The Red Sox are set to place Curtis Mead on the ten-day injured list after his debut ended with a broken wrist, a fast setback for a player Boston had just brought in to help right away. Nick Sogard is expected to take his spot.
Mead’s first game for Boston came against the Athletics, and it turned into the kind of injury update clubs hope never to make the day after a debut. He was hit by a pitch near his hands, stayed in the game for a while and was removed an inning later. The initial diagnosis after he exited was a left wrist contusion, which is why the latest report matters so much now: x-rays were said to be negative, yet Tommy Cassell reported the wrist is broken.
That is a sharp turn for a player the Red Sox just acquired and then started at second base last night. The injury comes three days after Boston traded Connelly Early to Washington, a move that signaled the club was trying to reshape its roster on the fly. Mead is controlled for four seasons beyond this one, so this was supposed to be the start of a longer fit, not an immediate stop.
The timing also cuts into Boston’s infield flexibility at a moment when the group already looks thin. Trevor Story is still recovering from hernia surgery earlier this year and has not yet started a rehab assignment, while the club has also reportedly been looking at the shortstop market. Last night’s alignment had Willson Contreras at first base, Caleb Durbin at third base and Andruw Monasterio at shortstop, with Sogard expected to join Monasterio, Anthony Seigler and Romy González in the middle infield group for now.
Alex Speier reported the injured-list move, and Darragh McDonald wrote that there has not yet been a timeline for the injury from the club. That leaves the same basic question hanging over the roster move: whether Mead’s stay on the shelf will be counted in days or something longer. For Boston, the practical answer is immediate even if the medical one is not. The club has to cover second base now, and Sogard looks like the next man up.
