Purple Sox third baseman Rafael Devers exited the membership’s loss to the White Sox earlier Saturday resulting from left knee soreness, although supervisor Alex Cora informed reporters (together with Tom Caron of NESN) following the sport that the membership is hopeful that the problem isn’t extra severe than that. Caron additionally relayed feedback from Devers himself concerning the concern. The 27-year-old famous that he wouldn’t be within the lineup for tomorrow’s sequence finale towards Chicago however that he hoped to be again within the lineup for the beginning of the membership’s sequence towards the Phillies in Boston on Tuesday.
The information is yet one more blow to a membership that has handled harm woes up and down the lineup all season. Devers has typically been the one constant offensive presence that the Purple Sox have been capable of depend on this 12 months. Solely Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran have appeared in additional video games for Boston than Devers this season and the star third baseman has dominated to the tune of a .286/.376/.563 slash line. That’s good for a 155 wRC+, the seventh-highest determine within the AL and fourth amongst all MLB infielders.
Whereas the Purple Sox seem like optimistic that they’ll solely be with out that manufacturing for a recreation or two, it’s price noting that this isn’t the primary time Devers’ knee has given him hassle this season. Cora informed reporters (together with these on the Related Press) again in April that Devers had undergone an MRI on his left knee and was coping with a bone bruise. The problem didn’t require a visit to the injured record however did drive Devers to overlook 5 video games again in April and if the harm proves to have worsened it wouldn’t be a shock to see Devers wind up on the IL now that it has flared up once more.
With Devers now day-to-day, he finds himself in the same place as outfielder Tyler O’Neill. O’Neill wasn’t in Saturday’s lineup as he nurses an injured proper knee that has triggered him to play simply three video games since Could 25. He was briefly positioned on the 10-day injured record late final month however was activated early this week solely to tweak his knee throughout Friday’s loss to the White Sox. Happily, the AP notes that Cora informed reporters Saturday that the membership hopes to keep away from sending O’Neill again to the injured record because of the concern and very similar to with Devers, the hope is he can return to the membership’s lineup on Tuesday towards Philadelphia.
Whereas O’Neill hasn’t been the offensive juggernaut that Devers has confirmed to be this season, he’s nonetheless been a key a part of the Purple Sox offense since arriving in a commerce with the Cardinals over the winter. In 44 video games with the membership this 12 months, the outfielder has slashed .250/.354/.500 with a 133 wRC+ and 11 homers in simply 181 journeys to the plate. That energy manufacturing from the suitable aspect has been significantly worthwhile for the Purple Sox as they’ve in any other case relied on lefty hitters akin to Devers and Wilyer Abreu for his or her energy manufacturing this season.
It’s unclear who would substitute Devers within the lineup if he have been to require a visit to the injured record, as accidents to Vaughn Grissom, Triston Casas and Trevor Story have severely restricted the membership’s choices across the infield. With David Hamilton dealing with shortstop duties and Jamie Westbrook splitting time alongside Enmanuel Valdez on the keystone, the membership might be left to show to Bobby Dalbec on the scorching nook within the occasion of an harm to Devers, although they might additionally make the most of Westbrook at third base and transfer catcher Connor Wong to second as they did to finish the sport this night.
Determining how the membership might deal with the lack of O’Neill isn’t practically as difficult, because the Worcester Purple Sox introduced Saturday afternoon that outfielder and DH Masataka Yoshida has begun a rehab project with them. In keeping with MLB.com’s Harm Tracker, the membership hopes that Yoshida will have the ability to rejoin the Purple Sox sooner or later throughout this coming week. Within the occasion that O’Neill have been to require a return to the injured record, Yoshida might seamlessly substitute O’Neill within the membership’s outfield/DH combine, taking again his function because the common DH whereas Duran, Rafaela and Rob Refsnyder deal with the outfield.
Signed out of Japan to a five-year deal previous to the 2023 season, Yoshida has slashed .287/.339/.438 with a 109 wRC+ since his main league profession started however appeared in simply 24 video games earlier than being shelved resulting from a thumb sprain on the finish of April. The 30-year-old appeared to be heating up in his ultimate 48 journeys to the plate earlier than hitting the shelf as he slashed a stable .318/.375/.477 throughout 13 video games. If he have been to keep up a slash line in that vary upon his return to motion, that will certainly present the Purple Sox with a serious enhance as they give the impression of being to rebound from a skid that has left them with a 32-33 file and 1.5 video games out of the ultimate AL wild-card spot.
