Red Sox place Johan Oviedo (elbow) on IL, make 3 other roster moves before home opener
Ahead of their home opener against the Padres, the Red Sox made their first roster moves of the young season.
BOSTON — Ahead of their home opener against the Padres, the Red Sox made their first roster moves of the young season, re-shuffling their pitching staff and placing an offseason trade addition on the injured list. The club placed righty Johan Oviedo on the 15-day injured list with a right elbow strain and placed setup man Garrett Whitlock on the paternity list. To take those spots, Boston called up right-handlers Zack Kelly and Tyler Uberstine from Triple-A Worcester.
For Uberstine, who was added to the 40-man roster over the winter, it’s the first stint in the majors. Oviedo has shown diminished velocity in recent weeks and struggled in his season debut Monday in Houston. Acquired from Pittsburgh in a December deal that sent outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia to the Pirates, Oviedo was expected to be a back-end rotation option but started the year as a long reliever after Connelly Early won the final rotation spot.
Oviedo will be examined by Dr. Keith Meister, who performed Tommy John surgery on Oviedo several seasons ago. “He threw that game (Monday in Houston) and the next day, he felt good,” said Alex Cora.
“The last day in Houston, he came in sore, went through all the testing, got some x-rays. There were ind of inconclusive. He got the MRI, it showed what it showed.