Red Sox lefty Drew Pomeranz was placed on the 10-day disabled list Tuesday with left biceps tendinitis. In his place, 24-year-old Jalen Beeks will make his major league debut on Thursday.
With a stellar start Tuesday from Steven Wright, there might be some questions as to where the struggling Pomeranz fits in when he returns from the DL. Manager Alex Cora joined Dale & Keefe, with Mike Mutnansky and John Tomase filling in, for his weekly interview Wednesday and addressed the status of Pomeranz.
"I think the most important thing is to get his mechanics back and be healthy," Cora said. "When Drew was in the bullpen he was throwing 94-95, now he's throwing 88-89. We know how successful he was as a starter last year, but I think velocity-wise he's been a tick down."
Pomeranz has posted a record of 1-3 this season with a 6.81 ERA. His last start came May 31 in Houston where he was knocked around for four earned runs off six hits in five innings of work. Cora said he saw some things he liked from the lefty even in the loss.
"He actually made some strides in the last [game]," Cora said. "We felt his fastball was a lot better even though the velocity wasn't there."
As for Pomeranz's future post-DL, it remains to be seen.
"We'll see how it goes. We'll make the decision when we have to make it," Cora said. "The most important thing is for Drew to be healthy and for Steven [Wright] to keep doing the job he's doing for us."
Following are more highlights from the interview. For more Red Sox news, visit the team page.
On Dustin Pedroia's health: "[Pedroia] just walked into the clubhouse and he was loud again so that's good. He wasn't as loud in Houston -- he was actually worried. But now that we know what's going on hopefully he can go out there and do something baseball-related, if not today then tomorrow. It seems like he'll be with us sooner rather than later."
On J.D. Martinez's comments about MLB marketing popular players: "I don't know if that's the case. I know there are a lot of guys in the game who know who J.D. Martinez is. I'll leave it at this: during the off-day, I went to a restaurant where I live. I was sitting there watching the draft, having dinner, disconnecting from the madness. And this fan, he's a season-ticket holder, he's like, 'Man this J.D. Martinez is amazing huh?' And I said, 'Yeah he's good. He's a good player, good guy.' And the man says, 'I'm surprised people don't talk about him more.' So I responded, 'You really feel that way?'… So I was surprised that a season ticket holder felt that way about him. So if our fans feel a little bit like that – I don't know if they're taking him for granted or just getting to know him– but if J.D. feels like that so be it. One thing I know is that he's hitting three or four for us and we're happy to have him. The opposition knows who J.D. Martinez is."
On the Yankees protesting Sunday Night Baseball: "I know it's a tough schedule. I said it yesterday: in the upcoming years we might be in that situation, now we got one in our pocket. We have a doubleheader on a Monday and we have a Sunday night game we'll use that one to get away from either the Sunday night game or the doubleheader. ... It's a tough game to play but at the same time the teams that play on Sunday are the good teams and we're one of them. We play our X-amount of games on the network and we have to deal with it."
