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Well, this came out of nowhere. Steven Wright had his worst outing of the year, by far, his last time out but was looking to come back against the Angels on Thursday and put that one behind him. At least, that was the expectation. Instead, he won’t be making that start. The knuckleballer will be heading to the disabled list with left knee inflammation and righty Justin Haley will be taking his spot on the active roster.
The #RedSox today placed RHP Steven Wright on the 10-day disabled list with left knee inflammation, retroactive to June 23. To fill Wright’s spot on the 25-man roster, the club recalled RHP Justin Haley from Triple-A Pawtucket. pic.twitter.com/KsnStw93sx
— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 26, 2018
This injury seemingly came out of nowhere as there was no indication, at least to my knowledge, that Wright wasn’t feeling, well, right after his start against the Mariners. It appeared to just be an ineffective day, which will happen time to time. That being said, Wright has missed time already with this injury as he underwent surgery on the knee and then suffered a setback in spring training that caused a DL stint before the season, and before his domestic abuse suspension. The exact timetable for the injury is unclear, but he will be eligible to come off as soon as July 3.
In the meantime, there hasn’t been an announcement on who will take his turn in the rotation but at least for this one I’d imagine it will be Haley. This probably snuck up on the Red Sox too, and while Jalen Beeks would be the ideal candidate he started on Sunday and would be on short rest if he were to come up for the spot start on Thursday. They could also work around this by pushing Eduardo Rodriguez up to Thursday’s start, giving Friday to Chris Sale and allowing Beeks to pitch with an extra day of rest on Saturday. Of course, that would mean Beeks pitching in the Bronx and....that’s a lot to ask of a rookie in his second career start. More likely is that Haley will get the start. It’s also worth noting that Chandler Shepherd would be on normal rest for Thursday if they wanted to use Haley out of the bullpen in either of the next two days. Hector Velazquez or Brian Johnson could also be options, though it seems like Alex Cora prefers both out of the bullpen at this point.