CHICAGO — Former American League Rookie of the Year Michael Fulmer, returning from Tommy John surgery, was brought up from the minor leagues Sunday when the Boston Red Sox placed right-hander Richard Fitts on the 15-day injured list with a right pectoral strain.

A 32-year-old right-hander, Fulmer has not pitched in the big leagues since 2023 with the Chicago Cubs. He had Tommy John revision surgery on Oct. 18, 2023, signed a minor league contract with Boston the following Feb. 2 and did not pitch last year.

Fulmer had a 0.79 ERA in five spring training appearances for the Red Sox, striking out 12 and walking three in 11⅓ innings. He had a 3.09 ERA in two starts and one relief appearance for Triple-A Worcester, striking out 18 and walking six in 11⅔ innings. His four-seam fastball averaged 92.4 mph.

He won the 2016 AL Rookie of the Year with the Detroit Tigers, had Tommy John surgery on March 27, 2019, and returned to the major leagues on July 27, 2020, just after the start of the pandemic-shortened season.

Fulmer is 37-50 with a 3.94 ERA in 90 starts and 172 relief appearances for the Tigers (2016-22), Twins (2022) and Cubs (2023).

Fulmer’s contract was selected from Worcester. Red Sox manager Alex Cora said he expects to use Fulmer out of the bullpen.

Fitts will undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the extent of his injury, Cora said. The 25-year-old left Saturday’s game against the White Sox with shoulder discomfort as he was facing Miguel Vargas, Chicago’s first hitter in the sixth inning.

Making his seventh big league start, Fitts had a 2-0 lead and allowed two hits. He was in position for his first major league win when he was replaced by Zack Kelly with a 2-2 count on Vargas. Vargas walked, and two batters later Luis Robert Jr. hit a two-run homer,

Chicago went on to win 3-2 on pinch-hitter Brooks Baldwin‘s RBI single in the ninth.

Fitts has a 2.39 ERA in seven starts for the Red Sox over two seasons. He is 0-2 with a 3.18 ERA this year.

Fulmer has a contract paying a $1.5 million salary while in the major leagues and $180,000 while in the minors.

He can earn $2 million in performance bonuses for innings and $500,000 for relief appearances. Fulmer would get $50,000 each for 75, 80, 85, 90 and 95 innings, $100,000 apiece for 100, 110, 120, 130 and 140, and $250,000 each for 150, 160, 170, 180 and 190. He would earn $100,000 each for 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 relief appearances.

The business secretary has told Sky News he would not bring a Chinese company into the “sensitive” steel sector again – after the government was forced to take control of British Steel.

Urgent legislation rushed through the House of Commons and House of Lords on Saturday gave ministers the power to instruct British Steel – owned by Chinese company Jingye – to keep the plant open.

The Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill essentially allows the government to take control of British Steel “using force if necessary”, order materials for steelmaking and instruct that workers be paid. It also authorises a jail sentence of up to two years for anyone breaching this law.

Emergency bill becomes law – follow the latest reaction here

Jonathan Reynolds told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that he would not “personally bring a Chinese company into our steel sector” again, describing steel as a “sensitive area” in the UK.

The business secretary agreed there is now a high trust bar for Chinese companies to be involved in the UK economy.

He said: “I think steel is a very sensitive area. I don’t know… the Boris Johnson government when they did this, what exactly the situation was. But I think it’s a sensitive area.”

Jingye stepped in with a deal to buy British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant out of insolvency in 2020, when Mr Johnson was prime minister.

But the company recently cancelled orders for supplies of raw materials needed to keep blast furnaces running at the site – the last in the UK capable of producing virgin steel.

This threw the future of the steel industry into question, and ultimately led to MPs and peers being recalled from parliamentary recess to take part in a rare Saturday sitting when negotiations with Jingye appeared to break down.

An emergency bill to save the plant became law later that day.

Public ownership currently ‘likely option’

It stops short of full nationalisation of British Steel, but Reynolds told Sky News that public ownership remains the “likely option” for the future.

He said: “Well that remains an option. And to be frank, as I said to parliament yesterday, it is perhaps at this stage the likely option.”

Read more:
British Steel workers express fears over plant’s future
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However, the minister said he believes there is “potential” for a commercial private sector partner.

He said: “That is my preference, but I feel we’ve got to find a bridge to that. The kind of investments required for the transition to new steel technology, whichever technology that is, it’s a lot of money, a lot of capital.”

Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said the government’s emergency bill amounts to a “botched nationalisation”.

He told Sky News the Conservatives supported the “least worst” option in the Commons on Saturday.

“There’s clearly still more work to do because the taxpayer is now picking up the bills for a business that is still owned by its Chinese owner,” the Tory frontbencher said.

“I hope the government will very quickly come back and clarify that situation.”

CASE arrived at bauma 2025 with an innovative new electric wheel loader with a striking, sharp-edged design that ditches the traditional operator cab in favor of remote or autonomous operation for improved accessibility and safety.

Yes, the new Impact is currently just a concept, but CASE New Holland (CNH) has a history of turning its concepts – or parts of them, anyway – into reality, so we have to take this latest bauma debut at least a little bit seriously.

CASE says the cabin-less design of the Impact electric wheel loader enhances operational flexibility by enabling operations in extreme environments and adverse weather conditions. It also means that job site, disaster recovery, or even rescue operations can continue 24/7, with operators in different time zones logging in for their shifts.

More important – and more practical – is CASE’s claim that the new Impact concept, “marks a significant advancement in accessibility, as operators with motor impairments and other disabilities can now operate the machine without physical limitations, representing an important step toward inclusivity in the industry.”

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Along with integrated AI, a full suite of sensors, and autonomous operation built in, CASE says the Impact is a glimpse into a smarter, safer, and more sustainable working future.

Electrek’s Take

Driven by an aging workforce and not enough new talent entering the field, virtually every industrial field is struggling with an international equipment operator shortage. The concept of automation addresses some of that, but remote operation open up the field significantly, and I could easily older operators forced out of work due to injury getting back into it or younger operators halfway around the world who would give anything for an opportunity – and paycheck – like this could provide.

Smart move from CASE, and it’s great to hear them call that out specifically.

SOURCE | IMAGES: CASE New Holland (CNH).