Maybe Joe Kelly sometimes is too good of a teammate.
Kelly was touted as a terrific clubhouse presence throughout his four-plus seasons with the Boston Red Sox, and it appears he’s getting off on the right foot with his new team as well.
But unfortunately for the right-hander, his generosity and selflessness prompted a minor injury.
The Los Angeles Dodgers relief arm was scratched from his scheduled appearance Wednesday due to a back ailment, but the cause of injury was far from ordinary, to say the least.
“Kelly said he threw a Cajun fest for some of his teammates: chicken, red beans and rice, and crawfish,” the Los Angeles Times’ Bill Shaikin wrote Friday. “He said his back tightened up on him as he spent five hours minding the boiling crawfish.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has been around the game for some time, but even he was a bit taken aback by Kelly’s abnormally sustained injury.
“That’s one of the more unique ones,” Roberts said. “I guess the message is, I’ve got to keep him away from the stove.”
The injury doesn’t appear serious, though, as Kelly threw a bullpen session Friday and could return to Cactus League action “in the next few days,” per Shaikin. That’s obviously encouraging news for the flamethrower, who apparently brings the heat in the kitchen as well.
“Everyone ate it,” Kelly said. “There were no leftovers.”
