Price passes tests
But Cora in no rush to put him back on mound
RED SOX NOTEBOOK
CHICAGO — David Price will almost certainly have to miss his start in Atlanta on Monday because of the line drive that hit him in the left wrist Wednesday night.
Still, the Red Sox feel as if they dodged a bullet.
After tests with a hand specialist in Boston yesterday, the team was satisfied there is nothing terribly wrong with the hand and all he needs is time to recover from the soreness.
“Everything is fine, he’s on his way here — for how bad he wants to face pitchers in Atlanta, we’ll see how it goes but probably — we haven’t seen him yet, see how he feels next few days and go from there but I’m not 100 percent sure he’ll make his start on Monday,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said before last night’s game against the White Sox.
Cora also indicated that Price, who has been struck several times this season, understands there’s no point in rushing.
“If he feels ready to pitch and he can convince me, we’ll let him go, we trust him,” said Cora. “The difference between (Wednesday) and the first two, right away when I went to him down in the cage I was, ‘Hey man let’s go take some pictures’ and he went right away. Earlier in the season, he told me ‘I’m fine, I’m fine. I’ll go out there.’ I’m like ‘OK you go.’ He understands. He texted me (Wednesday) night, in good spirits, he’s on his way here, he’ll be OK.”
Cora said long man Hector Velazquez “might be a possibility” to fill in for Price but with rosters expanding as of tomorrow, the Red Sox will have plenty of options.
Moreland sits again
First baseman Mitch Moreland missed his second start in a row, and is also unlikely to play tonight. Or tomorrow. The knee that he hurt sliding into the photographers’ well at Fenway Park is bothering him again.
“Mitch is doing well, he’s doing better, like I said, a little bit sore, I feel like giving him more than one day, two days, maybe three is going to benefit,” said Cora. “He’s available but hopefully we stay away from him. We’ve been playing him a lot. Although lately he’s been swinging the bat better, hitting the ball solid which is great but keeping him off his feet is going to benefit him and obviously it’s going to benefit us.” …
Chris Sale played catch yesterday and is scheduled to do so again today. Assuming Sale passes that test, the club will likely have him begin throwing off a mound, then a bullpen session, and a simulated game at some point, with a return to the mound set for next month. …
Dustin Pedroia (knee) will fly to Boston on Sept. 5, and be with the team on Sept. 7.
The club will eventually unveil its September roster expansion candidates.
“We’ve been talking about a lot of players, a lot of players that are playing well that might fit our roster, position players, pitchers — we talk a lot, we’ve been talking about this for two or three weeks,” said Cora. “We’re considering a lot of players, not only 40-man players.”
Repair shop
The club has spent plenty of time trying to fine-tune tonight’s starter Nathan Eovaldi. They are going to try to help him with the defense.
“Defensively against lefties, we’re probably going to shift more,” said Cora. “When we talked about Blake (Swihart) playing third base, when he started, not too many balls, hit that way, we’re going to make those adjustments now, shift with lefties and see where it goes. There’s too many groundballs going by.”
Cora does not think Eovaldi has been struggling as much as people think.
“The last one, I hate to say it but that was more bad luck than anything else,” said Cora. “There was a lot of soft contact, bloop singles to left, groundballs that went through.”
Papi answers
David Ortiz decided to use Instagram to respond to a new book, featured earlier this week in the Boston Herald, that mentioned an alleged gambling investigation into an Ortiz associate. The book’s author, former Red Sox security agent Eddie Dominguez, stated clearly in the book that he had never seen evidence connecting Ortiz to gambling, it was just his association with someone who his informants said was connected to it that warranted an investigation.
The episode was never made public until the book was published.
In part, Ortiz wrote: “I wasnt gonna comment on this episode but someone outta nowhere once again try to diminish my image just to sell a couple of books...jus for some $$ in his pocket.”
Ortiz said MLB has always stressed that its players stay away from gambling, and that he never needed reminding.
“And im SMART ENOUGH to not get caught in some BS like that...trust me!!! im doing this NOT because u who wrote the book, im doin this for my fans to have peace of mind, cuz y’all deserve that.
“remember, you knock me down 10 time, I’ll learn how to get up 11.”