The Red Sox placed outfielder Eli White on the 10-day injured list on Friday (retroactive to September 9), and called infielder Anthony Siegler up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.  White is dealing with a ligament injury in his right foot, which he picked up after crashing into a gated portion of Fenway Park’s center field wall on Tuesday.

The specifics of the diagnosis are still up in the air, as Sox interim manager Chad Tracy told MLB.com’s Ian Browne and other reporters that White is getting opinions from doctors outside of the team staff and is still undergoing tests “to determine the full severity of everything.”  Tracy mentioned that White is currently “on crutches and in a boot,” so a return before the end of the regular season is doubtful.

White was acquired from the Braves at the trade deadline, and the outfielder has hit .276/.300/.379 over 60 plate appearances in a Red Sox uniform.  The right-handed hitting White saw mostly platoon or pinch-hit duty among Boston’s largely left-handed hitting outfield group, but White moved into a regular center field role in the last week since Ceddanne Rafaela was placed on the 10-day IL.  Jarren Duran and Nate Eaton have started in center field over Boston’s last two games, and that duo figures to hold the fort in center until Rafaela returns.

Another position player whose regular season may be over is Curtis Mead, though the infielder is still hopeful of being ready for the start of the playoffs.  Mead was another deadline addition, but he suffered a fractured right wrist after being hit by a pitch in his very first game with the Red Sox.

Mead told MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo on Friday that he is out of a cast and has been able to take part in some defensive drills, as well as some “range-of-motion stuff with the bat, but I haven’t hit a ball off the tee or anything like that….I’m hopeful that when I do start hitting, it’s pretty pain-free and I’m able to accelerate it quicker than standard.  I’m not totally sure what it looks like right now, but we’ve been putting together a plan and seeing what it looks like.”

Even if Mead is healthy, it will be interesting to see if the Red Sox will include him in their playoff plans.  With such a thin margin for error in a three-game wild card series, the Sox may not be willing to devote a roster spot to a player who hasn’t seen any game action in around two months.  Getting into even a couple of a games before the regular season is through would help both Mead and the Sox gain some peace of mind about how the infield will be configured in October.

It also remains to be seen if Garrett Crochet will get any game action before the postseason, and the left-hander took another step in his rehab in the form of a bullpen session at Fenway Park on Friday.  The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey writes that Crochet “threw roughly 25 pitches at an 80 to 90 percent effort,” and the fourth bullpen of Crochet’s throwing progression will take place on Tuesday.

Since Boston’s plan is to bring Crochet back in a relief role, he doesn’t need to have his arm ready for a full starter’s workload.  He likely won’t be able to make a minor league rehab appearance since the minor league season is over on September 20, and McCaffrey suggests that Crochet could instead throw a simulated game.  In terms of getting into a game with the Red Sox before the playoffs, Crochet said he has “a lot more stuff to tick off.  This is my first time throwing sweepers in a bullpen, so it’d be a pretty big leap to put myself in a game mindset right now.”

Crochet last pitched on April 25, when a capsule sprain in his throwing shoulder sent the left-hander to the 10-day injured list.  A lat strain then delayed Crochet’s rehab, turning 2026 into basically a lost season unless he can finish strong by helping the Red Sox to some October success.