Red Sox News & Links: When Will Ceddanne Rafaela Play?

Cedanne Rafaela has been with the Red Sox for nearly a week now and has barely gotten on the field, having made only a single start thus far. That said, he’s played relatively well, as he’s 3-8 with a double and an RBI. Will we see more of him as the season winds down, or is he going to be little more than a late-innings defensive replacement? (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)

But there might be an opening in the outfield for Ceddanne all of a sudden. Alex Verdugo was removed from yesterday’s game with hamstring tightness. The injury doesn’t appear to be major right now, but there’s little need for the Sox to rush things given the exceedingly long postseason odds. (Christopher Smith, MassLive)

Ceddanne certainly isn’t going to get any playing time at the expense of Adam Duvall right now. Duvall was outstanding in August and continued his strong hitting against the Royals in Kansas City. (Gayle Troiani, NESN)

Masataka Yoshida had the complete opposite of Duvall’s hot August, but after homering yesterday, Alex Cora is confident that he’s getting his swing back. (Gayle Troiani, NESN)

On the pitching side, the Sox got an arm back this weekend, as Brennan Bernardino returned from the COVID IL list and has already made an appearance out of the bullpen. (Christopher Smith, MassLive)

With yesterday’s win, Alex Cora tied John Farrell for sixth on the all-time wins list for Red Sox managers. Jimmy Collins is 23 wins ahead of him in fifth place, and I’m not sure whether Cora will get the chance to tie him. (Colin McCarthy, Boston.com)