The Red Sox announced Thursday that left-hander Ranger Suárez has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to July 6) due to a groin strain. Infielder Brett Harris is up from Triple-A Worcester to take his spot on the roster.
Suárez, 30, signed a five-year, $130MM deal in free agency and has thus far lived up to his end of the arrangement. The longtime Phillies southpaw has pitched to a 3.15 ERA with a career-high 25.8% strikeout rate, a strong 6.9% walk rate and a 40.4% ground-ball rate. Suárez isn’t going to continue seeing only 6% of his fly-balls become homers — his career mark is 11%, league-average is 12% — but metrics like xFIP (3.30) and SIERA (3.57) still feel he’s been genuinely excellent.
Suárez left his most recent start after recording only eight outs. The team announced the injury at the time as tightness in his left adductor. They’ve since maintained some optimism that he could avoid a trip to the IL, but that won’t prove to be the case. He’d been named to the American League All-Star team but will now be unable to take part in that game due to the injury. Suárez will miss at least two starts — one this Saturday and another coming out of the break. It’s not clear if he’ll be sidelined further. The team has yet to provide a timetable for his return.
The Sox will likely turn back to righty Brayan Bello on Saturday, when Suárez’s spot in the rotation is up next. Boston optioned Bello, a former top prospect and once-steady midrotation arm, to Triple-A earlier this season after he posted an ERA north of 6.00 through his first 12 appearances. He’s looked much better in 18 2/3 Triple-A innings since being sent down. Bello’s 4.34 ERA isn’t especially exciting, but he’s fanned 27% of his opponents against a 5% walk rate and kept half the batted balls against him on the ground. Given that he was sitting on a career-low 15.6% strikeout rate before being optioned, a big uptick in strikeouts and swinging-strike rate (11.1% in Boston, 13% in Worcester) is a welcome development.
Suárez is the latest Red Sox hurler to hit the injured list. He joins ace Garrett Crochet — out since April — and young southpaw Connelly Early as key rotation arms on the shelf. The Sox are going with Sonny Gray, Payton Tolle, rookie Jake Bennett and just-activated veteran Patrick Sandoval in the rotation for now.
Boston’s performance in the weeks ahead will determine the team’s trade deadline approach. That makes the loss of Suárez, even for a couple starts, particularly notable. The Red Sox have won 10 of 12 games, climbing back into the thick of a muddled and subpar Wild Card scene in the American League. The Sox are a dozen games out in the AL East, so there’s no real thought of a run at the division, but even at 42-48 they’re just three games back of the Rangers for the final Wild Card spot.
If the Sox end up selling, there’ll be plenty of chatter surrounding veterans like Sonny Gray, Aroldis Chapman and Sandoval (among others). As such, Suárez’s injury has some ramifications not just for the Red Sox but for the entire league, given the extra importance placed on every Boston win or loss.