I’m not even mad anymore. This is just amazing…
The Boston Red Sox’s injury situation went from a slow simmer to full throttle quickly, with the latest injuries being two of the toughest to swallow.
Triston Casas will be “out for a while” with a left rib fracture, and now, the Sox’s ace of the future is headed to the injured list.
Brayan Bello landed on the 15-day injury list Thursday with right lat tightness. The 24-year-old right-hander spoke with reporters before Wednesday’s game in Cleveland and offered an encouraging update.
“I don’t think it’s that serious at all. It’s just tightness,” Bello said through a team interpreter on Thursday. “I can still throw and all of that. It’s just precaution.”
Mind you, that’s exactly what Garrett Whitlock said right after his last start before landing on the injured list as well…
Of course, being careful with your young ace-in-the-making who you just gave a large sum of cash is the wise thing to do — especially in a season where you aren’t exactly championship favorites.
But the latest losses of Casas and now Bello, a thin roster gets even thinner. We’re hearing rumblings of names the Sox could turn to if Casas is on the shelf as long as expected — because, well, we know Bobby Dalbec isn’t capable of holding down the fort (although let’s give him some credit, he did pick up his second hit of the season on Thursday. But not too much credit, as he also whiffed for the 19th time this season…).
A few names that are making the rounds are C.J. Cron, Garrett Cooper, and as was astutely suggested in today’s BSJ Live Q&A, longtime San Francisco Giant and former Toronto Blue Jay Brandon Belt. All would represent an upgrade over Dalbec, certainly.
Of the three, Belt certainly has the most pedigree. A former All-Star and two-time World Series champion, the recently-turned 36-year-old is coming off a season that frankly makes it surprising he’s still a free agent.
No, he didn’t tear it up in Toronto last year, but Belt did hit 19 homers and drive in 43 runs in 103 games. A left-handed hitter with pop himself (he’s clubbed 17 or more homers seven times and is only three years removed from hitting a career-high 29 while hitting .274 in 2021 with the Giants), Belt would make sense to slide right into Casas’ spot both on the field and in the lineup.
If they don’t go in that direction, Cron and Cooper could be options. We saw Cron this spring as he logged 15 at-bats in six Grapefruit League games with the Sox, only to hit .200 (3 for 15) with just one RBI. Cron, also a former All-Star, was less productive than Belt in his age 33 season last year (.248 average, 12 homers, 37 RBIs in 71 games with Colorado and the L.A. Angels).
Then we have Cooper — surprise, surprise, he’s a former All-Star, too — who was just designated for assignment by the Cubs this week, a curious decision given he hit a respectable .270 with a home run and six RBIs in 12 games this season. Chicago called up top prospect Matt Mervis, and Cooper just happened to be the odd man out…
Cooper at 33 is the youngest of the bunch and probably represents the first base option with the most upside at this point. He would make the most sense to me, given that I’m not sure how interested a nearly 40-year-old Belt is to join an also-ran like the Red Sox (if he waits longer, I’d imagine a better opening will come along…).
Now, as for the options to fill in for Bello — the third of Boston’s five Opening Day rotation members to go down already this season — the team could go a couple different routes.
Boston called up Zack Kelly to take Bello’s spot, and the right-hander looked pretty good in Boston’s 8-0 rout of the Guardians to force a Thursday rubber match. Kelly tossed two perfect innings of relief and struck out three to slam the door shut on Cleveland.
Kelly has never started at the major league level and has only made 16 starts in the minors, so he doesn’t factor as a starter. But he could certainly be used in a long relief role or as part of an opener combo.
Outside the organization, it’s the usual suspects — Julio Urias, who was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence in December but will not face felony charges, is one of them. There's also Trevor Bauer, who has been tearing it up in Mexico as he tries to impress for a major league job after the woman who accused him of sexual assault has been charged with defrauding him.
Also, a 40-year-old Zack Greinke is still floating around. And then there’s old pal and 44-year-old Rich Hill, who like a 2000 Toyota Camry, will probably be able to perform at some half-decent level until the sun explodes…
A more intriguing option could be former New York Mets All-Star right-hander Noah Syndergaard, who has reportedly received a few minor-league offers, according to the New York Post’s reporting, but is holding out for a deal with a big-league club.
The 31-year-old Syndergaard is certainly damaged goods at this point — there’s a reason he’s out there, after all — but could be exactly the kind of reclamation project the Red Sox have been into in recent years.
He made only 18 starts a season ago with the Dodgers and Guardians, going 2-6 with a putrid 6.50 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. Yeah, that’s not good… but he is only two years removed from a semi-decent 2022 campaign that saw him go 10-10 with a 3.94 ERA and 94 strikeouts in 25 games (24 starts) between the Angels and Philadelphia Phillies.
On the whole, Syndergaard has pitched to a lifetime ERA of 3.71 with a 1.20 WHIP and owns a 59-47 record across 164 big league games in eight seasons. He’s a guy who’s worth taking a flyer on, in my book. He has been linked to the Sox in years past and won’t cost you very much.
In fact, he’s someone I advocated for the Sox to trade for when the Mookie Betts rumblings were beginning (I proposed a package of Syndergaard and Edwin Diaz for Betts… and got mocked for it on Twitter. Hey, maybe that was deserved… but I’ll tell you what, I’d take that package over the one the Sox got from the Dodgers for Betts any day of the week…).
And to add some icing on the cake, he’s a fan of Fenway Park. Syndergaard once tweeted after a September 2018 start that it was a “surreal ballpark to pitch in … from a childhood dream perspective.”
Here’s hoping Cooper and Syndergaard will soon be riding in on white horses to save the day for the 14-11 Red Sox…
Gethin Coolbaugh is a columnist for Boston Sports Journal. Follow him @GethinCoolbaugh on X/Twitter.