Red Sox lefty Eduardo Rodriguez was cleared for his first pen session of the spring after suffering a minor knee injury in winter ball action, as Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com reports. There was added concern given the trouble Rodriguez experienced with the same joint last year, but he was able to throw 40 pitches without incident today. Boston has some depth in the staff, with Rodriguez slated to compete with Drew Pomeranz and Steven Wright for the final two rotation jobs, though maintaining that depth will hinge in no small part upon the ability of the 24-year-old to stay healthy throughout the coming season.
Here are a few more notes from the American League:
- The Athletics may not go with a single closer in 2017, skipper Bob Melvin told reporters including MLB.com’s Jane Lee (Twitter link). Lefty Sean Doolittle and righty Ryan Madson have both handled the job in the recent past for Oakland, while the just-signed Santiago Casilla did the same for the cross-town Giants in recent years and John Axford also has spent plenty of time in the late innings. It’s perhaps imaginable that the less-experienced Ryan Dull could see some chances after a strong 2016.
- There was some good health news out of Athletics camp, as catcher Josh Phegley was cleared for full duty behind the plate, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Phegley had struggled with knee inflammation after undergoing surgery, causing him to miss the second half of the 2016 season, but a change in his stance will hopefully resolve that issue. Oakland is counting on a bounceback campaign from the 29-year-old.
- Righty Nate Adcock will not join Orioles camp as expected, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among those to report on Twitter. The 28-year-old righty was hoping to make it back from Tommy John surgery, but now it’s unclear what his next steps will be.
- Meanwhile, the Orioles are still on the market for lefty relief help, Kubatko also tweets. At present, the team’s top two southpaw relievers (outside of closer Zach Britton) are Donnie Hart and T.J. McFarland. With the best remaining free agents all recently leaving the board, only two southpaws (Chris Capuano and Charlie Furbush) remain available among players who qualified for MLBTR’s list of available free agents.
- The Royals’ signing of lefty Travis Wood was due in part to the unfortunate injury suffered by southpaw Brian Flynn, with GM Dayton Moore telling Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star (Twitter link) that club owner Dan Glass authorizing a payroll bump to make it happen. From Wood’s perspective, the chance to compete for a starting job played a big role in his decision to sign with Kansas City, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan reports via Twitter.
Never really a fan of CBC but will all former closers I could see it working
CBC meaning closer by committee…sorry football uses RBBC for Running Back by Committee so I thought it could work
Closer by committee is almost always better than having a designated closer. Gives managers much more flexibility.
In theory this is true, but historically in practice, having a closer by committee means you don’t have anybody good enough to be a closer.
That’s how it’s been in the past due to the rigidity of managers. But teams have evolved (as we saw in the 2016 playoffs) so I expect closer by committee to be used more effectively going forward.
Yes, its only because no one was good enough to be trusted in that high lev situation, but what if everyone was good enough??? Wise move from Oakland.
I agree with you that managers may continue to use a similar formula in the playoffs as they did in 2016 by using their “closer” in the highest leverage situations, which wasn’t always the 9th. But I don’t expect the types of workloads we saw relievers shoulder in the playoffs become a regular season standard.
Teams will still be constrained by the number of quality arms in their bullpen and their season long workload more than the decision making process of the managers.play the long game by
I think you’re right Dookie, they and get the best guy in at the most optimal point. It makes me wonder if there’s a gradual move toward failed starters who can see a defeat home in a couple of hours and fewer, better closer calibre guy’s for the important innings, with less in between the two.
‘Try and…’
Huh
It’s also the A’s so there probably won’t be too many save opportunities anyways
Ha
Why in the world is Furbush listed as an option for the 2017 Orioles? He’s injured and won’t pitch until at least 2018…
Here is three guys fighting for two spots as part of the Red Sox pitching “depth”:
Drew Pomeranz – In 2016, threw 70 more innings than any season before. Had elbow surgery in off season. Not currently able to throw off mound.
Eduardo Rodriguez – 58 days on the DL with a knee injury in 2016. Re-injured knee playing winter ball Availability to pitch in WBC currently in question.
Steven Wright – 18 days on DL with shoulder injury in 2016. Hasn’t pitched since August 2016. Still not able to throw from mound.
I know, why are people saying Boston has pitching depth when they really don’t at all, the step down from the big 4 to the rest is a massive, massive gap from contender to barely contending.
They need to get rid of the shaky Pomeranz and flip him with prospects for another legit frontline guy to pair with Price, Sale & Porcello. I could see them grabbing Sonny Gray at the deadline if he proves he is back to 2013-2015 form.
The A’s would have zero interest in re-acquiring Pomeranz
No way that happens, they only have two good prospects left and by the trade deadline devers will only be about a year away from the majors, so i don’t think they will trade him
I cant see them doing anything like that at all unless theyre in a heated battle for 1st and all 3 of these guys are out. Theyve got Kelly who could spot start if need be, though only Kelly would be happy about that.
I was thinking the same thing. looks like they’ll be needing April innings out of Ownes and company. Sox fans are in for a letdown
Pomeranz had a stem cell injection, not surgery.
They could always trade for Quintana
The White Sox were asking the Yankees for Torres, the Red Sox don’t have anyone who is even close to that valuable. Trade idea is over before it even begins.
Devers, Groome, and a decent package behind them would do it, but it would really leave the Sox with a barren system, and no future flexibility.
With Dombrowski at the helm, that doom is inevitable.
I know this is a fun narrative, but his trade record is really quite remarkable.
Really hope Eduardo can stay healthy. He hasn’t gotten a lot of opportunity to develop between injuries and the pitch tipping problem he had. His pure stuff seems pretty good. Seems like the kind of guy that’ll either pan out to be really reliable or completely flop, remaining injured and so on.