It was announced on Saturday that Craig Kimbrel needs surgery on his knee and will be out for 3-6 weeks.
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Kimbrel is expected to have surgery Monday for a medial meniscus tear. Given Dombrowski’s recent comments that the Red Sox “believe they can win this thing”, don’t be surprised if Boston doesn’t pull off a big trade before the July 31 trade deadline. He left the game with a left shin bruise and will get an MRI on Friday.
In 2013, the Red Sox won the World Series on the strength of their depth, with role players such as Jonny Gomes, Mike Carp and Daniel Nava providing meaningful contributions while splitting time. Craig Kimbrel and Junichi Tazawa, the two best late-game relief arms for Boston, were both unavailable Friday with knee and shoulder problems respectively, and the bullpen has been inconsistent beyond them. He started out with promising numbers, a 2.50 ERA in rookie ball in 2013, but that mark has consistently grown, up to a career worst 3.91 during his 2016 campaign. But with the free out in his pocket, Uehara got Corey Dickerson to swing over one of his better splitters on the day for the last out.
The Sox believe they improved their bench in the trade with Cleveland for utility-man Michael Martinez on Friday for cash considerations. He converted 43 straight saves from May 29, 2015 until June 20 this season – the seventh longest streak in Major League history. Kimbrel is widely regarded as one of the best closers in baseball, and Smith had a tremendous rookie season for Seattle past year, striking out 92 in 70 innings with a 2.31 ERA and a 4.18 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Right-hander Sean O’Sullivan, making his second start since coming back from Pawtucket, allowed all four Tampa Bay runs in five innings. On Saturday, Boston managed a 4-1 victory to make it two in a row.
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Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski will hope Ziegler can fortify the bullpen, which has been depleted in recent weeks with the pitching staff as a whole struggling. Boston’s offense has been lighting up in recent games but will it be enough to carry them to the top of the standings? In his 18 starts and 8-6 record so far, Price has contributed a 4.64 ERA with a 1.23 WHIP in 116.1 innings. The Red Sox closer spoke on the play it occurred “I took a step for a groundball, heard a pop and didn’t really think it was anything serious”. “Something he’s been battling for some time, and he needs some downtime to recover from this”, Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “Probably the first half of last season having [to] get comfortable in his surroundings”. For his career, he is 32-24 with a 2.49 ERA and 81 saves over nine seasons.
