Injuries Mounting, Boof Bonser to the Rotation? Nava Who?

Who is Daniel Nava? The Sox have quite the interesting player on their hands. With injuries to outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury, Jeremy Hermida, and Mike Cameron forcing the BoSox to dig deep into the minors once again, the Sox may have caught lightning in a bottle for the second time this season. Darnell McDonald admirably filling in for Hermida and Cameron, the Sox promoted Daniel Nava to the bigs on Saturday to take over Josh Reddick's fourth outfielder spot. Like McDonald, Nava wasted no time endearing himself to fans -- connecting for a grand slam on the first pitch of his MLB career Saturday, leading the Sox to a 10-2 win over Philadelphia. Nava, 27, has had quite the journey to the Majors. Making his professional debut for the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League in 2007, Nava impressed the scouts with a bit of speed (18 SBs in 20 attempts), pop (12 home runs in 314 plate appearances), and plate discipline (48 BB : 42 Ks) while with Chico. Signed by the Sox in 2008 at the age of 25, Nava kept rolling with hi-A Lancaster. Slugging 10 homers in 379 plate appearances to go along with a very impressive .341/.424/.523 line, the outfielder’s plate discipline (43 BB : 70 K) carried over to affliated ball as well.

Sox Sign Embree, What to Do With Boof, and the Watch List

Sox Sign Alan Embree Just after noon yesterday, the Sox officially agreed to a minor league deal with veteran lefty reliever Alan Embree. Embree, who last pitched for the Sox in 2005, comes off a shaky 2009 season that saw him struggle in limited duty, posting an even BB:K ratio (12 BB, 12 K in 24.2 IP) on his way to a 5.29 FIP. Still, Embree offers depth to a team searching for a second lefty reliever to complement Okajima. Though LOOGY specialist Brian Shouse has performed well over his long look in camp (7.1 IP, 5 K, 1 BB; most IP of any Sox reliever), Embree’s versatility and Shouse’s code-blue platoon splits may give Embree the leg up in the competition.