With a week and a half to go before Opening Day, the Red Sox are dealing with a handful of injuries to members of their pitching staff.
Fortunately for the Red Sox, each one of the injuries is relatively minor in scope -- muscle pulls or the like -- and none is expected to sideline any of the players in question for long.
Still, when the Red Sox gather on the baselines at Fenway on March 30, the active roster will not look the one the Sox had anticipated. Missing from the 26-man roster against the Baltimore Orioles that day will be:
* Brayan Bello (forearm tightness)
* James Paxton (hamstring strain)
* Garrett Whitlock (recovering from hip surgery)
* Joely Rodriguez (right torso injury)
Bello suffered a setback in the first week of camp when, during a routine side session, he felt some tightness in his forearm. After a week-long shutdown, he resumed his progression and build up arm strength. On Sunday, he made his first Grapefruit League appearance and was extremely sharp, retiring all six hitters he faced over two innings, fanning three.
Thanks to the layoff, Bello must continuing building up, but the expectation is, he'll be ready to join the rotation by mid-April after missing a maximum of three turns.
Paxton, too, is getting closer, though by the looks of his workload, he'll take a bit longer to be ready. Over the weekend, he threw a bullpen, which should be followed shortly by some live batting practice and then, games. With just seven Grapefruit League games remaining after Monday, Paxton will have to ramp up either in extended spring training or some minor league rehab starts.
Again, however, he is not expected to be out long. He could be ramped up enough to be part of the Sox' rotation toward the end of April.
Whitlock made his first Grapefruit League start Monday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, having made a two-inning relief appearance last week. Thr righthander isn't dealing with any particular physical issue, but given the nature of last September's surgery, the Sox wanted to make sure they weren't rushing him this spring.
Like Bello, Whitlock needs only to bulk up some with his workload in the next few weeks in order to be part of the rotation.
Finally, there's Rodriguez, who had been penciled in as one of the two lefties in the bullpen until he was forced out of Saturday's game, grabbing his right side and in considerable discomfort.
The Sox planned to have Rodriguez undergo some imaging tests Monday to determine the extent of the injury. The expectation is that he's dealing with an oblique strain, but the severity of the strain is unknown, as is a timetable for return.
With the three starters (Bello, Paxton and Whitlock) unavailable for the start of the season, the Sox will likely insert Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford -- both previously ticketed for the bullpen -- as two replacements. The fact that the Sox had more starters than spots available as camp began means Chris Sale, Corey Kluber and Nick Pivetta will handle the three other jobs.
Finding a replacement for Rodriguez, however, won't be so easy. As it stands, Richard Bleier is the lone lefty slated for the bullpen.
The Sox' options to replace Rodriguez include journeyman Ryan Sherriff and minor leaguer Oddanier Mosqueda.
Sherriff has the benefit of some major league experience, having appeared in 44 big league games for St. Louis (2017-18 and Tampa Bay (2020-2021). He spent last season pitching for Philadelphia's Triple A affiliate.
Meanwhile, 23, signed with the Sox as an international free agent and began his pro career in Lowell in 2016. Now, six seasons later, having not reached Triple A before, he may have a chance to crack an Opening Day roster.
There are other more experienced lefties in the system, such as Brandon Walter and Chris Murphy, each ticketed for Worcester. But on Sunday, Alex Cora said the team preferred the two to be stretched out to serve as possible depth starter options at AAA.