11:50am: The Red Sox fear a high grade tear in Murphys ulnar collateral ligament, Chris Cotillo of Ma sLive.com. Hes receiving additional testing and opinions. 8:51am: Red Sox left-hander underwent an MRI yesterday after experiencing recent elbow discomfort, and that imaging revealed ligament damage in his pitching elbow, Alex Speier of the Yoniel Curet Jersey Boston Globe. The Red Sox havent yet determined whether surgery will be the next step, though thats the typical outcome for injuries of this nature. A treatment plan will be finalized in the coming days, per Speier. The 25-year-old Murphy was slated to enter the season as one of the Sox top depth options in the rotation. He made his big league debut last season, to sing 47 2/3 frames with an unsightly 4.91 ERA but much better secondary marks. Murphy fanned a solid 23.1% of his opponents against an 8% walk rate and kept the ball on the ground at a 44.7% clip. All of those stats were right in line with or even slightly better than the league average. Metrics like FIP (3.70) and SIERA (3.88) painted a much more favorable picture of the rookies work than his base earned run average. Boston is set to open the season with , , , and in a rotation thats already lost top offseason signee for the season. Murphy, fellow lefty and right-hander are all on the 40-man roster and were expected to be among the first names up should further injuries compromise the projected rotation. While its not yet clear hell mi s the season, Murphy will at the very least no longer be an option in the early portion of the season. Whether the injuries to Giolito and Murphy prompt the Red Sox to look for additional depth in the rotation remains to be seen, but its a rough development for any club to lose its No. 1 and No. 6 or 7 starters before the season even gets underway. The Sox have long been connected to lingering free agent lefty , and others still on the market include and . Therell also surely be some names returning to the market in the coming days as veterans on minor league deals with other teams are informed that theyve not made the cut with their current organization. If Murphy ultimately requires surgery, hell be eligible to spend the season on the major league 60-day injured list, as he suffered the injury while in big league camp. Hed accrue a full year of service time and pay while undergoing surgery and rehabbing. He currently has just 81 days of MLB service time, giving the Sox six full seasons of control over him. Murphy wont be arbitration-eligible until after the 2026 season and isnt on track for free agency until the 2029-30 offseason. Joe Maddon Jersey
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