The Boston Red Sox have placed Andrew Bailey on the disabled list. Bailey, who started the season as the Red Sox closer, and had eight saves before losing the job to Koji Uehara, has still been a valuable part of the Boston bullpen with a 3.77 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 29 innings this season.
This is Bailey’s second trip to the disabled list this season, after an early stint due to a biceps injury.
The Boston Globe is reporting that Bailey has damage in his right labrum, and requires surgery that will probably keep him out for the remainder of the season.
“The only way to fix this is surgery — 100 percent fix it,” Bailey said while meeting with reporters in the Red Sox dugout Friday afternoon. “This isn’t going to heal on its own.”
“I feel like it’s been building for awhile,” he said, although he added that MRIs taken earlier did not show anything “substantial.”
“In my mind, I feel like it’s been building, and I think the doctors feel that as well,” he said. “I’ve been grinding through a lot of things, working every day with trainers and doctors trying to get to pitch, and it just went.”
Bailey is investigating other options in an attempt to avoid the surgey. However if he does go through with the surgery it comes with approximately a 12-month recovery time.
“It’s tough,” Boston general manager Ben Cherington said of Bailey’s injury. “Tough for him more than anything. I know he was feeling progressively better the last couple of weeks. Looked better, was pitching well. We were counting on him to be a big part of the pen.
“We still got a little more information to gather, he may get another opinion, but he’s going to be down for some time. The guys have to step up, and as far as how it affects us, we’re going to continue to give some younger pitchers a chance and see what they can do. As I said when Miller went down, when a guy goes down, you have to replace him somehow, and I hope that that’s guys that are here internally. We’ve got to keep an open mind and continue to do that over the course of the next couple of days.”
To take Bailey’s place on the roster, the Red Sox recalled reliever Jose De La Torre from Pawtucket.
The Red Sox are currently in first place in the AL East Division and are playing a series with their hated rival, the New York Yankees this weekend at Fenway Park.
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