It would appear that Clay Buchholz’s spot in the Red Sox rotation is in jeopardy. Tim Britton of the Providence Journal tweets that following tonight’s loss, manager John Farrell conceded that Buchholz’s spot will be under discussion once Eduardo Rodriguez is healthy enough to return to the Majors. The Herald’s Michael Silverman tweets that Farrell made it sound as if Buchholz will leave the rotation, though the manager did emphasize that no decision has been made at this time. Buchholz had a perfect trip the order to open tonight’s game against the Rockies, but he quickly melted down, allowing a two-run homer to Carlos Gonzalez in the fourth inning. By the time his evening was finished, Buchholz had yielded six runs in five innings, causing his ERA to balloon to 6.35. Buchholz was accountable when speaking to reporters after the game. Via Britton (links to Twitter), he offered the following comments: “I’m here to pitch. If I don’t have a spot, that’s part of it. If I don’t like it, pitch better. I’m not demoralized. The team’s still winning. I’m basically the only one that’s struggling.” The Red Sox hold a $13.5MM club option on Buchholz for the 2017 season.
Here’s more from the AL East…
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes that Yankees manager Joe Girardi appears frustrated by a mismatched roster that features too many players best-suited for DH duties. Both Alex Rodriguez and Carlos Beltran are ill-equipped for regular time on the field, but with A-Rod serving as a strict DH, Beltran is forced into right field. The Yankees’ roster is caught in an odd state of flux, with several young players in an effort to build for the future — e.g. Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, Starlin Castro — and a slew of aging veterans who are no longer healthy enough or defensively competent enough to warrant everyday placement in the lineup.
- The Yankees placed left-hander Chasen Shreve on the 15-day disabled list due to a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder, the club announced tonight. As Nick Suss writes for MLB.com, an MRI revealed the injury, and Shreve received a cortisone injection to treat the issue. He won’t pick up a baseball for the next seven days. Girardi says that Shreve’s shoulder has been bothering him for a few days, though the lefty’s struggles have been ongoing for most of the season. Shreve has a 5.21 ERA on the year and has allowed a troubling seven homers in 19 innings of work.
- Brian Matusz reflected on his time with the Orioles in an interview with MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko and offered nothing but praise for the organization that drafted him back in 2008. Matusz, who was traded to the Braves and promptly designated for assignment by Atlanta earlier this week (the Braves absorbed his contract as a means of persuading Baltimore to part with a Competitive Balance Draft Pick), tells Kubatko that he knew when he got the call informing of the trade that there was a chance he’d be designated quickly. “Obviously, a new team and I was excited,” said Matusz. “But I also realized before the trade happened that a designation was a possibility, so it wasn’t a complete surprise. Just understanding that it’s part of the business, where I was at in terms of how I’ve been throwing the ball.” Kubatko writes that Matusz never wanted to move from the rotation to the ’pen in the first place but played the role of the good soldier when asked to relieve. Asked about the possibility of starting again, he replied: “It’s tough to say right now. … But having the ability to start and be a reliever are two nice assets to have.”
They need to put Clay in the bullpen
Or say good bye.
He’s useless in the BP.
I don’t think they’ll dump him though. He’s pitching bad enough for a DL trip for a shoulder “injury” so he can work it out in Pawtucket. That is assuming he has no options left.
Gee Girardi. One would think you would have known that by now that the lineup has 2 DH’s.
Good thing Girardi has experience with this. He had 2 DH the last few years of Jeter’s contract.
Three if you count Tex, who should be a DH at this point.
The DH is for a player who cant field any more. Tex is still one of the top first baseman in the majors. Not sure how you can make a statement like this but I guess that is what you get from a sox fan.
Boston had 3 DHs last year with Ortiz, Hanley and Pablo. It could be worse, the injuries have made it easier for others to get at bats more. Just wish Ref could’ve stayed up.
“Tex is still one of the top first baseman in the majors.” – lol you are delusional if you believe this.
Baseball is weird in that if you make one kind of spectacular play a couple times a year but do everything else average or worse, people will always default to the handful of spectacular plays they make to form their opinions or cement their reputations. This was true for Jeter, and also for Tex. Only a Yankees fan would say he’s still a top defender, which is so absurd as players never, ever ever ever get better defensively with age.
CBS sports has him ranked 11th in the majors for 2016 just ahead of Pujols. The only ones in the AL ranked over Tex are Cabera (2 overall after Goldschmidt), Davis (5), Abreu (6), and Hosmer (8). So he’s definitely top 5 in the AL.
@Just Another Fan
Tex is ranked 6th among all 1B in Defensive Runs Saved in 2016, and he is ranked 5th the past 3 seasons
Unless your limit is 5 players to be considered Good, you are Incorrect if you think Tex isn’t a good fielder
Is he who he used to be? Of course not. But he’s still good defensively and is not a DH.
Just another fan showing how clueless he is, once again. Tex is still a gold glove caliber 1st baseman. JAF is the same guy that claimed Jeter – a 1st ballot HOFer and one of the best SS of all-time – was overrated. Just another bitter, Yankee hating twerp. Probably a Brewers fan. Lol. Get a grip.
Defensively, Jeter was overrated. As everyone outside the Bronx knows. You may look at the data and apologize now.
In Jeters most recent gold glove he was definitely the most consistent fielder. No he didn’t have the most range but he had far fewer errors then Asubrdal Cabrera and Elvis Andrus who all thought should have won it. Andrus made alot of web gems that year but had over 20 errors.
More like a DF. He can still play a good 1B, but can’t hit.
Can you name of the player in baseball that has options left in their 11th year in the league? Of course he doesn’t have options
Even though he hasn’t pitched well this year…Brian Johnson deserves another chance up there soon…the guy has dealt everywhere he’s been
And now he’s dealing with anxiety.
Find it hard to believe Yanks cannot make a trade or two to clear some obvious jams.
All their log jams are high priced vets and/or injury prone. Not many, if any teams, are going to accept a trade for Beltran/ARod/Tex/Ellsbury unless (A) the Yankees eat most if not all of the contract or (B) the acquiring team is willing to take on the whole salary. The problem with both scenarios is that some prospect and/or comp. pick will have to be attached and that might be what holding up any deal.
Well A-Rod and Tex are out mainly due to 10-5 rights. Plus Tex is not blocking anyone with Bird out. Cannot imagine there not being one or two teams that could use some pop in their lineup. White Sox, Royals, and Mets are three that come to mind. But you are right, the details of most trades will probably screw up most possibilities.
A team would easily take Carlos Beltran and the Yankees wouldn’t have to cover anything of whats left this year.
Not true. Not too many teams in the AL who need a DH at this point in the season, so “easily” is a bit optimistic.
Not many teams make trades now but Beltran is just a rental so not much salary to speak of but the White Sox and Angles both could use him at DH and need OF help. His switch hitting bat could be a boost to their lineups to. Not sure what the Angels have to offer but it shouldn’t be much if the Yankees ate no contract.
Even if he waived his 10/5, I can’t imagine anyone wanting ARod even if the Yankees were picking up most of the tab. Gardner’s a .265 hitter and he doesn’t steal 30+ bases anymore. Now that Gary Sanchez is injured McCann probably won’t be up for trade consideration. With Chapman hitting free agency his only hope of being traded is if a serious contender needs a closer. Same goes for Beltran if a contender needs a bench bat or DH (if the Yanks pick up some of the contract).
Miller is a good trade candidate, but I hope if they trade him they work out something with Chapman. And keep Betances unless he’s packaged in a deal for Trout 🙂 As for Ellsbury, the guy worked hard all off season and he’s better than Gardner. The Yanks have a lot of players they could trade, but I can’t see any of these players bringing a huge return.
Johnson has been on leave for anxiety related issues…don’t think he is the answer at the moment but hope he gets well soon!
If the RedSox were smart and gave him a few more starts in the bigs last year this probably wouldn’t of happened
While you very well could be correct, it might have just happened earlier last year.
Anxiety is an issue that can stay relatively dormant. With that being said, once that person is put in high-stress related situations repeatedly their anxiety will reveal itself and come to the surface.
Honestly, I am suprised and fairly curious as to how he has been able to manage his stress up to this point. Any level of professional pitching involves a high amount of stress, whether it is in the majors or the minor leagues.
My guess would be it is something going on personally that has caused his stress to boil over at this point in his life, whether that is involving problems or stress dealing with his family, friends, relationship, etc. Truthfully, it could ultimately come down to a myriad of issues as to the timing of his anxiety problems.
Regardless whatever it is, hopefully he gets better soon, because anxiety is not a very pretty thing to live and deal with on a daily basis.
I truly wish him all of the best, and hope he can find a way to live with and cope with his anxiety. Hopefully his doctor can provide him with some techniques or strategies to better cope with this issue that unfortunately effects millions of people around the world!!
Clay is going to be a Cub. It’s a classic case of Theo asking Bosio, “can ya fix him?” And Bos replying, “you see what I did with Arrieta right?”
Bosio didn’t fix Arrieta. That man’s problems were mostly in his head. He was a complete basket case in Baltimore, having a meltdown every time he got into trouble (especially if it was because of bad luck or a bad play behind him). Most of his starts were four innings of dominance, one so-so inning, and one complete implosion. I’m happy for him, but he didn’t get fixed by Bosio, unless Bosio is a psychiatrist as well.
Oh, and Arrieta, Britton, and Matusz getting all screwed up as starters by the O’s pitching coach didn’t help things much either.
Arrieta and others say there’s alot of over coaching in the Baltimore system and besides that he did get out of a hitters park and hitters division. A move to the NL from the AL East helps plus there was alot less pressure playing for the Cubs.
Bosio fixed him. read Jake’s comments about it. He fixed his windup, and he was allowed to throw the cutter. I don’t think it was a case of him losing it mentally in Baltimore. He was told to not do what was successful in the minors. And wrigley isn’t a hitters park? Cmon man
Camden Yards was rated the 3rd most hitter friendly park behind Coors and Rogers Center by sportingnews.com.
Wrigley was rated as neutral at number 15 (right in the middle). Regardless it’s much more pitcher friendly then the AL East.
ESPN rates Wrigley at 17 (neutral)
Wrigley Field used to be a hitter’s park. The newer ballparks and more night games have sort of neutralized it. But anytime the wind’s blowing out, it’s bombs away.
Now Bosio is the second coming! Wait I thought Schwarber was your favorite second coming.
All hail the cubs and their fearless leader Theo, who haven’t won anything!
Get a life man you MORON
Send him to the AL East with the bat beasts here and his luster FADES.
Come on, you can troll better than that.
Man you really are stupid aren’t ya? Never said Schwarber was the second coming. Never said Bosio was either. But, if you can, like if you have actually learned how, take a look at the names he has had, and made better. And then look at those same guys stats after they got traded from the Cubs and see how they fared. Did ya read all that? Or do ya need some help? Idiot
With the track record of trade relationships lately A’s or Cubs seems likely.
Might make no sense on paper, but I mean I didn’t see the Lester/Cespedes trade coming so anything could happen.
Throw Buchholz into a package of players to send to Milwaukee for Ryan Braun, to play LF, and C Johnathan Lucroy.
Or, throw his name into a list of players for Atlanta to chose from for SP Julio Teheran, OF Nick Markakis and RP Arodys Vizcaino
Calling it now–Matusz should sign with the Reds. They can use starters and relievers.