The Red Sox turned to Garrett Whitlock, not closer Aroldis Chapman, to close out last night’s 4-3 win over the Rangers. After the game, interim manager Chad Tracy explained to the team’s beat that Chapman has been dealing with lat tightness for a couple days and was unavailable (via Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com). The Sox aren’t currently considering an IL stint for the 38-year-old lefty. He’s day-to-day.
Chapman, 39 in February, remains one of the game’s premier bullpen arms even as he inches toward his 40th birthday. He’s 34-for-36 in save opportunities this season and boasts a sparkling 1.95 earned run average. The flamethrowing lefty isn’t sitting 99-100 mph with his heater these days but is still averaging 96.9 mph on his four-seamer. He’s fanned 32.4% of his opponents this year, which has helped him mitigate an 11% walk rate.
The lat issue of at least modest note, given the nature of Chapman’s contract. He’s earning $13.3MM this season and has a $13MM mutual option that becomes guaranteed if he pitches at least 40 innings (which he’s already done) and is healthy and passes a physical at season’s end. For now, it doesn’t appear there’s concern regarding a major injury, which is pivotal for Chapman (due to that contractual clause) and for the team as a whole, given his excellence in the ninth inning. Whitlock is a more-than-capable option to step into the ninth for however long is needed, but Chapman’s health is of course vital to the Red Sox’ postseason hopes.
Boston had another injury scare with a key player when Willson Contreras was plunked on the hand in last night’s game. Via the Boston Globe’s Tim Healey, Contreras told reporters after the game that he’d fractured his hand before and that this “felt like a fracture” as well. Initial x-rays were thankfully negative, but he’ll still undergo some followup tests in the coming days. There’s plenty of precedent for small fractures to initially go undetected on x-rays before appearing in subsequent imaging after the swelling and inflammation from the original impact has subsided.
There’s no clear timetable for Contreras to return to the lineup. He’ll get some additional looks at his ailing hand today, in all likelihood. If he’s out of the lineup tonight, the Sox can look to Mickey Gasper, Andruw Monasterio or Nick Sogard to fill in. All three have logged a handful of games at first base this season.
As with Chapman, a more serious injury would be both a massive and ill-timed blow to the Red Sox, who’ve all but formally punched their ticket to the postseason thanks to a sizzling summer turnaround. Contreras has been the team’s best and most consistent hitter. He’s slashing a career-best .276/.387/.518 in 533 plate appearances and has already established a new career-high with 27 home runs while playing solid defense in his second year as a full-time first baseman.
Contreras came over from the Cardinals this past offseason, as did teammate Sonny Gray (though the trades to acquire them were separate). Like Contreras, Gray is enjoying one of the best seasons of his career despite being in his mid-30s. He’ll turn 37 in November, but Gray has piled up a team-leading 163 innings and pitched to a 2.82 ERA with a 22.1% strikeout rate and 6.8% walk rate. Though he was originally acquired to eat some innings in a mid-rotation role, the right-hander has dialed back the clock and regained the borderline Cy Young-caliber form he showed earlier in his career.
This is the final season on Gray’s three-year contract, which was restructured at the time of his acquisition. The trade saw a $30MM team option converted into a mutual option. He’s sure to become a free agent at season’s end now, as mutual options effectively amount to accounting measures/small-scale deferrals (by way of kicking some of a player’s guaranteed salary onto the next year’s books in the form of an option buyout).
Gray isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, but the soon-to-be 37-year-old father acknowledged to the Globe’s Alex Speier that his family will make it clear to him when it’s time to be home year-round as a full-time dad. Regardless of how well he’s pitching at that point in his career, Gray says, he’ll “be done in a heartbeat” when that point comes.
There’s no indication that Gray is contemplating calling it a career as soon as this offseason, to be clear. Cotillo notes in his own column that Gray has had his sons, Declan and Gunnar, around the park frequently this season and has often traveled home to Nashville on off-days to spend time with his children, even if it means an immediate turnaround. Relative proximity to his Nashville home was a known priority for Gray in free agency when he signed his three-year deal with the Cardinals, but he’s thoroughly enjoyed his time in Boston, telling Cotillo:
“I’ve very, very much so enjoyed Boston. Enjoyed the guys. Fenway has been, and is, a very special place. I’ve enjoyed the people that I’ve surrounded myself with. We (the Gray family) like history. We’ve enjoyed Fenway and the people. We’ve enjoyed winning. It just feels like a big town to me. I’ve enjoyed a lot of it.”
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