Clay Buchholz Likely Out for Season
By Editorial Staff
It’s being reported that Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz will miss the rest of the season due to a stress fracture in his lower back.
Buchholz has been out since June 16th with what was original termed a lower back strain. Boston hoped that resting the 26 year old would resolve the discomfort and avoid further complications later in the year.
But after the back didn’t respond to treatment as the Red Sox intended, Buchholz received a second opinion on the injury. The right hander described the pain as something he had never experienced before in his career.
Buchholz was eventually able to resume baseball related activities and threw off a mound last Monday.
But as is usually the case, soreness did not set in until the next day and an MRI revealed the stress fracture that is expected to sideline Buchholz for the rest of the season. He will receive a second opinion, but it is only expected to confirm the grim news.
Boston hopes that perhaps Buchholz could return for the post season, but the issue of building his arm strength back comes into play that late in the year. The Red Sox would not have the option of rehab assignments at that point due to the fact that the minor league season would be ending.
As a result, Buchholz’s best bet for pitching again in 2011 would be out of the pen, but would it really benefit the Sox to rush back their young arm only to use him as a reliever?
News of Buchholz’s serious injury sheds additional light on Sunday’s acquisition of Erik Bedard. Boston had been aggressively pursuing starting pitching, and from GM Theo Epstein’s comments after yesterday’s trade, it’s evident that Buchholz’s condition spurred the team into action.
"“I’ll refrain from answering in too much detail until we have a chance to talk to Clay and we all have a chance to talk things through. Clearly any time a pitcher of his caliber isn’t on the mound for a while and throws a side as he did on Monday but then can’t necessarily back it up with another side and getting out there on a rehab assignment, there’s some concern.”"
Boston did not want to appear desperate last week, thus holding the news on Buchholz until a day after the deadline.
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