The Boston Red Sox placed Garrett Whitlock on the injured list with right elbow inflammation on Aug. 13.
He had not been as sharp as of late, and some time on the injured list may have been what he needed. Regardless, he said he feels ready to go, and the Red Sox plan to activate him before one of the games of Saturday's doubleheader, per The Boston Globe's Tim Healey.
Whitlock threw a live batting practice session on Wednesday, so activating him today would mean throwing twice in three days coming off an injury.
The Red Sox will have to do some roster gymnastics this weekend between the doubleheader and Roman Anthony and Trevor Story potentially being called up from their rehab assignments. The team will get an extra man for tomorrow's doubleheader, and it's possible they use that spot for Whitlock.
Having an extra bullpen arm for a doubleheader against the New York Yankees would be wise, and is perhaps the reason the team does not want to activate Anthony or Story for Saturday. Chad Tracy noted that the earliest either would return to the Red Sox is Sunday.
There is also the possibility that the Red Sox simply don't want Anthony and Story's first big-league at-bats in over three months to come against Cam Schlittler, Max Fried and Carlos Rodón. It's likely that they will need some to get their timing right against big-league pitching, and this series is far too important to take a risk.