FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox left-handed reliever Josh Taylor might not be ready for the Opening Day roster because he’s dealing with a back issue.
Opening Day is April 7 vs. the Yankees in New York.
“The only guy that is behind pitching-wise is JT,” Red Sox Manager Alex Cora said at JetBlue Park on Monday. “He has a back issue. So he fell behind. Not sure how it works out for us for the start of the season but he’s one guy that’s behind in his progression.”
Taylor spent time last September on the IL because of low back strain and underwent an MRI then. He made it back to pitch in the postseason.
He has not yet thrown off a mound during spring training.
“I don’t want to say it’s doubtful (for Opening Day), but he has some catching up to do,” Cora said.
Taylor posted a 3.40 ERA and 2.83 FIP in 61 outings (47 ⅔ innings) last year.
The Red Sox have plenty of left-handed relievers (Austin Davis, Jake Diekman, Matt Strahm, Darwinzon Hernandez) on the 40-man roster if Taylor is unavailable at the beginning of the season. Lefty Derek Holland also is in camp as a non-roster invitee.
• The Red Sox improved to 5-0 this spring with a 5-0 win over the Atlanta Braves at Jupiter, Florida.
Ryan Fitzgerald was 1 for 2 with a homer and Jarren Duran was 2 for 2 with a double and a run scored.
Starter Michael Wacha pitched three innings, allowing four hits and a walk.
YANKEES: A federal appeals panel has affirmed a lower court’s decision to unseal a letter from baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred to Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman detailing an investigation into sign stealing.
The panel made the decision in upholding the April 2020 decision by U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff to dismiss a lawsuit by fantasy sports contestants who claimed they were damaged by sign stealing in Major League Baseball.
“At its core, this action is nothing more than claims brought by disgruntled fantasy sports participants, unhappy with the effect that cheating in MLB games may have had on their level of success in fantasy sports contests,” Circuit Judge Joseph F. Bianco wrote for a panel that also included Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston and Circuit Judge Gerard E. Lynch.
The five men who sued participated in fantasy contests hosted by DraftKings from 2017-19.
“We hold that alleged misrepresentations or omissions by organizers and participants in major league sports about the competition itself – such as statements about performance, team strategy, or rules violations – do not give rise to plausible claims sounding in fraud or related legal theories brought by consumers of a fantasy sports competition who are utilizing a league’s player statistics,” Blanco wrote.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred ruled in January 2020 that the Astros violated rules against electronic sign-stealing during home games en route to their World Series title in 2017 and again in 2018. He suspended Manager AJ Hinch and General Manager Jeff Luhnow for one season each, and both were fired by the team. Manfred fined the Astros $5 million, the maximum under MLB rules and stripped the team of its next two first- and second-round draft picks.
Manfred fined the Red Sox in 2017 for using Apple Watches to pass along signals and fined the Yankees a lesser amount for improper use of a dugout telephone in an earlier year. He concluded in April 2020 that sign-stealing efforts by the Red Sox en route to the 2018 title were less egregious than those by the 2017 Astros. Alex Cora, who had lost his job as Boston manager, was suspended for the 2020 season for his role as Houston’s bench coach.
Hinch was hired to manage Detroit for the 2021 season, and Cora returned to the Red Sox job.
The fans who sued allege Manfred’s letter “contradicted a subsequent MLB press release on the same subject,” the circuit court wrote. “Because a substantial portion of the substance of the letter has already been disclosed in the press release about the investigation issued by MLB, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in unsealing the letter, subject to redacting the names of certain individuals.”
Rakoff ruled Manfred’s letter to the Yankees should be unsealed, and the team appealed.
“The Yankees primarily contend they will suffer ‘significant and irreparable reputational harm’ not because of the actual substance of the Yankees letter, but rather because its content would be distorted to falsely and unfairly generate the confusing scenario that the Yankees had somehow violated MLB’s sign stealing rules, when in fact the Yankees did not,” Blanco wrote. “That argument, however, carries little weight. Disclosure of the document will allow the public to independently assess MLB’s conclusion regarding the internal investigation (as articulated to the Yankees), and the Yankees are fully capable of disseminating their own views regarding the actual content of the Yankees letter.”
The Yankees can ask all 13 judges of the 2nd Circuit to meet en banc to reconsider the decision.
• The New York Yankees are getting good news about the rotation behind ace Gerrit Cole.
Jameson Taillon became the second starter in two days coming off an injury to have a positive first spring training start.
Taillon, who had offseason surgery to repair a right ankle tendon, went two scoreless innings Monday against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Right-hander Luis Severino, limited to four late season relief appearances in 2021 after having Tommy John surgery on Feb. 27, 2020, had an encouraging outing Sunday against the Detroit Tigers. Afterward, Severino said health-wise he feels pretty good.
Nestor Cortes Jr., in the mix for the back end of the rotation, also had two strong innings against the Phillies.
• The Yankees finalized a minor league contract with INF/OF Marwin Gonzalez, who joined the major league spring training camp. Gonzalez, 33, is a career .256 hitter with 101 homers and 397 RBI. In 2021, the switch-hitter had a .199 average, hitting five homers and driving in 28 runs over 91 combined games between the Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros.
ROCKIES: Infielder Ryan McMahon and the Colorado Rockies agreed to a $70 million, six-year contract that avoided salary arbitration.
McMahon gets $5 million this season, $9 million in 2023, $12 million in each of the following two seasons and $16 million in each of the last two years.
CARDINALS: The St. Louis Cardinals claimed left-hander Packy Naughton off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels.
The 25-year-old Naughton, who fills out the Cardinals’ 40-man roster, was chosen by the Reds in the ninth round of the 2017 first-year player draft. The former Virginia Tech star made his major league debut for the Angels last season, going 0-4 with a 7.15 ERA in five starts and seven total appearances..
BRAVES: Manager Brian Snitker said he’s considering all options, including a six-man rotation or an opener, as he looks for answers in his starting rotation.
The Braves, who open the season on April 7 at home against Cincinnati, are scheduled to play 14 consecutive days before their first off day. Snitker said he may add a sixth starter during that stretch. He’s evaluating a group of five pitchers competing for the final two spots in the rotation.
ANGELS: Two-way star Shohei Ohtani had a solid spring training debut on the mound, striking out five while giving up one run over 2 1/3 innings for the Los Angeles Angels.
Last year’s American League MVP was sharp in the first, getting a called strike on his first pitch to Kansas City’s Kyle Isbel and then earning the strikeout by blowing a high fastball past the left fielder three pitches later.
The right-hander retired 7 of 11 hitters. Edward Olivares hit a one-out single and JaCoby Jones was hit by a pitch in the second. The Royals scored their run in the third when Isbel’s sinking line drive got past a diving Brandon Marsh for a triple. Olivares drove him in with an RBI single up the middle, which ended Ohtani’s afternoon.
Ohtani threw 50 pitches, including 33 strikes. He was expected to throw about 45 pitches.
METS: At a time when many starters are throwing two innings before hitting the showers, Max Scherzer pitched five innings of one-run ball in his New York Mets spring debut.
He cruised against a Miami Marlins lineup stacked with major leaguers.
“He’s as advertised,” Mets Manager Buck Showalter said. “He’s engaged in the competition. He’s got a consistent on button.”
Scherzer, 37, took the mound focused mostly on throwing strikes. He succeeded, finding the zone with 55 of his 72 pitches. He surrendered three hits and didn’t walk anyone, striking out five.
At one point Scherzer retired nine consecutive hitters.
“First time out I just wanted to come in and fill up the zone,” Scherzer said. “If you have a feel for the strike zone then you learn how to kind of pitch around the strike zone.”
A three-time Cy Young Award winner and eight-time all-star, Scherzer signed a three-year, $130 million free agent deal with New York prior to the lockout.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.