Andrew Benintendi placed on the IL

It’s been a brutal year for the Red Sox so far, and it’s been particularly brutal for Andrew Benintendi. He’s been one of the faces of the slow start as he has stumbled mightily out of the gate as the leadoff hitter after coming in as such an important player in the post-Mookie era. Now, things have gotten even worse as he is heading to the injured list with a sprained rib cage. Ryan Weber has been called up to take his place on the active roster.

The injury apparently occurred in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s loss to the Rays when Benintendi stumbled on an ill-advised attempt to go first to third on a base hit. The good news is the X-Rays came back negative and there is hope he’ll only have to serve the minimum ten days on the IL. An injury is, of course, never a positive, but perhaps this break from the action could help Benintendi, who is hitting .103/.314/.128 for a 47 wRC+ to start the season.

In his stead, Weber is coming right back up. It is a little bit of a surprise that the Red Sox aren’t bringing up a position player, though there isn’t really an outfielder that would make sense to come up. I thought maybe this could be the chance to give Bobby Dalbec or CJ Chatham a taste of the majors with José Peraza and Tzu-Wei Lin able to play in the outfield. With such a short stay on the IL expected for Benintendi, though, the extra arm could be more valuable. In the meantime, expect a lot of Kevin Pillar in the starting lineup. As for Weber, well, this could be a short stint as the Red Sox will need to make another move before Thursday’s game to get Kyle Hart on the roster.