Red Sox place Austin Brice on the injured list

Earlier today we learned that the Red Sox had optioned José Peraza down to the Alternate Site in Pawtucket after his struggles throughout this season, presumably to open up more playing time for players more likely to contribute in 2021. We had not, however, learned the corresponding roster moves. Those have since been announced, though, with Dylan Covey and Robert Stock coming up to join the active roster. Along with Peraza getting demoted, Austin Brice has been placed on the injured list with a lat strain.

We already talked about Peraza in the post linked above, so we’ll start here with Brice. The righty was one of many waiver claims made by Chaim Bloom and company. After a rough start to his 2020 season, he has settled in as one of the more solid relievers in the bullpen and after trading Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree, Brice had stepped into a late-inning role. His 6.27 ERA on the year is ugly, but he is striking out over 11 batters per nine innings and he’s been more solid with a 4.00 ERA over his last 11 outings. Still not great, but the bar isn’t super high in this bullpen. Brice’s IL stint is retroactive to September 9.

As for the call-ups, as we mentioned in the Peraza post it was likely that a pitcher would replace him after Christian Arroyo came up for a pitcher on Tuesday. This gets the roster back to 15 pitchers, as it has been most of the season. Stock has been up for a couple stints this year, pitching to a 5.87 ERA over 7 ²⁄₃ innings with nine strikeouts and seven walks. Covey, meanwhile, can provide a little length in a mop up role if needed and has pitched to a 7.11 ERA this year over 6 ¹⁄₃ innings with four strikeouts and no walks.

Update (6:29 PM ET)

The Red Sox also placed Zack Godley on the injured list and called up Matt Hall. I’m not making a separate post for this.