Before taking on the Rays in the second of a three-game series at Fenway Park on Tuesday night, the Red Sox made yet another flurry of roster moves.
First off, Enrique Hernandez and Danny Santana were both activated from the COVID-19 related injured list.
Secondly, infielder Taylor Motter was designated for assignment, while outfielder Franchy Cordero was optioned to Triple-A Worcester to make room for Hernandez and Santana on the major-league roster.
The Red Sox made all these transactions official earlier Tuesday evening.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora had hinted on Monday that both Hernandez and Santana could re-join the club on Tuesday, and that winds up being the case.
Hernandez became the first Sox player to be placed on the COVID-19 injured list — and the first to test positive for the virus — when their outbreak began in Cleveland on August 27.
The versatile 30-year-old was forced to quarantine at the team’s hotel as a result of his positive test and was not able to return to Boston until this past weekend.
Despite missing 11 of his team’s games, though, Hernandez will return to the Red Sox lineup on Tuesday night, batting leadoff and starting in center field as he has typically done throughout the year.
Santana, meanwhile, did not spend nearly as much time on the COVID IL as Hernandez did.
The switch-hitting infielder/outfielder was initially placed on the COVID-19 related injured list on Sunday on account of exhibiting virus-like symptoms, but none of his tests since then came back positive — meaning he could be activated whenever.
Unlike Hernandez, Santana will start out Tuesday’s contest on Boston’s bench, though he could presumably be used in a pinch-hitting/pinch-running/defensive replacement capacity before the final out of the night is recorded.
With Hernandez and Santana being added back to the big-league roster, the Red Sox were forced to create two openings for them, and they did that by designating Motter for assignment while optioning Cordero to Worcester.
Motter, who turns 32 later this month, was just claimed off waivers from the Rockies last Thursday before being activated on Saturday. He appeared in three games for Boston, going 2-for-6 (.333) at the plate with a double, a triple, one RBI, and three runs scored while playing only second base.
Cordero, on the other hand, returns to Worcester after spending just two days with Boston in his latest big-league stint after Santana was placed on the COVID IL on Sunday.
The left-handed hitting 27-year-old made one brief appearance as a pinch-runner for Travis Shaw in the sixth inning of Monday’s 11-10 loss to the Rays, but was later pinch-hit for by Kevin Plawecki in the bottom of the 10th.
(Picture of Enrique Hernandez: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
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