Boston, MA – Boston Red Sox pitcher Andrew Bailey may be sidelined for the remainder of the season thanks to a continuously troubling shoulder issue.
On Friday, the Boston Herald reported that Sox manager John Farrell said Bailey suffered "fairly significant" damage to the labrum of his right shoulder during his last outing last weekend at Oakland.
"There's a capsule tear, and there's some damage to the labrum," Bailey himself added in a media session prior to the start of a three-game series with the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. "I felt it on a pitch to Jed Lowrie, on a 1-2 fastball away. I stayed in the game...but it just didn't feel right. We're trying to see what our options are before surgery. It's very frustrating. I've been kind of grinding through stuff all year, and I'm trying to gather as much information as I can."
The Red Sox put Bailey on the 15-day disabled list on Friday due to a strained right shoulder. They also recalled reliever Jose De La Torre recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket.
Bailey was seen by orthopedist Dr. David Altcheck in New York on Monday, who agreed with Red Sox medical staff as to the severity of the injury. If surgery is determined as the best option, the right-hander's season would be over.
The 29-year-old New Jersey native has gone 3-1 with a 3.77 earned run average in 30 appearances for Boston thus far in 2013. If he is lost for the duration, that makes three members of the Red Sox bullpen lost for the year, along with original closer Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Miller.
Sox general manager Ben Cherington chimed in on the situation, saying, "It likely does make it more challenging but it doesn't change the job," of trying to find a suitable replacement for the AL East leaders.
Boston returns from the All-Star break 2 1/2 games in front of second-place Tampa Bay and six games ahead of the fourth-place Yankees.
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