Red Sox Place Ceddanne Rafaela on 10-Day IL as Injury Crisis Deepens
Interim manager Chad Tracy previously noted Rafaela was getting 'treatment like crazy' for the quad tightness.
The injury report is officially long enough to qualify as a CVS receipt. The team just placed center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela on the 10-day injured list with a right quad injury, proving once again that having nice things in baseball is strictly forbidden.
Interim manager Chad Tracy initially tried to play the day-to-day card, claiming Rafaela was just dealing with some tightness. Apparently, a few days of aggressive treatment was not enough to fix a muscle that has been working overtime all summer.
Rafaela has logged 135 games this season, the second-most on the roster. He has been an elite defensive anchor in center field, meaning his absence leaves a massive, Gold Glove-caliber crater in the middle of the diamond.
Losing your everyday center fielder is brutal, but Boston is currently operating a full-blown triage center. Willson Contreras and Masataka Yoshida are already sitting on the IL with hamstring strains, and the pitching staff is dropping like flies. At this rate, the front office is going to have to start pulling guys out of the Fenway bleachers to play the late innings.
For anyone staring at the daily betting lines, this completely scrambles the Boston outfield defense and removes a reliable target from the player prop market. Expect to see Eli White or Jarren Duran trying to cover the massive gap in center field.
The Red Sox are wrapping up a four-game set against the Orioles today after shutting Baltimore out in back-to-back games. They will have to figure out how to keep that momentum going without their defensive safety net, while Rafaela gets at least a week and a half to finally rest his legs.