/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/54635609/455677354.0.jpg)
On Thursday, Brandon Workman made his first major-league appearance since 2014. Although he got into some trouble, it was an overall positive outing in which he threw three innings of scoreless ball. Unfortunately for the 2013 World Series contributor, he tossed 46 pitches in the inning. That will prevent him from pitching for a few days, so the Red Sox are sending him back to Pawtucket to bring up fresh reinforcements.
Workman optioned back to Pawtucket because he'll unavailable for a few days. Corresponding move announced tomorrow. Likely an infielder.
— Jen McCaffrey (@jcmccaffrey) May 5, 2017
It’s something of an unfair situation for Workman, and is something we saw with Ben Taylor early in the year. You obviously can’t begrudge the team for this, but it’s just an example of the perils of having minor-league options.
As McCaffrey says above, it’s likely that the team will call up an infielder to replace Workman. When they called up Kyle Kendrick to take Marco Hernandez’ roster spot, it gave them an extra pitcher on the roster. While nothing is official yet, Deven Marrero is the only other infielder on the 40-man roster. They can easily clear a spot by moving Steven Wright to the 60-day disabled list, but there aren’t really any other alternatives. We’d all love to see Rafael Devers, but it’s too early for that. I suppose there’s some possibility they could call-up Sam Travis, but he hasn’t exactly torn up Triple-A this year.
We’ll keep you updated on who replaces Workman on the roster when it’s announced.