BOSTON -- The Red Sox will be without Justin Slaten, one of their most dependable setup men, for the next couple of weeks. This comes after Wednesday morning’s news that the righty landed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to April 5) with a right oblique strain.
They will be without Johan Oviedo, their bulk-inning reliever who was placed on the IL on Friday, a lot longer than that. The righty went to see Dr. Keith Meister in Dallas and was diagnosed with a right flexor strain. Manager Alex Cora said he will be shut down from throwing for six weeks, meaning he likely won’t return to the roster until some point in June.
For Slaten, this continued an unfortunate streak which has seen him land on the injured list in his first three Major League seasons.
“Yeah, it sucks,” said Slaten. “Obviously not something I'm happy about, having these conversations with you guys. Obviously, nothing against y'all. But it sucks. I want to be healthy. I want to help contribute.”
The good news is Slaten doesn’t expect to be out nearly as long as he was in ‘24 (six weeks) or last season (two months).
“We’re pretty confident that just taking the time right now is the smart thing, and we'll get back pretty soon,” Slaten said.
In Slaten’s place, the Sox called up lefty Tyler Samaniego from Triple-A Worcester for his Major League debut at the age of 27. The reliever was acquired back in December in the same package that brought Oviedo from the Pirates.
Cora’s bullpen currently consists of four righties (Garrett Whitlock, Greg Weissert, Zack Kelly and Ryan Watson) and four lefties (Aroldis Chapman, Jovani Morán, Danny Coulombe and Samaniego).
“I'm comfortable [with it],” said Cora. “We did it last year. We have St. Louis, we have Minnesota and Detroit and then New York, so a bunch of lefties coming up. So having all of them here makes sense.”
Oviedo came to camp as a slight frontrunner to win the No. 5 spot in the rotation, but was beaten out by the team’s No. 3 prospect, Connelly Early.
Though Early won the job with his performance, Oviedo was hindered by an underlying issue that diminished his velocity for the latter half of camp.
The righty underwent Tommy John surgery in December of ‘23 and missed significant time last season with a right lat strain.
“No one wants to get hurt, but it’s better to get rest and heal than go through surgery,” Oviedo said. “It’s similar to the lat, I took six weeks [of no throwing] for the lat, too, so it’s the same type of way we go about it, so it feels familiar. Six weeks of no throwing. The plan is [in] four or five weeks to throw some plyos if it’s healing the way we want, and it’s just following the doctors.”
The Red Sox do have two bulk possibilities starting up rehab assignments, including lefty Patrick Sandoval, who went 3 1/3 innings and allowed zero earned runs for Worcester on Wednesday (three unearned), and righty Kutter Crawford, who will pitch for the WooSox on Saturday.