Holding off on the truth
Cora fesses up on Moreland
Exactly what injuries Red Sox players are dealing with has always been an issue where the manager gets to employ some pretty vague answers.
Yesterday, Alex Cora admitted that he was loose with the truth before and after Thursday’s game when he said there were no physical issues behind Mitch Moreland being out of the starting lineup.
That wasn’t the case. Cora felt the truth was on a need-to-know basis and the media did not need to alert the competition to the truth.
“The thing about that, and I want to make sure we’re clear, I can’t, like, let everyone know what’s going on with my 25-man roster when I have a manager over there trying to manage against me,” said Cora before last night’s game against the Twins. “That was the reason we didn’t mention anything. Obviously he’s not in the lineup so you guys know a little bit now. But, he’s available.”
Cora smiled when he said Moreland was “available” again.
Moreland said making a pinch-hitting appearance last night was “a little more likely” than Thursday night when he may have been used to pinch hit for Jackie Bradley Jr. with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning. Bradley struck out to end the Red Sox’ 2-1 loss.
“I think if I had to today, I could get in there,” he said.
Moreland had meniscus surgery on the knee in the offseason. The knee became a problem after he played through a broken toe a little too well.
“This is a guy we have to take care of,” said Cora. “I’m not saying workload has to do with it, just he’s a big guy moving around, but obviously we’ve got Steve (Pearce) now and there’s certain guys, even with a righty on the mound, we’re going to stay away from him. He’s so important. I saw what happened last year and this whole grinder, ‘I’ll play through injury.’ It’s good to hear, it’s cool to see, but sometimes we have to be smart about it because we need these guys healthy. That’s the most important thing.”
First-time All-Star Moreland missed his third game in a row last night.
“I think Alex has done a great job with us all this year, kind of with the scheduled off days,” said Moreland. “It wasn’t quite like that five, seven years ago, it wasn’t that way. I think it kind of keeps everybody from getting too banged up and having to fight through things as much. We’ve got such a deep team that we’re able to do that. Guys can step up and help us win night in and night out. You look around the room and everybody has stepped up and done it.”
Rodriguez update
Cora delivered a generally positive update on starter Eduardo Rodriguez, on the disabled list with a sprained right ankle.
“He’s going to see a specialist this weekend,” said Cora. “He still has to wear the walking boot around. He can do that to keep his arm in shape but overall he has to wear it and then we’ll see where we are over the weekend. But with that, it’s kind of like, that looks pretty good to see him walking around but it doesn’t mean that he’ll be ready in two weeks or whatever. We have to make the specialist comes in, and we take the next step.”
Rodriguez was tentative about coming back from his knee injury last year. This year, he has been more proactive about his rehab.
The reason, said Cora, is Rodriguez is “maturing.”
“Probably, he learned a little bit from last year and, let’s be honest, he was having a good season, and he wants to be part of this. If you’re a player and you’re hurt, everyone is trying to do their best to be part of this. We’ve got, what, a month, two months, I don’t know how many games.
“They want to be part of this and it’s good to see, but we have to be smart about it, too.”
Praise for Swihart
Cora is pleased with how backup catcher Blake Swihart has been playing.
“He’s been good, he prepares,” said Cora. “He has the wristband, there’s a lot of communication between him and (pitching coach) Dana (Levangie) in between innings, and (catcher) Sandy (Leon), too. He’s relaxed now, you can tell. Even the at-bats, I think he got to the point, we’ve been talking about him trying to get four hits in one at-bat. He’s past that, he’s calling a good game, blocking pitches, throwing the ball well. He’s been doing an outstanding job for us.”