Red Sox News & Links: Enmanuel Valdez, Brandon Walter Called Up

When the autopsy of the 2023 Red Sox is completed, the cause of death will be listed as terrible run prevention. And as it turns out, the returns of Chris Sale and Tanner Houck didn’t do anything to solve the problem. (Julian McWilliams, Boston Globe)

Does the team have any chance of making anything happen in September? Here’s a look at some grim numbers that suggest the answer is: no, they do not. (Chad Jennings, The Athletic)

With Ceddanne Rafaela already up, some of the excitement of roster expansion day took a hit. But the Sox still have to call up somebody. In this case it’ll be Enmanuel Valdez, who displayed an intriguing power bat to go with a lead glove in his first call-up, and pitcher Brandon Walter, who has a 3.07 ERA in 6 relief appearances for the Sox this year, but was a starter in Worcester. (Christopher Smith, MassLive)

Have you already started looking ahead to the offseason? Sam Kennedy made a radio appearance yesterday and declared that the Red Sox priority would be “pitching, pitching, pitching, more pitching. . .” Let’s hope that works out better than last year’s offseason priority, which was reported to be “multiple number two type” starters and ended up being Corey Kluber. (Ricky Doyle, NESN)

Whatever new arms end up in the organization, let’s hope Bill Lee is still around to do some mentoring. The lefty had another health scare at the WooSox game last night, but appeared to quickly recover. (Boston Globe)