Add Brayan Bello to the ever-growing list of players on the Red Sox’ IL. Bello went on the 15-day IL retroactive on April 21. Welp, that sucks. Bello is the 15th member of the Red Sox and the third member of the Opening Day starting rotation to hit the IL this month. Bello missing two weeks at the end of April isn’t a big deal. It is a drag because he has had a good start to the season and his development is key to the team’s future. Casas is in the same boat but worse because there is no real timetable with a rib injury. It seems like a pain-tolerance thing which could be weeks but could be months.
Strikeouts piling up
The offense struck out 28% of at-bats against the Guardians in these three games. thirty-two strikeouts total over the three games. A quick calculation puts that at just over 10 per game. Not great, Bob! I think the theme of this year, especially with Casas out, is going to be a team that has a few too many role players in the lineup. Masataka Yoshida’s struggles only buoy the point more. Yoshida is one of the highest-paid players on the team and hasn’t started since April 20th in Pittsburgh.
Did Connor Wong win the Mookie trade?
Not this time. But, Wong is actually a good catcher and a good hitting catcher. So of all the pieces that the Red Sox received in the never-to-be-forgotten Mookie Betts trade, one of them stuck. Alright! Wong crushed two home runs in game two against Cleveland on Wednesday. He currently sits in the top 3 in the league in wOBA. He is in the 85th percentile in sprint speed as a catcher. Wong is a nice piece for building up the middle.
Whispers Devers should stay at DH.
With Rafael Devers coming back from a shoulder and knee injury Alex Cora kept him at DH for the two games he played against the Guardians. Devers was on fire when he came back going 6-10 in the two games with a double, home run three runs scored and two RBI. We as a society have watched Devers play third base since 2018. We know what the results are. Keep him at DH so he can continue to mash balls that shouldn’t be hit for taters.
Photo from @mlbtraderumors
The Never Weres 
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