Roenis Elias returns to Pawtucket, Clay Buchholz returns to rotation

After Friday night's disaster performance against the Mariners, Roenis Elias' chance at the majors is already over and done with. He's back to Pawtucket, with the Red Sox turning once more to Clay Buchholz as their desperation to fill out the back-end of their rotation grows.

Making the trip with Elias will be Rusney Castillo, who has barely seen the plate since being recalled from Pawtucket weeks ago.

For Buchholz, there's only so much Red Sox fans can hope for. He's put together a few good relief outings, but the reality is that even those barely constitute a  short start's worth of innings. The only reason he's back is because Elias completely failed his test, and with Eduardo Rodriguez looking barely any better, the Red Sox kind of have ot keep throwing things at the wall in hopes that one eventually sticks. It's not like the alternatives are much more likely to succeed than Buchholz given recent evidence.

Update: The Red Sox have gone outside the 40-man for their outfielder, calling up Ryan LaMarre in Castillo's place and not adding a reliever at all, bringing up Deven Marrero to extend the bench even further instead.

It's not entirely clear who will replace Buchholz in the bullpen and Castillo on the bench. If the Sox are looking for an outfielder, about all they have is Bryce Brentz. Brock Holt is still experiencing concussion symptoms as of a few days ago. The relief situation provides them with at least a few more options, but with Kyle Martin having suffered a few rough outings, Anthony Varvaro seems the most likely choice. Noe Ramirez has generally been their go-to name, but he was sent down too recently to be recalled. That may be for the best, since their constantly returning to Ramirez has done them no good in terms of keeping runs off the board.