Red Sox place Johan Oviedo (elbow) on IL, make 3 other roster moves before home opener
· Yahoo Sports
BOSTON — Ahead of their home opener against the Padres, the Red Sox made their first roster moves of the young season, including placing an offseason trade addition on the injured list with a concerning elbow issue.
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The club placed righty Johan Oviedo on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to March 31) with a right elbow strain and placed setup man Garrett Whitlock on the paternity list. To take those spots, Boston called up right-handers Zack Kelly and Tyler Uberstine from Triple-A Worcester. For Uberstine, who was added to the 40-man roster over the winter, it’s the first stint in the majors.
Oviedo will be examined by Dr. Keith Meister, who performed Tommy John surgery on Oviedo in November 2023. While Red Sox decision-makers acknowledged some concern about Oviedo because elbow issues with pitchers are never promising, there seems to be some cautious optimism that the 28-year-old will avoid a lengthy absence.
“We’ll see where we’re at, as far as comparing the MRIs to before,” said manager Alex Cora. “We just have to be patient with it and wait for that to happen.”
Oviedo has shown diminished velocity in recent weeks and struggled in his season debut Monday in Houston, allowing four earned runs on six hits in 3 ⅔ innings in relief. In that outing, he averaged 93 mph, 2.5 mph slower than his 95.5 mph fastball velocity average last season with the Pirates. Acquired from Pittsburgh in a six-player December deal that sent outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia to the Pirates, Oviedo was expected to be a back-end rotation option to start the season but instead began the year as a long reliever with Connelly Early earning a rotation spot. Now, any contributions from the big righty will be on hold.
“He threw that game (Monday in Houston) and the next day, he felt good,” explained Cora. “The last day in Houston, he came in sore, went through all the testing, got some x-rays. There were ind of inconclusive. He got the MRI, it showed what it showed. It came out of nowhere, but if you start looking at the trends of velocity, he had that good (spring outing) in Dunedin, where he was 98-99 mph. Then after that, it started trending down. Maybe that’s the reason.
With Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, Early, Ranger Suárez and Brayan Bello locked into rotation spots, Uberstine — who made a four-inning start for the WooSox in his season debut — will be a long man out of the bullpen. The former 19th-round pick opened eyes with a strong season in the minors last year and was added to the 40-man roster in November.
Whitlock flew home to Alabama after Wednesday’s game in Houston to be with his wife, Jordan, who gave birth to the couple’s second baby Thursday. He could be back in Boston by the end of the weekend.
“Everybody’s happy, everybody’s healthy, which is awesome,” said Cora.
Kelly, who has made 98 appearances with the Red Sox since debuting in 2022, was one of the final cuts before Opening Day.
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