Sale being considered as bullpen option
With a starting rotation that’s been durable, consistent and at times overpowering this year, the Red Sox could go a different way with their former ace when he returns.
How about Chris Sale, the reliever?
Pitching coach Dave Bush told The Athletic this week that the team was considering bringing Sale back out of the bullpen when he’s finally ready to throw big league innings again.
He’s still at least a few weeks away from that point, but once the Sox take a look at him on his rehab assignment they’ll be able to make a decision, Bush said.
“I think everything is on the table at this point,” he said. “If it suits him and us for him to come back sooner and in fewer innings and we have a bullpen that’s capable of absorbing the extra innings, then maybe that’s an option.”
In some ways it’s surprising, in some ways not.
Baseball appreciates multiinning relievers now more than perhaps ever before, and the Sox’ bullpen could use the lift.
But it’s surprising that Sale is currently on a Hall of Fame track as a starting pitcher, and while he hasn’t looked totally himself for the better part of the last four years, taking him out of a starter’s routine is asking a lot.
The Red Sox tried this with Nathan Eovaldi in 2019 and regretted it almost immediately. Manager Alex Cora to this day remains apologetic for his decision to put Eovaldi in the ‘pen so he could make a quicker return from an April 2019 surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow.
Trade deadline flip flop: There has been a ripple effect of Boston’s 20-9 stretch over the last month.
They entered Friday 30-28 and in the third wild card position with about ⅔ of the season remaining, which means it’s highly unlikely they’ll be sellers at the Aug. 2 trade deadline this year.
It’s a bummer for baseball fans who like to see action at the deadline, given the Sox have some of the highest-profile trade candidates on the market in Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, Nathan Eovaldi, Kiké Hernandez and Christian Vazquez, among others, all eligible for free agency after the season.
The New York Post reported Friday that A’s starter Frankie Montas, Royals outfielder Andrew Benintendi and Orioles outfielder Trey Mancini are the likeliest players to be moved from the American League, although a lot could change before then.
Duran still in AAA: At some point one would think the Red Sox will give speedy outfield prospect Jarren Duran an extended look at every day playing time in the big leagues and see if he can learn to make adjustments.
So far, it hasn’t happened. Duran’s last stint in the bigs ended after three days when Jackie Bradley Jr. returned from paternity leave, then the Sox passed on Duran and instead called up utility man Jonathan Arauz this week when Kiké Hernandez went on the injured list with a hip strain.