Sign up for email newsletters

Sign up for email newsletters

The Red Sox are giving Franchy Cordero another opportunity at first base.

Eric Hosmer, the veteran acquired via the San Diego Padres at the trade deadline, was placed on the 10-day injured list with lower back inflammation on Tuesday, opening a spot on the roster for a first baseman.

Cordero was the choice to replace him on the active roster, which immediately prompted the question, “why not give someone else a try?”

One of the organization’s top prospects, Triston Casas, is hitting .271 with a .377 on-base percentage and .836 OPS since returning to Worcester on July 22. He had missed two months with an ankle injury.

But Casas was never considered for a promotion on Tuesday, according to Red Sox manager Alex Cora. Asked if he had any discussions about Casas, Cora said, “From my end? None.”

“It hasn’t been brought up to me, so that’s where we’re at,” Cora said. “He hasn’t played this year, he didn’t play last year. That’s the way I see it. He’s still developing. That’s my opinion. He needs to get his reps, keep getting his reps and keep getting better. He was out for three months. So, I think that’s part of the equation. We haven’t talked about that recently.”

Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom told the Herald that the Red Sox haven’t ruled out a promotion for Casas at some point this season, but given Casas’ need for continued development in the minors and the expected short-term nature of Hosmer’s injury, now wasn’t the right time.

The Sox still see themselves as being in the playoff hunt, admittedly with long odds, and aren’t quite ready to focus completely on the future.

Like Casas, Cordero has similarly been hitting well at Worcester, which prompted the Sox to add him to their roster temporarily on Sunday, when they were allowed a 27th man for the Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pa.

Cordero entered in the eighth inning as a pinch hitter for Bobby Dalbec and crushed a game-tying home run to the opposite field, but the Sox blew the game in the bottom half of the inning in the 5-3 loss.

“It just felt like Franchy, he’s swinging the bat well, we’ll just see how he goes this week and hopefully we can get Hosmer back as soon as possible,” Cora said.

Even with the homer, Cordero’s numbers in the big leagues have been rough to look at.

He’s hitting .222 with a .300 OBP and .680 OPS this year. He’s been just as bad defensively at first base, where he’s made eight errors in 46 games while costing the Red Sox four runs worse than average, according to the defensive runs saved metric.

Before his demotion back to the minors following the Hosmer acquisition, he was in a 23-game stretch in which he was hitting .132 with a .463 OPS and 34 strikeouts in 77 plate appearances.

After a six-week layoff to recover from a bruised wrist, Trevor Story will begin his much-awaited rehab assignment with Double-A Portland on Wednesday.

But because of how well Christian Arroyo has played at second base since his return from the injured list (.377 average, .977 OPS), it won’t be easy to take him out of the lineup.

“Cal?” Cora joked, as he’s referred to Arroyo as Cal Ripken Jr. because he’s been playing every day of late. “There’s a good chance he’ll play first base.”

Arroyo attempted to play first base last year, but hurt his hamstring trying to make a defensive play in his debut.

He’s been an excellent second baseman and serviceable third baseman/shortstop, so they think it’s worth taking a chance at him at first, given the struggles of Dalbec and Cordero.

It’s uncertain how long Hosmer will be out with his back injury.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s something that’s going to take too long,” Cora said. “But obviously, how he reacts to treatment, getting him some rest, it’ll benefit him.”

Nathan Eovaldi was supposed to start Tuesday’s game, but was instead placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation.

It’s a concerning injury, particularly given Eovaldi has been pitching with substantially less velocity since he returned from an injury on July 15, but Cora thinks Eovaldi will pitch again this year.

He’s eligible for free agency after the season and is carrying a 5-3 record and 4.15 ERA.

“He hasn’t been able to bounce back,” Cora said. “Nothing structural. He feels a little bit of soreness. He’s gonna see the doctor again today. He had some testing yesterday. His last bullpen, he didn’t even try. He played catch and felt fatigue or whatever the feeling he has, so we’ve got to make sure he’s OK whenever that is.”

Josh Winckowski started Tuesday’s game in Eovaldi’s place.

Closer Tanner Houck is back with the team after seeing a spine specialist and he’s begun throwing from flat ground, but needs to get built back up before he can try to pitch again. He’s unlikely to need surgery, Cora said.

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

Sign up for email newsletters