Price lands on DL again
Return unclear as elbow issue recurs
The Red Sox began their season without David Price.
Now they must enter their stretch run without him as well.
A recurrence of the left elbow and forearm issue that sidelined Price from the end of February until the end of May has derailed the lefthanded starter once again.
After 11 mostly promising and occasionally dominant starts, Price is back on the disabled list with inflammation in his left elbow.
He still must undergo further examinations, but early indications are this is not another three-month shutdown.
“I don’t think this is anything compared to what he went through in spring training in terms of severity — much less,” said manager John Farrell. “That’s by his own admission.”
Citing medical privacy rules, the team is not being too specific about the nature and location of Price’s discomfort, which cropped up the day after his last start a week ago in Anaheim, Calif. It is near or at the juncture of the left flexor mass muscle and the elbow. He had an MRI yesterday.
Red Sox president Dave Dombrowski voiced cautious optimism that Price will return this season.
“I do not know if he’ll miss the season, I’m not anticipating that at this time,” said Dombrowski. “Nobody has made that statement to me. He has inflammation in his elbow, his arm, where he had it before. I think we’re really more in an evaluation stage at this point. We’ll see where he progresses from here. We’ll keep working with him and try to get him back on the field as soon as possible. I don’t really know when that will be.”
Dombrowski was quick to shoot down the insinuation that the team wanted to put Price on the shelf due to non-injury reasons. In the wake of recent revelations about Price’s tirade against Hall of Fame pitcher and NESN broadcaster Dennis Eckersley for on-air comments, some expected Price to receive a hostile reaction from the home crowd with his scheduled start last night at Fenway.
“No, no, no, no, no, you can’t put a guy on the disabled list unless you get medical clearance from the commissioner’s office,” said Dombrowski. “So let’s just pretend somebody wanted to put a guy on the disabled list for a reason. The commissioner’s office checks, gets the doctor’s report. You have to send a doctor’s certification and all that.”
Farrell hinted some clarity on Price’s prognosis may emerge early next week.
“We’ll get a better read on that in the coming days when he puts a ball back in his hand — that could be Monday or Tuesday,” said Farrell.
Price is expected to address the media before tonight’s game.
Dombrowski said the initial positive prognosis on Price means the club has not changed its stance about not searching for a starting pitcher before Monday’s trade deadline.
“We’re not going to go out and make a big trade for a starting pitcher, we’re still hopeful that David will be back at this point,” said Dombrowski.
Doug Fister will take over Price’s spot in the rotation.
“We have four really proven major league starters that are quality — ( Chris) Sale and ( Rick) Porcello, ( Eduardo) Rodriguez and ( Drew) Pomeranz,” said Dombrowski. “Doug’s first outing was solid, next two not as good. We thought he threw the ball real well after working on some mechanical things in Seattle the other day.”
Devers staying put
New acquisition Eduardo Nunez made his first start last night against the Royals, batting second as the designated hitter. Farrell plans for Nunez to play most of his games at third base or shortstop, and perhaps with some action at first base. The outfield is also a possibility but more likely a last option.
Farrell dismissed the idea that Nunez’ arrival means prospect Rafael Devers would not play or be sent back to the minors. Devers made his first Fenway start last night.
“That’s like asking somebody to dinner and asking them when they’re leaving when they come in the door,” said Farrell. “The only thing that we’ve talked about was initially getting him against right-handed pitching and felt like (last night) is a decent matchup for him, even though lefton-left (against Royals starter Jason Vargas).
“We also outlined that, if there are games in which there’s a lead late — and this was prior to the move today with Deven Marrero going back to Pawtucket — there was a possibility that we would defend for him late in games, just because of the strength of the defense on Deven’s part. But now with the move, that probably changes that a little bit.”
Eyes open for relief
The Red Sox are believed to be on the lookout for a trade for a reliever, but Dombrowski expressed a bullish view on two arms.
“We think Joe Kelly’s close to coming back (from a hamstring injury),” said Dombrowski. “It’s not far down the road. That’s big for us. The second thing is, and really not much has been said of it, we look, I look, at the comeback of Brandon Workman of being like a trade acquisition really. He’s throwing the ball outstanding. He’s throwing the ball in the mid-90s with a good breaking ball and cutter.”
Kelly may get sent out on a rehab assignment as early as Monday.
Dombrowski said the Sox are having “a lot” of conversations with clubs about trades.
“There’s even some clubs that aren’t sure what they’re doing yet,” he said. “I could name three off the top of my head that we talked to today that aren’t sure what they’re going to do yet. So that’s how questionable things are taking place. I think we have a total pulse of what’s going on out there right now. But I’m not really going to tip our hand on what we’re going to try to do — other than get better.”
Confidence in hitters
As for getting another bat to help the struggling offense, Dombrowski said, “I’m confident we have enough pieces, but I also know that we need to be better. I mean we need to perform better from an offensive perspective. We’re a better offensive club than we performed.” . . .
Left-handed starter Brian Johnson was scratched from a start for Pawtucket on Thursday because of shoulder discomfort. . . .
Carson Smith (elbow) is scheduled to throw a bullpen session at Fenway today.