Injuries are an unavoidable part of baseball. For the Red Sox this season, they seem to be a constant source of annoyance, especially since late June, when a tsunami of injuries first hit their starting rotation.
For the most part, the Red Sox are about as healthy as they've been in months. Trevor Story, KikΓ© Hernandez, Matt Strahm and Michael Wacha -- among others -- are all back in action after long stints on the IL throughout much of the middle part of the season.
A few others -- Eric Hosmer, Nathan Eovaldi -- still linger on the sidelines, but are expected back before the end of the season.
It's doubtful that a return to (mostly) full health will be enough to salvage the season. Even after the Red Sox' 9-1 thrashing of the Texas Rangers Friday, Boston's third straight win, the Sox remain three games under .500 and 7.5 games out of the final wild-card spot.
Healthier, yes, but too little, too late.
Not all the injury news was good, however. Manager Alex Cora announced that the Red Sox expect that Tanner Houck will undergo back surgery at some point.
That's a reversal from the prognosis of only a few weeks ago. Houck was placed on the IL with lower back inflammation on Aug. 9. When he didn't respond well to treatment initially, he saw a handful of back specialists. After some additional rest, he was given clearance to resume throwing with the expectation that he could return to game action at some point in September.
But not long after Houck began ramping up his throwing program, he again felt discomfort in the back. With some additional consults, it was determined that the disc problem, first diagnosed in August, would almost certainly require a surgical procedure.
"With Tanner,'' said Cora, "we got the results and the doctors are going to meet (later) and make a decision. There's a good chance he might have surgery. But we just want to make sure we go over the whole thing and that this is the route that is the most beneficial for him. They'll make a decision, probably (Friday night) or we'll know more (Saturday). But there's a good possibility he'll have surgery.''
Cora said the expectation was that Houck would be ready for spring training in February.
But back surgeries are no joke. Ordinarily, they're undertaken as a last resort, when everything else fails. And they involve long periods of recuperation and rehabilitation, with the chance for complications. For pitchers, given the amount of torque they go through on the mound, they can become even more problematic.
Until this setback, the Red Sox bullpen looked like a potential strong point for the 2023 season. Assuming the Sox intend to keep both Houck and Garrett Whitlock in relief roles, they could be used as the bullpen's foundation, providing multiple innings, and augmented by John Schreiber and Matt Barnes. Other arms in the system could be in a position to contribute by next year, too, including Frank German, who's been impressive at Worcester.
Now, all of that is very much up in the air. Despite Cora's optimism -- it's hard to have a specific timetable for recovery until we know exactly what's being done and how the procedure goes -- it's not a given that Houck will be ready to go when pitchers and catchers report to Fort Myers in mid-February.
Plus, if Houck's not completely healthy by spring, it could impact the entire staff. If the Sox wanted to have Whitlock go back to the rotation, it would be harder to do without Houck as an option in the pen.
Obviously, there's a lot of unknown between now and then. Chief baseball office Chaim Bloom will need to add to the bullpen, regardless of the timetable for Houck's return.
But just when it looked like the worst was over for the Sox when it comes to injuries, along comes one more. Losing Houck for the remaining four-and-a-half weeks wasn't optimal, but given the longshot playoff hopes, his absence could be tolerated. The news that he might have a major procedure done on his back, however, is, like the residual disappointment of this season, bound to hang over the club for much of the winter.