Kimbrel sustained the injury while catching fly balls in the outfield during batting practice Friday.
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The Boston Red Sox announced Saturday that closer Craig Kimbrel will have knee surgery.
“(Holt) came in today better than we anticipated based on what took place on the field”, the manager said. Even if Kimbrel could pass his physical perfectly, you can never have too much bullpen help.
He said he heard his knee pop but did not think anything serious had happened until it was evaluated and the MRI showed just what it was. He also has 18 saves this season. It’s not just this season either, Ziegler is a proven stud in the bullpen. Koji would give up a ringing single to Evan Longoria to start the frame, and only avoided letting the tying run come to the plate when he was gifted a strikeout call on a 3-2 pitch to Steve Souza that was clearly outside. He is now a starter and has pitched well since signing with the Red Sox in 2012 but projects as a reliever in the long run.
He got off to another slow start Friday, allowing two runs in the first inning. Fellow set-up guy Junichi Tazawa is dealing with a sore shoulder. He’s expected to be with the team Sunday.
Hill, Ziegler’s teammate for several seasons with the Diamondbacks, joined the Sox in a trade from Milwaukee on Friday.
“He’ll be back on the mound when he’s first ready to pitch to major league hitters”, Farrell said, “Regardless of who the pitcher is, [when] you have an injury to another part of the body you never want it to possibly show up another area, particularly the arm”. Going into the All-star break with a 2.43 ERA, 2.42 FIP, and 11.13 K/9 rate through his first 400 career innings further supports the notion that Miami will be holding on to their perennial Cy-Young candidate.
Red Sox: IF Travis Shaw remains day-to-day with a bruised left foot.
The Cleveland Indians traded utilityman Michael Martinez to the Red Sox for cash Friday.
Dombrowski will also be looking to improve his rotation. It will depend on the performance of Ziegler, but the sinkerball hurler should be comfortable in Fenway Park, where the Red Sox hope he will help deliver them to the postseason once more, after a painful two-year hiatus. Eveland has been designated for assignment by the Rays twice this season.
Brad Miller is 2-for-8, but both Miller hits have been home runs.
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Brad Ziegler joins the Red Sox at a very intriguing time, as in the last 32 hours Dombrowski has successfully pulled off 3 trades, all with a very specific goal in mind. Perhaps a package including Eduardo Rodriguez and one of Benintendi or Moncada could get the A’s talking, but I find it extremely unlikely that Gray is moved. One (middle name Alexander) is an outfielder: the other (middle name Alejandro) is the one we got, a 19-year-old who played alongside Almonte in Greenville. It’s not an easy starting pitching market out there.
