Boston starter Nathan Eovaldi was placed on the 15-day injured list Tuesday with inflammation in his right shoulder. Michael Dwyer/Associated Press
With free agency approaching at season’s end, the possibility has always existed that Nathan Eovaldi’s days in Boston might be numbered.
Now as he lands on the injured list again, it’s worth wondering if we’ve already seen the last of Eovaldi in a Red Sox uniform?
Tuesday Eovaldi was placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation, the outcome the Red Sox wished to avoid after Eovaldi was scratched from his last scheduled start in Pittsburgh due to soreness in his trapezius muscle. The hope was Eovaldi might be able to start against Toronto instead, but after the veteran starting pitcher did not bounce back as hoped the club had no choice but to shut him down.
Red Sox Manager Alex Cora said he expects Eovaldi will pitch again this season, but the last time he went on the injured list with a hip and back issue earlier this year the injury proved more serious and lasting longer than originally expected.
If this latest injury follows a similar course, it may not leave much time for Eovaldi to make it back.
Though there’s always a chance Eovaldi could make a quick recovery or re-sign with the Red Sox this offseason, it feels more likely this could be it. If Eovaldi is finished in Boston, then it will mark the end of a remarkably successful tenure nobody could have predicted when he was added at the trade deadline four years ago.
Acquired from Tampa Bay for right-hander Jalen Beeks in July of 2018, Eovaldi was a walking question mark coming off his second Tommy John surgery. At that point Eovaldi had only ever made every start in a season once in his career, and he’d missed the entire 2017 campaign as a result of his elbow surgery.
Eovaldi made an immediate impact, posting a 3.33 ERA in 12 games down the stretch with the Red Sox before delivering an instantly iconic six innings of relief out of the bullpen in Boston’s 18-inning Game 3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2018 World Series. The Red Sox would rally to win the title at Dodger Stadium two nights later.
Following that effort Eovaldi was rewarded with a four-year, $68 million extension, which initially seemed a bad investment but later came to look like a steal once Eovaldi shook off an injury-plagued 2019 to emerge as Boston’s most reliable starter from 2020 onwards.
All told, Eovaldi has gone 25-18 with a 4.12 ERA with 461 strikeouts in 452 innings since coming to Boston. Beeks, for the record, has gone 14-7 with a 3.86 ERA and 211 strikeouts for Tampa Bay since the deal, mostly out of the bullpen.
THE RED SOX don’t look like a typical last-place team. They’ve spent much of the year over .500 and are clearly a cut above some of the league’s true dregs.
Yet compared to the rest of the AL East, it’s hard to argue the Red Sox aren’t right where they belong. After Tuesday’s 9-3 loss to Toronto, they are now 16-33 in the AL East.
It’s not like the Blue Jays are the only team that’s had Boston’s number either. Run down the list and the numbers are stark against the Orioles (5-7, -12 run differential), Yankees (6-7, -24), Rays (2-8, -19) and Blue Jays (3-11, -46). Add it all up and the Red Sox have been outscored within the division by 101 runs. No surprise the Red Sox are 2-12-1 in series against the AL East, and one of those victories came in an unusual one-game “series” against Baltimore last week.
The Red Sox are currently 44-30 outside of the AL East with winning records against contenders like the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners.
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