McAdam: Red Sox finally make the right call on Mookie Betts, but what took so long?

HOUSTON -- The Red So seemingly gave in to the inevitable Friday night and placed Mookie Betts on the 10-day DL, retroactive to Tuesday, citing a "left abdominal strain,'' finally delivering a more formal diagnosis after dodging the specifics of the injury since it first arose last Sunday.

He'll be eligible to return to action June 8. The team said a corresponding move would take place Saturday. Immediately, speculation centered on first baseman Sam Travis, who was pulled from Pawtucket's lineup Friday night. Travis could give the Red Sox a righthanded bat off the bench in the absence of Betts.

From the time when Betts first reported "tightness'' in his left side while taking some pre-game swings in the batting cage last Sunday morning at Fenway, the Sox had continued to indicate that his return to the lineup was imminent and that, had the setback taken place in September, Betts would have been in the lineup.

Betts was enjoying his best season to date, leading the American League in batting average, slugging percentage, OPS, and runs scored and ranking second in homers.

But in recent days, it became obvious that the injury was lingering and taking longer to heal than first thought. Two hours before the team placed Betts on the DL Friday, manager Alex Cora was openly speculating about the possibility of Betts returning to the field before the current series with the Astros ended.

Betts had taken some soft-toss swings early Friday afternoon and was set to take batting practice late Friday afternoon. Apparently, he still felt some discomfort when doing so, forcing the Sox into a move.

On Friday afternoon, Cora had spoken of the decision-making process that goes into whether to DL a player.

"You've got to trust the player,'' said Cora. "That's the most important thing. With him, obviously, we trusted him a few times earlier in the season (with hamstring and foot injuries) and when he said he was going to be ready, he was ready. This has probably taken longer than expected, but him moving around (Thursday), taking soft toss and now hitting, we do feel it's going to be sooner rather than later.''

But then, in a reversal, two hours later, Betts was placed on the DL, leaving him unavailable for their big series against the Astros, as well as the first series (vs. Detroit) on their upcoming homestand.

Beyond the indecision they exhibited with Betts, there's also the matter of the diagnosis. The team has steadfastly avoided using the designation "oblique'' -- even as Betts has pointed to an area in his side as the trouble spot, consistent with where the oblique muscle is situated -- or "intercostal,'' and instead, made reference to a more generic "tightness,'' in left side.

If, as suspected, Betts had an oblique pull, the Sox should have known better when it first occurred that such injuries are typically difficult to overcome in a matter of days, with the lingering threat of aggravating the injury, resulting in a longer recovery period.

At the very least, the Sox appeared to fail to act proactively, costing them the services of their best overall player for longer than necessary.