The Red Sox make a flurry of roster moves

The Red Sox roster is going to look a little bit different on Sunday after they made a flurry of roster moves. We knew that Christian Vazquez was heading to the disabled list with a broken pinkie, but Brian Johnson will be joining him on the ten-day disabled list. The Red Sox added a couple of right-handed relievers in William Cuevas and Ryan Brasier to take their roster spots.

We’ll tackle these very quickly one piece of information at a time. The Vazquez injury is not news, but rather is just being made official after it was announced last night. There is still no hard timeline on the injury to the catcher’s throwing hand, but there is some hope that he can return in 2-3 weeks. In the meantime, Blake Swihart will get what could be a final chance to prove he is indeed a major-league caliber catcher.

Johnson’s injury comes as more of a surprise given how solid he has been in his two spot starts since Steven Wright’s injury. The lefty is out with left hip inflammation and his DL-stint is retroactive to July 3, meaning he’ll be eligible to return on July 13. In the meantime, the Red Sox have two starts that he was schedule to make. It’s not clear what the plan is just yet. Cuevas could step in, or Drew Pomeranz could return from his DL stint, or someone like Jalen Beeks, Chandler Shepherd or Justin Haley could join the rotation. I suspect we’ll hear relatively soon what the plan will be.

As for Cuevas and Brasier, well, they aren’t the most exciting relievers but they have earned their chance. Cuevas was just recently up with the team, of course, and allowed one run in two innings in his lone outing in the majors. Brasier, meanwhile, is a 30-year-old righty who was signed to a minor-league deal prior to this season. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2013, but he’s been very good in Triple-A this season. He’s tossed 40 ¹⁄₃ innings with a 1.34 ERA, 40 strikeouts and just 8 walks. It was enough to earn him a spot on the International League All-Star roster. To make room on the 40-man roster for Brasier, Austin Maddox has been transferred to the 60-day disabled list.

Although he and Cuevas have certainly earned their promotions, it’s a little surprising that the team didn’t use this as a chance to see what someone like Ty Buttrey can offer at the highest level.

Update: It seems Hector Velazquez will be the probable starter on Tuesday.