HOUSTON — Just before he missed a sixth straight game, Mookie Betts went to the disabled list, a move the Red Sox tried to avoid for perhaps too long.
Shortly before first pitch Friday night at Minute Maid Park, the Sox announced Betts went to the 10-day disabled list with a left abdominal strain.
“It’s better than I expected," Betts said. "It’s not enough pain for me to not play. It’s more of, this is one of those things where, if you go out and take one swing, you can be out basically the rest of the year. So I have to let it heal and try and avoid ending the year.
"I think you kind of know these type of things don't just go away over night, take time. Just kind of hoping [the last few days]. Hope for the best."
Regardless of a trip to the DL for Betts, the Sox were going to play Friday’s game with two players unavailable. Both Betts and Pedroia (left knee soreness) were out of the lineup and not expected to come in off the bench. A replacement player for Betts on the roster wasn’t to be available until Saturday. First baseman Sam Travis is headed to the Sox.
The point to DL’ing Betts on Friday, then, was that he can now potentially come back sooner and the Sox can have some help on the bench while he heals. With the 10-day DL, a player can be retroactively listed for three days. Betts is listed on the DL retroactive to Tuesday, May 29, and can return Friday, June 8, at the earliest.
Boston Red Sox
Red Sox manager Alex Cora hasn’t specified exactly what muscle Betts has injured. Cora has also said that if it were September, Betts would be playing.
"Only swinging," Betts said of when he feels it. "I mean, I can run, throw, do anything else. Swinging is the time where I feel like that’s when I definitely feel it the most."
There was no aggravation to Betts’ injury before the game. The Sox just felt it was the smartest move.
In hindsight, the Sox would have been better off putting Betts on the disabled list immediately when he first was scratched from the lineup last weekend. Before Friday’s game — and before the DL move was made — Cora explained how that choice is usually made.
"You have to trust the player, that’s the most important thing," Cora said. "With him, obviously, with Mookie, we trusted him a few times early in the season and when we said he was going to be ready he was ready. Probably it’s taking longer than expected, but I think him moving around yesterday, doing soft toss and now hitting, I do feel it’s going to be sooner rather than later, and we’ll stay away."
As long as Betts and Pedroia are out — and particularly during the period they are both out — the question becomes how well the Sox can keep up their high-scoring pace. The team's choice to let Hanley Ramirez go was layered, but part of the risk involved in moving on from Ramirez was thinning the team’s depth. Ramirez was officially released on Friday, making him a free agent. But he wouldn’t be a bad option to slot in now until the Sox regain some health. (Injuries cannot be predicted, of course, but that's why depth matters.)
If you’re wondering why the Red Sox didn’t have a player ready to go in place of Betts on Friday night, being on the road doesn't help. A taxi-squad player is allowed for only one day in a circumstance when a trip to the DL for a player is likely. So, unless the Sox felt Thursday night or Friday morning there was a high likelihood Betts was going to go to the DL, they couldn't just have someone hanging around indefinitely.
(But, it does seem like a little more foresight in this situation could have allowed a replacement player to be on hand: for example, had they made Friday a firm deadline for themselves ahead of time.)
Pedroia, meanwhile, was recuperating on Friday. He was scratched from Thursday's lineup.
"He's staying inside," Cora said. "Yesterday he was down, not only physically, but you could see it. For everything that he went through and the rehab, and for how good he was feeling, all of a sudden that happens. But at the same time they've been telling him, our medical staff, that there's going to be some bad days, and it happened. It happened probably quicker than what we really wanted, of course. But he's a big part of what we're trying to accomplish. We know what he brings to the table. So, we'll make sure he's healthy."
Travis, coming up in place of Betts, has four home runs in 34 games at Triple-A Pawtucket, with a .220/.290/.358 line.
"Next week there’s a lot of lefties that we’re gonna face," Cora said. "Wanted to feel that he can come off the bench. And the way he was swinging in spring training, he got our attention. He can play first, he can play the outfield."