Rafael Devers’ name was conspicuously absent from the Boston Red Sox lineup Thursday night as the team continues to manage his nagging left shoulder injury.
“He’s battling with the shoulder,” Manager Alex Cora said before the series finale with the Baltimore Orioles. “You can see on his swing… You can see his reactions, very similar to a few years ago with the elbow.”
During the opening series in Seattle, Devers sat out two games and revealed that the shoulder had been bothering him since spring training. The Red Sox are trying to avoid putting him on the injured list, but Cora wouldn’t rule it out.
“It’s too early to be grinding, that’s the way I see it,” Cora said. “He’s too important for us for him to be grinding with his swing and making it worse. He just felt yesterday, he needed a day… I know every day matters, but if he needs one, two, three (days) or if it’s an IL stint, then so be it, but we have to take care of this.”
The Red Sox infield has been a black hole of injuries. After making his first start with the Red Sox on Wednesday, infielder Romy Gonzalez had his left wrist in a brace in the clubhouse Thursday afternoon and was scheduled for X-rays.
“He woke up this morning sore, it was on that play he made,” Cora explained.
“It’s obviously pretty brutal,” Gonzalez said of getting hurt in his first Red Sox start, “but thankfully, I don’t think it’s too serious, so I don’t think it’ll be something that’ll take too long to heal from.”
With shortstop Trevor Story done for the year, Gonzalez “day to day,” and Vaughn Grissom still working his way back from an injury, how will the Red Sox reinforce the middle infield? “We got guys over there,” Cora said of Triple-A Worcester.
Cora was still in good spirits.
“(Coach) Ramon (Vázquez) is taking ground balls, too, I’ve been losing weight, so you never know, man,” he joked. “The minimum (salary) is a lot right now, so you never know.”
Grissom is scheduled to fly to Syracuse on Thursday evening to join the WooSox on their trip. He’ll play his first rehab game Friday.
Utilityman Rob Refsnyder is also on a rehab assignment with Worcester. He struck out in each of his three at-bats in his first rehab game Wednesday.
THE START OF Wilyer Abreu’s season has been bad as the promising young outfielder is 2 for 18 with nine strikeouts in his first 20 plate appearances. Cora said the answer to Abreu’s struggles isn’t to play him less and keep him on the bench. To the contrary, Cora is actively exploring ways to play Abreu more.
Abreu’s start Thursday against Orioles righty Grayson Rodriguez was just his fifth in 13 games this season. Before Thursday, he had started only two games since Boston’s opening series in Seattle. With left fielder Jarren Duran and right fielder Tyler O’Neill leading the offense and Ceddanne Rafaela providing excellent defense in center, Abreu has been the odd man out. Cora thinks the inconsistent playing time has hurt Abreu’s offensive game.
“I’ve been surprised with the swings and misses, to be honest with you,” Cora said.
Abreu entered 2024 with big expectations after hitting .316 with two homers, 14 RBI and an .862 OPS in 85 plate appearances at the end of last season. In January, team chairman Tom Werner even mentioned casually that the Red Sox anticipated getting Abreu “400 at-bats” this season. So far, he’s on pace for 270.
The Red Sox traded Alex Verdugo in part because of the comfort they felt with Abreu and his strong arm in right field. But the addition and emergence of the red-hot O’Neill was not good news for Abreu, and he struggled significantly in spring training. In 26 games in Florida, Abreu hit .127 (8 for 63) with 26 strikeouts. The swing-and-miss rate was alarming, though Cora largely discounts spring results in an exhibition setting.
“The at-bats were good,” Cora said. “3-2 counts, he hit a few balls in the air, hit it out of the ballpark. Spring training is spring training. Like I always say, the 0-for-20s or 10-for-20s, they’re magnified in spring training. Now is when it really matters.”
The Red Sox have let the left-handed Abreu take just two plate appearances against left-handed starters, though he posted a solid .788 OPS against southpaws in 66 plate appearances at Triple-A last year. He is supposed to mash righties, therefore serving as a reasonable complement to either O’Neill or Rafaela. Abreu likely won’t play much during the weekend series against the Angels, who will start two lefties (Reid Detmers and Tyler Anderson) to bookend the series.
One solution would be for Cora to play Rafaela in the middle infield and install Duran in center, with O’Neill moving to left field and Abreu starting in right. On Thursday, Rafaela was out of the lineup; David Hamilton and Enmanuel Valdez started in the middle infield.
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