Not everyone believes in Murphy’s Law, but the 2026 Boston Red Sox are learning that if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong. That’s continued with a new injury, this time to veteran infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
Kiner-Falefa is dealing with a left forearm issue that he’s going to need to get an MRI on. Tim Healey of The Boston Globe was first to report.
“Isiah Kiner-Falefa is getting an MRI on his sore left forearm today, he said. It has bothered him for more than two weeks, but got worse Friday after a long flight to Seattle. He doesn’t believe it to be a big deal,” Healey wrote.
Currently on a one-year deal with the Boston Red Sox, Kiner-Falefa was brought in to provide defensive versatility as well as a veteran presence on the bench. However, other injuries, including to Romy Gonzalez and Trevor Story, as well as poor play by Marcelo Mayer and Caleb Durbin, have forced him into a larger role within the infield.
In 47 games and 119 at-bats this season, Kiner-Falefa is hitting .277 with a .344 OBP, a .361 slugging percentage, and a .705 OPS. He has 2 home runs and 13 RBIs. Per Baseball Savant, he’s also currently in the 87th percentile for Fielding Run Value.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa Warned Boston Red Sox About Trade Deadline
GettyBoston Red Sox utility infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa
This unfortunate news that Isiah Kiner-Falefa needs an MRI comes on the heels of a four-game losing streak that culminated in getting swept at home against the Toronto Blue Jays. For the Boston Red Sox, it was another bad stretch in a bad season, and the Trade Deadline is now hanging over the team’s collective heads.
Kiner-Falefa is well aware of that. So, he recently addressed how bad things could get without some improvement.
“We got swept at home,” Kiner-Falefa said. “Swept at home in division. It doesn’t get worse than that. It’s time to go on a streak, or we’re going to be having new players in this locker room. We’ve just got to figure it out.”
There’s no doubt that Kiner-Falefa could be among the players the Red Sox move. On a one-year contract and with positional versatility, he could provide some consistency for teams with either a gap in their infield or an injury. In particular, as he’s played well individually this season. Still, he’ll need to be healthy to have value in a trade.
Injuries Have Become a Storyline for the Red Sox
GettyBoston Red Sox OF Roman Anthony speaks to a trainer
In his reporting, Tim Healey noted that Isiah Kiner-Falefa doesn’t believe the injury is a big deal. However, Red Sox fans have become jaded this season over that kind of reaction to injuries.
Both Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony went down early in the year. Both injuries were initially described as minor concerns, until they weren’t. Particularly in the case of Anthony, there would be a large public debate about what the injury actually was, with the Red Sox and Anthony publicly describing it differently.
In all of that, it’s easy to have some concerns about any player who goes down with an injury. So, Red Sox fans will have to wait and see how Kiner-Falefa’s MRI comes out.
Red Sox Injury Update: Veteran Infielder to get MRI on Forearm