Move over, Pedroia by Jared Carrabis
Victor Martinez to DL, out of action 'til after All Star break


(WEEI.com) -- Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez will be placed on the 15-day disabled list prior to the start of Tuesday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Martinez experienced a slight displacement to the bone on the tip of his left thumb when he was hit by a pair of foul tips in his glove hand on Sunday against the Giants.

If there's any positive that you can take out of this, it's the fact that Victor Martinez will not miss as much time as it sounds like.

With an off-day on Monday, the Red Sox welcome the Tampa Bay Rays to Fenway Park for a brief two-game series to close out the month of June.

The Red Sox are off again on Thursday, before concluding the home stand with a three-game set against the Baltimore Orioles. The Sox then head to Tampa for three games, get another off-day, and finish out the first half of the season with three games in Toronto.

In total, Martinez will only miss 11 games, while getting 17 days of rest. The two-plus weeks of rest should be enough time to heal the fractured thumb of Martinez significantly.

In the meantime, Gustavo Molina has been called up from the Pawtucket Red Sox and will fill in as the Sox' backup catcher, while Jason Varitek will be responsible for a majority of the workload behind the plate.

The 28-year-old Molina has bounced around several major league organizations since 2000, including the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets, and Washington Nationals.

In 11 minor league season, Molina is hitting .234 and has gunned down 38% of base stealers. As of now, Molina is scheduled to be behind the plate on Friday, when Tim Wakefield takes the mound.

On a side note, Clay Buchholz, who was lifted from his start on Saturday with what is being called a "minor lower hamstring tear," is feeling well enough to make his next start on either Monday or Tuesday, according to ESPN's Joe McDonald.

-Jared Carrabis

To order Jared's debut book, One Fan's Story: If This Hat Could Talk, click HERE!





Published on June 29, 2010

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