Knee puts E-Rod on shelf
Return to mound up in the air
BALTIMORE — Less than 24 hours after insisting his knee was fine, no harm done, Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez landed on the 10-day disabled list yesterday with a right knee subluxation. He had a similar injury last spring.
“We think we have a feel for it and hopefully can work him through it at this particular time period,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said. “We think it’s best to put him on the disabled list and not take the chance and make sure he’s not only physically sound, but mentally sound. We’re hopeful it will be a short-term diagnosis, but only time will tell.”
This injury is nothing new for Rodriguez. He experienced something similar last year in spring training, and it also happened during winter ball. The Red Sox have said there’s a physical abnormality that makes Rodriguez’ knee cap prone to slipping slightly out of place.
This time, it seems the injury occurred while Rodriguez was warming up for Thursday’s game. He slipped and fell on the bullpen mound. Dombrowski said Rodriguez’ knee did not cause the stumble — he simply slipped — but the fall did cause a recurrence of the knee injury.
“I’m able to walk around,” Rodriguez said. “The last time it happened, I wasn’t able to walk, there was a lot of swelling. Now it’s just a little bit of discomfort.”
Sox manager John Farrell said he had no regrets about letting Rodriguez pitch after the stumble. Rodriguez never complained about knee pain during the 94-pitch start that followed, but the outing was his worst of the year, and he woke up yesterday with the swelling.
He will see Dr. James Andrews on Monday for an MRI and a more thorough evaluation. Rodriguez said he still does not believe the injury caused the disappointing performance. At 24 years old, he owns a 3.54 ERA in what’s been a breakout season.
“That wasn’t bothering me last night,” Rodriguez said. “I just woke up this morning and felt that.”
For the time being, reliever Brandon Workman filled Rodriguez’ spot on the roster, but the team will eventually need to promote a starter to fill the rotation. Because Monday is an off day, the team can delay that move until Friday or Saturday. Lefty Brian Johnson is the obvious candidate.
“He pitches (in Triple-A today),” Dombrowski said. “And we’ll make sure how everything goes, but that’s the way we’re leaning at this point.”
The Sox do not have a firm timetable for Rodriguez’ return. Farrell said he does not believe this injury is as serious as the one that forced him to miss two months at the start of last season, but it’s too early to know for certain.
Given the desire to make sure Rodriguez pitches with confidence, it’s likely he’ll need a rehab assignment before returning.
“I think given the way Eddie’s progressed through it previously,” Farrell said, “feel like we’re going to give this not only bullpen settings to test it, but also possibly a game situation somewhere just so when he does return, he feels mentally confident in his physical status. Particularly after the way he woke up this morning.”
Pedroia in rehab
Recovering from a sprained left wrist, Dustin Pedroia continues to rehab the injury without doing baseball activities. No word on his expected return.
“He’s still in the healing process right now,” Farrell said. “While there’s been good progress the last couple of days, the one thing we have to be cautious of is impact. Impact of the bat. Impact of a strong throw or a hard ground ball. We’re getting closer, but the healing is still in the works.”
Price still limited
Off the disabled list, David Price will make his second start of the year tonight in Baltimore. Coming back from a spring training elbow injury, Price was limited to 88 pitches last time out. Farrell said he doesn’t expect much more than that tonight.
“I can’t say we’re going to have a large increase over the last time out,” Farrell said. “I think it’s important that we continue to build his physical base as we go forward here. There’ll be a time in the future where we’ll maybe relax that a little bit and get a little bit more aggressive, but I think the intensity and the innings during the time in which he’s on the mound will have a lot to do with that.”
Sandoval at third
Pablo Sandoval returned to third base last night for the first time since coming back from his knee injury earlier this week.
He provided half the Red Sox offense in a 3-2 loss to the Orioles with a home run in the third inning, but Deven Marrero was still used as a late-inning defensive replacement.
“I come every day to work hard, to try to contribute to help my team win,” Sandoval said. “Felt good. Had one ground ball, so, felt good.”