Boston Red Sox closer Koji Uehara out for season

The Boston Red Sox announced on Monday that closer Koji Uehara will miss the remainder of the 2015 season with a fractured wrist. Uehara suffered the injury in Friday’s game against the Tigers, and while the club seemed optimistic that the injury wasn’t serious, further tests indicated otherwise.

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With the Red Sox sitting in dead last in the American League Wild Card standings, the loss doesn’t necessarily put them in a hole. However, with Boston still just 10 games out of the second Wild Card spot, the loss adds literal injury to insult and further lowers the chances of an already-unlikely late-season run.

The good news for Boston is that Uehara, signed through next season at $8-million per year, is expected to make a full recovery. While a set recovery time has not yet been determined, one would think Uehara should be a factor for most if not all of the 2016 season pending any serious setbacks.

Despite being 40 years of age, Uehara has still been one of the most productive relief arms in baseball in 2015. While he was unable to return to the form that landed him seventh in Cy Young Award voting in 2013 (he posted a 1.09 ERA in 73 appearance), he still managed to allow less than a baserunner per inning en route to a 2.23 ERA and 25 saves. While Boston may not be thrilled at the concept of paying a reliever $8-million next season with several expensive veterans on the books, they’ll likely be more than content if Uehara can return to put up similar numbers to this season in 2016.

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