Andrew Bailey is off to Boston to have his thumb examined:
The extent of Bailey’s problem is not known. Valentine said it began bothering Bailey during the March 21 game in Bradenton against the Pirates, but Valentine was not made aware of it until Friday.
After his outing on Wednesday, Bailey didn’t mention any problem, saying:
“I’ll probably go two out of three (days) and then probably have the two days off, in (Washington,) D.C., and the off day (Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively),” he said.
“And then be ready for opening day. So we’ll probably do a game, off, game, and then the two days off and then opening day.
Maybe not. I suspect the Red Sox don’t believe it’s too serious, otherwise they might have left Daniel Bard in the pen to close until Bailey returned.
Can’t move pitchers back and forth from SP to bullpen at a whim w/o risking injury. Given Baileys injury history, the Red Sox have had plenty of time to decided on possible backups, and Aceves is certainly one.
Bard can always return to the pen, but moving him back to SP will not be as easy if they do.
Sound like Bailey sprained or tore the UCL in his thumb during the fall after the collision.
Sprain is the best case obviously. The fact he is heading to Boston for tests suggests it is not a simple sprain.
Why would it risk injury?? Alceves has basically been given that role for the season. I suspect it’s much more to do with the mental aspect of Bard believing he can be a ‘starter’