Earlier this month the Red Sox lost top set-up man Justin Slaten to the 10-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation, and the way manager Alex Cora told it on Tuesday, it doesn’t sound like he’ll be coming back anytime soon.
“It’s slower than we expected, let’s put it that way,” Cora said. “He hasn’t reacted to treatment the way we expected so this is kind of a slow process now.”
Slaten has been one of Boston’s most important relievers, posting a 3.47 ERA over 23.1 innings. Prior to going on the IL on June 1 the right-hander had made 18 of his 24 appearances in the eighth inning or later, and all but two of his outings have come with the Red Sox tied or with a lead.
The 27-year-old also served as the bridge to closer Aroldis Chapman, and without him the club has been forced to lean even more heavily on arms like Greg Weissert, Justin Wilson and Brennan Bernardino.
“Obviously it’s a big loss just like last year when we lost him and Chris (Martin),” Cora said. “Hopefully this is just something we can figure out in the upcoming days and we can get him going, but right now it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be soon.”
Cora also provided a handful of other injury updates Tuesday.
Outfielder Wilyer Abreu (left oblique strain) is expected to start swinging on Friday, and if he can then the expectation is he’ll be ready to return as soon as he’s eligible ahead of the upcoming series in San Francisco starting June 20.
Right-handers Tanner Houck (right flexor pronator strain) and Nick Burdi (right foot contusion) both threw bullpens on Tuesday. Houck is expected to throw another over the weekend and Burdi could begin a rehab assignment by the end of the week.
Left-hander Chris Murphy (Tommy John rehab) was promoted to Triple-A as part of his ongoing rehab process. Murphy has so far made five appearances in the minors, twice at High-A Greenville and three times at Double-A Portland, but Cora said over the weekend he anticipates Murphy will need a full spring-training’s worth of ramp up before he’s ready to return to the big league club.
