Red Sox bad luck extends beyond injury with anticipated debut being put on hold

The Boston Red Sox have had some brutal luck to begin the 2024 campaign. Yes, ownership and the front office deserve blame for the team trotting out a subpar product that despite their promising start, will likely finish at the bottom of the AL East for a third straight season, but their luck has been rough.

Ownership refused to spend much this past offseason, but the one player that they did spend money on was Lucas Giolito who signed a two-year deal. His main purpose was to provide reliable innings. He had made at least 29 starts and thrown at least 160 innings in each of the last five full seasons (excluding 2020) entering this season. Of course, he suffers an elbow injury in Spring Training, ending his season before it even began.

Giolito replaced the oft-injured Chris Sale in their rotation. While Giolito probably was a downgrade production-wise, at least he'd be able to take the ball every fifth day while inevitably Sale misses time, right? Well, Sale has yet to miss a start (and has pitched well) while the player Boston got in return from the Atlanta Braves, Vaughn Grissom, had been out with a hamstring injury.

Finally, Grissom was nearing making his Red Sox debut in Tuesday's series opener against the San Francisco Giants but, of course, in true Red Sox fashion that did not happen. It wasn't even the hamstring injury that kept him out.

Red Sox brutal luck shows itself again with Vaughn Grissom's team debut being put on hold

Grissom was all set to return for Tuesday's game but it turns out, he has the flu. Illness is why Grissom could not be activated off the IL for Tuesday's game. Frustrating.

The 23-year-old didn't have much of a chance to play in Atlanta but has always hit the ball extremely well in the minor leagues and with Story out, can be a huge addition to a middle infield in desperate need of reinforcements.

Eventually he will be fine and should play in a couple of days, but seriously? Can anything go right for this team?

Let's not forget that a player Boston just traded for, Garrett Cooper, had to leave his Red Sox debut in the exact same game that Grissom missed after getting hit by a pitch. What kind of luck is that?

Somehow, the Red Sox are treading water, entering play on Wednesday with a 17-13 record despite being without Giolito, Grissom, Trevor Story, Triston Casas, Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, and Garrett Whitlock who are all injured.

The hope is that once Grissom has recovered from his bout with the flu, he'll finally be able to return to action. Hopefully more brutal Red Sox luck doesn't interfere with that.