Red Sox activate Dustin Pedroia, place Blaine Boyer on 10-day disabled list

The Red Sox have been without their veteran second baseman for a couple of weeks, as Dustin Pedroia hit the disabled list with a knee injury on August 1. Today was the day he was eligible to return to action, and sure enough he is back. To make room for him on the roster, Boston has placed Blaine Boyer on the 10-day disabled list with a neck strain.

This is obviously a boost to Boston’s lineup, as Pedroia was one of the few hitters who was producing at the plate during that horrible stretch in July. Now, he joins a lineup that is starting to roll with Eduardo Nuñez and Rafael Devers in tow. The question, of course, is how John Farrell will work everyone into the lineup. The manager has already said he doesn’t want to keep either of the two newcomers out as much as he can avoid it, so it will take some creative managing to get everyone at bats. As I discussed last week, the Red Sox have an advantage of having so many versatile players, which should allow Farrell to play the hot hand and get his guys some rest during the dog days of August.

On the other side of things, Boyer’s injury is a bit of a surprise move. The Red Sox have had an imbalanced roster since Pedroia first went down, carrying an extra reliever for the past week or so. Now, they are back to 13 position players and 12 pitchers. It was always going to be interesting to see how they worked this out, as Brandon Workman, Joe Kelly and Matt Barnes are the only relievers with options in the bullpen, and it would have been a surprise to see any of them demoted. That likely left Boyer as the odd man out, but they were able to put him on the disabled list rather than designate the righty for assignment. It will be interesting to see how long Boyer is on the shelf for and how they deal with it when he’s able to return, but for now things are settled and the Red Sox have something close to a full-strength lineup.