The Red Sox have placed 1B Sean Casey on the 15-day disabled list with a strained neck. Casey has played in 59 games for the Red Sox this season and he is 57 for 165 (.345 avg, .831 OPS) with 13 runs scored and 12 RBIs. The Red Sox have recalled catcher David Ross from AAA to replace Casey on the active roster. Losing Casey hurts when you couple it with the fact that the Red Sox are already without Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew.

The Red Sox have placed righty starting pitcher Josh Beckett on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right elbow. Beckett has started 23 games for the Red Sox this season and he is 11-9 with a 4.34 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. The Red Sox have recalled 22-year old righthander Michael Bowden to replace Beckett in the starting rotation. Bowden was the Red Sox’ #7 prospect coming into this season according to Baseball America. Bowden has pitched in 26 games (25 starts) in AA+AAA ball this season and he is 9-7 with a 2.68 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. Bowden has only allowed 112 hits and walked 29 batters in 144.1 innings this season which shows what kind of stuff he has. It will be interesting to see how Bowden handles the pressure of a pennant race.

The Red Sox didn’t wait long to find a replacement in the outfield for the injured J.D. Drew as they have acquired 32-year old lefty swinging outfielder Mark Kotsay from the Braves for outfielder Luis Sumoza. Kotsay played in 88 games for the Braves this season and he was 92 for 318 (.289 avg, .758 OPS) with 39 runs scored, 6 homers and 37 RBIs. Kotsay also is a very good defender who can handle any position in the outfield. Kotsay has now played in 1,428 games in his major league career and he is 1,505 for 5,335 (.282 avg, .752 OPS) with 703 runs scored, 109 homers, 597 RBIs and 91 stolen bases. Sumoza is a 20-year old righty swinging outfielder who was playing in short season rookie ball for the Red Sox. He played in 51 games in the minors this season and he was 58 for 193 (.301 avg, .915 OPS) with 31 runs scored, 11 homers, 38 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. This was a solid move for the Red Sox as Kotsay is a pretty good baseball player. Still, he has nowhere near the power of Drew so the Red Sox’ offense will likely take a hit without him.

The Red Sox have placed outfielder J.D. Drew on the 15-day disabled list with a herniated disc in his back. This is a shame for Drew as he was really playing well this season for the Red Sox. Drew has played in 107 games for the Red Sox this season and he is 102 for 364 (.280 avg, .930 OPS) with 78 runs scored, 19 homers, 64 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. The Red Sox will miss Drew’s power while he is out.

The Red Sox have placed righty reliever David Aardsma on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right groin. Aardsma has pitched in 42 games (0 starts) for the Red Sox this season and he is 3-2 with a 4.19 ERA and a 1.60 WHIP. He has had severe control issues as he has walked 31 batters while whiffing 46 in 43 innings. He has good stuff but it will never matter if he can’t throw strikes. The Red Sox have recalled David Pauley to replace Aardsma on the pitching staff. Pauley started 1 game earlier this season for the Red Sox and it did not go well as he is 0-0 with a 10.38 ERA and a 2.08 WHIP. Pauley has done a solid job in AAA and the Red Sox hope that his confidence is high this time around. Pauley has started 25 games in AAA ball this season and he is 14-4 with a 3.55 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP.