sunk to 16-32 against AL East brethren. They’ll face AL East opponents in 28 of their final 40 games, or 70 percent.
So a marked turnaround will be required to reverse the course of an eminently disappointing campaign. There are no signs of that on the hardball horizon, not with Schreiber faltering at the most inopportune time and Nate Eovaldi (neck/shoulder) unable to make Tuesday’s key start against the Blue Jays.
All you have to do to look at where this team stands is witness the obvious frustration of classy shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who has played a season in limbo regarding his long-term status in Boston.
The Baseball Bergeron uncharacteristically exploded Friday, getting tossed from a game for just the second time in his career. The ostensible cause was an errant strike call. But it felt like the buildup of a season’s worth of frustration with his play, his contract situation, and management’s half-hearted commitment to this version of the Sox.
Bogaerts basically admitted the ejection felt cathartic, and he confessed to the Globe’s Alex Speier that this frustrating and complicated season has worn on him.
Bogaerts blasted his first home run since Aug. 3 in Sunday night’s loss, No. 10 on the year. He’s on pace for his lowest home run total in a full season since 2017. He hit 11 in 56 games during the COVID-truncated 2020 season.
If the Sox are going to make a run, they’re going to need more production from the big-bopper bats that have gone silent. Martinez hasn’t homered since July 10. He’s batting .175 with a .519 OPS since July 11. In that same span, Rafael Devers is batting .188 with 12 runs batted in. A third of his 18 hits have been homers, but the team is just 9-16 in the 25 games he’s played.
None of it speaks to the Sox trending in a postseason direction. Their expected win-loss record is worse than their actual mark. Analytics calculations say the Sox, based on their performance and negative-37 run differential, should be three games worse (57-65) than they actually are.
However, the schedule provides them an opportunity to buck the odds and the analytics, and write an alternate ending. After the six games in the Fens, the Sox travel to Minnesota, another team ahead of them in the wild-card standings, for a three-game set that concludes Aug. 31.
By the time September rolls around, we’ll know if the Sox have anything left and anything left to play for.
If they don’t make up ground and make some hay, then they should make like the Kansas City Royals, who are creating a spreadsheet to make sure they give ample playing time to all the young players they’re auditioning while out of contention. That sounds right up the alley of Boston’s baseball ops department.
Either way, this spate of games is a win-win for fans. Either we can finally flush a season circling the drain or the Sox will breathe new life into a listless campaign.
We’ll get something lacking since Opening Day: Clear and definitive direction.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 23, 2022 3:54:33 GMT -5
RED SOX NOTEBOOK Josh Winckowski gets another Red Sox call with Nate Eovaldi not ready By Julian Benbow Globe Staff,Updated August 22, 2022, 8:40 p.m.
The Red Sox got a chance to press the reset button Monday. It’s a button they’ve had to use a lot this year.
“We’ve been resetting the whole season,” Sox manager Alex Cora quipped.
The first line of business was settling on a starter for Tuesday’s series opener against the Blue Jays. Josh Winckowski will be called up from Triple A Worcester to take the place of Nate Eovaldi, who will miss his second straight start due to neck soreness.
Eovaldi originally experienced the neck soreness last Thursday, which led to his being scratched in Pittsburgh. While the recovery was taking longer than he originally imagined, Eovaldi hoped the issue would be resolved by the time the Sox returned to Boston. The scenario that he wanted to avoid — going back on the injured list — now seems most likely.
Winckowski is 5-6 with a 5.19 ERA in 12 starts this season since debuting May 28. He gave up seven runs and six hits in five innings Thursday, then was optioned back to Triple A.
The Sox went 3-3 on their six-game road trip, taking two of three from the Pirates, but losing their series against the Orioles. They’ll host the Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays over this six-game homestand.
“We’ve got to win games, we’ve got to win series,” Cora said. “We beat the Yankees. We beat the Pirates. We lost the series against Baltimore. So we know where we’re at. We know it’s going to be tough. But we believe that you play the teams that are right in front of you.” John Schreiber wants more
With career highs in appearances (47), innings (49), and saves (4), John Schreiber has been a go-to out of the bullpen for Cora. The manager acknowledged how much he’s had to lean on the 28-year-old righthander after Schreiber failed to record an out Sunday in the eighth inning of the 5-3 loss to the Orioles in the Little League Classic.
Coming in with a runner on first, Schreiber hit Austin Hays, walked Rougned Odor, then gave up a bases-clearing double to Jorge Mateo that put the game out of reach.
“With John, I know we’ve been pushing him hard,” Cora said. “He’s been great for us the whole season. This happens.”
But Schreiber said those are the situations he wants every time.
“I take pride in that. I take pride in my work when I go out there,” he said. “It’s a high-leverage situation. I’ve been in there in those high-leverage situations all year, so I felt normal going out there.”
As the season stretches deeper, Schreiber said his workload wasn’t an issue.
“I feel great right now and I don’t care what the workload is. I want to be out there and be able to help the team out,” he said. “My body feels fine and I’m just going to keep going out there as much as possible once the phone rings and my name’s called. So I’m ready to go.” On the mend
Jeter Downs, who rolled his ankle in a WooSox game last week and had to be helped off the field, is considered day-to-day. The Sox hope he’s ready to play by the end of the week . . . Tanner Houck was expected to be re-evaluated Monday after a disc issue was discovered in his lower back last week. The Sox had no update, but plan to provide one Tuesday.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 23, 2022 4:16:47 GMT -5
Blue Jays at Red Sox Tuesday, at 7:10 PM EST Partly Cloudy According to Forecast.io, it's expected to be 72° F with a 20% chance of rain and 5 MPH wind blowing right to left in Boston at 7:10 PM EST. Hourly Forecasts: Weather.com Forecast.io
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 23, 2022 13:23:57 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 39m Chaim Bloom on @weei (during the @thejimmyfund Radio-Telethon), pledges $100 per Red Sox win moving forward this year.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 23, 2022 13:25:23 GMT -5
Series Preview: Youth On The Brink
Series Preview: the Jays are Officially a Cool Young Team. But for how much longer? By Dan Secatore@DanSecatore Aug 23, 2022, 11:08am EDT 4 Comments / 4 New
Status as a Cool Young Team in baseball, like youth itself in the wider world, is precarious.
For starters, it isn’t even entirely clear how Cool Young Team status is granted in the first place. Being both young and good is not in and of itself sufficient, as the young, good, but incredibly boring Tampa Bay Rays have repeatedly demonstrated. Rather, Cool Young Team status seems to stem from an alchemic mix of talent, duende, and unmet potential. Having speed and flashy defense is a major plus. Possessing a certain amount of unearned cockiness is a must. An average hair-length in the top quartile of the league is a helpful, though not always necessary, precondition.
But it’s that unmet potential that may be the most important factor in conferring Cool Young Team status. By definition, potential takes us out of the present moment, as mundane and limited as it is. Potential deposits our imaginations into the future. It allows us to dream, and it’s dreaming that makes youth so damn fun in the first place. In many measurable ways, your life when you reach middle-age may be better than it was in your twenties – you might have more money, a bigger place to live, and deeper relationships with people who need you. But you also know exactly what your future looks like at that point, and there’s a good chance it looks like spreadsheets and cube farms. How can you not pine for youth in the face of that?
The Toronto Blue Jays are now in their second season as a Cool Young Team. But this status may not hold, depending on where their potential takes them. If they meet their potential in the form of a World Series championship, their Cool Young Team status will be immediately revoked; championship teams are too much of a threat to be cool. If they fail to win the World Series, but make a legitimate and entertaining bid to do so, they’ll retain their status for one more season, barring any personnel changes that fundamentally alter the make-up of the team. But if, like last season, they fizzle out – either failing to make the postseason entirely, or making an early, uneventful exit – then they’ll risk losing their status in the worst way possible. Coming into 2023, their unmet potential will begin to feel more like a burden than anything else, and a burden is just about the least cool thing in the world.
The 2022 season has not gone exactly as planned for the Toronto Blue Jays. Vlad Guerrero has slipped from being the single best hitter on the planet, to merely being really freaking good. Bo Bichette’s development has completely stalled, owing to his lack of plate discipline. (Any and all publications who placed Bichette ahead of Xander in their shortstop rankings should immediately repent with prayer and good works.) And Jose Berrios, signed to be a rotation-leading ace for years to come, has fallen apart.
Last season, the Jays had a built-in excuse for their under-performance. They were forced to play their home games in three different ballparks in two different countries, essentially making the whole season a six-month grind of a road trip. Despite this, they still managed the fifth-best run differential in all of baseball and looked poised to take the AL East by storm in 2022. It hasn’t happened.
It’s possible that the Jays got a little too comfortable, a little too assured of a level of success they hadn’t yet reached. If so, they better find an edge soon. You can only do so much dreaming before it’s time to translate those dreams into reality. Youth is fleeting, and so are championship windows. Tuesday, 7PM: Ross Stripling v. Josh Winckowski
Josh Stripling is no one’s idea of either cool or young, but he’s been one of the saviors of Toronto’s rotation in the face of Hyun-Jin Ryu’s season-ending injury and Berrios’ collapse. At age 32, he’s having the best year of his career with a 134 ERA+. His success seems to stem from the fact that he’s used his changeup more than ever before, and he’s seeing a big jump in his groundball rate as a result. A number of Sox players have hit him well though, with Xander Bogaerts (6-13, 1 HR) and Kiké Hernández (4-9, 1 HR) leading the way.
Winckowski will try to bounce back from the worst start of his career, a 5-inning outing against the Pirates that saw him surrender 7 hits, 2 homers, and 6 earned runs. Wednesday, 7PM: Jose Berrios v. Rich Hill
Berrios’s season has been a disaster. His groundball rate has plummeted, and he’s giving up more homers than ever before, mostly off his four-seamer, which he’s throwing more this year at the expense of his sinker.
As for the Pride Of Milton, at this point we all know what we’re getting from Rich Hill. If he keeps the offense in the game, it’s a solid outing. Thursday, 7PM: Kevin Gausman v. Kutter Crawford
Gausman’s late-career resurgence has continued this year, and he leads the league with a 2.05 FIP. He’s already faced the Sox four times this season, and has been good-to-great in each outing, surrendering just 4 runs over 26 innings.
A solid season from Kutter Crawford was mugged by reality in his last time out against the Orioles, as he gave up three homers in less than four innings of work.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 23, 2022 13:44:47 GMT -5
Game 123: Blue Jays at Red Sox lineups and notesBy Andrew Mahoney Globe Staff,Updated August 23, 2022, 10:22 a.m. After a day off following a 3-3 road trip, the Red Sox are back at Fenway Park to begin a six-game homestand against American League East foes Toronto and Tampa Bay. At six games back in the wild-card race with just 40 games remaining, Boston’s chances of reaching the postseason continue to fade. The Sox had hoped Nate Eovaldi would be ready to go for Tuesday’s series opener with the Blue Jays, but he was scratched for the second straight start with neck soreness. It will be Josh Winckowski on the mound instead. Here is a preview. Lineups BLUE JAYS (65-55):1. George Springer (R) DH 2. Vladimir Guerrero (R) 1B 3. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (R) LF 4. Alejandro Kirk (R) C 5. Teoscar Hernandez (R) RF 6. Bo Bichette (R) SS 7. Matt Chapman (R) 3B 8. Cavan Biggio (L) 2B 9. Jackie Bradley Jr. (L) CF Pitching: RHP Ross Stripling (5-3, 2.93 ERA) RED SOX (60-62): 1. Tommy Pham (R) LF 2. Alex Verdugo (L) RF 3. Xander Bogaerts (R) SS 4. Rafael Devers (L) 3B 5. J.D. Martinez (R) DH 6. Christian Arroyo (R) 2B 7. Enrique Hernandez (R) CF 8. Franchy Cordero (L) 1B 9. Kevin Plawecki (R) C Pitching: RHP Josh Winckowski (5-6, 5.19 ERA) Time: 7:10 p.m. TV, radio: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7 Blue Jays vs. Winckowski: Has not faced any Toronto batters Red Sox vs. Stripling: Christian Arroyo 0-5, Xander Bogaerts 6-13, Bobby Dalbec 2-10, Rafael Devers 3-14, Jarren Duran 2-3, Kiké Hernández 4-9, Eric Hosmer 1-16, J.D. Martinez 2-14, Reese McGuire 0-4, Tommy Pham 0-8, Kevin Plawecki 1-2, Rob Refsnyder 1-6, Alex Verdugo 4-14 Stat of the day: The Red Sox will face AL East opponents in 28 of their final 40 games. Notes: Winckowski has gone at least five innings in each of his last four starts. This is his first start against Toronto. … Stripling is 2-3 with a 5.92 ERA in nine career starts against Boston. … Toronto has won four of five, with the starting pitchers allowing just three earned runs in 30 innings. … Jackie Bradley Jr., who signed with the Blue Jays Aug. 9 after being released by the Red Sox, has driven in three runs in his past two starts. He hit a two-run double during Saturday’s 5-2 win in New York and drew a bases-loaded, game-tying walk in Sunday’s seventh inning. Song of the Day:The Beatles - Don't Let Me Downwww.youtube.com/watch?v=NCtzkaL2t_Y
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 23, 2022 14:16:07 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 34m #RedSox place Eovaldi and Hosmer on IL. Recall Winckowski and Cordero.
Eovaldi has right shoulder inflammation and Hosmer low back inflammation.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 23, 2022 14:42:11 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 22m Tanner Houck says he’s feeling much better after getting rest (no shot, no need for surgery with the disc issue in his back) and has started playing catch on the last few games. He’s hopeful he’ll be able to pitch again this year.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 23, 2022 14:50:27 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 1m Trevor Story said that he took batting practice on the field today for the first time since he suffered his broken hand. He’s been hitting indoors off a high-velo machine, so expects to start a rehab assignment soon - perhaps as soon as tomorrow.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 23, 2022 15:02:22 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 18s Cora: Houck is throwing on flat ground, with hopes of getting back at some point this year.
Cora says hope is for Hosmer to get back as soon as eligible. Cora says there was no conversation on his end about bringing up Casas, who he views as “still developing” and making up for lost at-bats after two months lost
Cora says when Story comes back, “there’s a good chance” Arroyo plays first base.
Eovaldi “hasn’t been able to bounce back… nothing structural.” Cora says he expects him back this year.
Story will start rehab assignment tomorrow in Portland. Unsure how many games or at-bats he’ll need.
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