WEDNESDAY: Not so fast. Eovaldi came out of Boston’s bullpen Tuesday. Having only thrown six pitches, he will be available today, but will not get the start, Cora told reporters including Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (via Twitter). Brian Johnson will instead take the ball to open today’s contest. Where things go from this point remains to be seen.
TUESDAY: After a short run as a reliever, the Red Sox are returning right-hander Nathan Eovaldi to a starting role. Eovaldi will start Wednesday and then spend the rest of the season in the Red Sox’s rotation, Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe reports. He’ll only throw around 55 pitches Wednesday, according to manager Alex Cora (via Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe).
Eovaldi has been a starter for almost all of his career, but after he sat out from late April toward the end of July while recovering from elbow surgery, reliever-needy Boston planned to give him a shot as its closer. The decision came in part because the Red Sox weren’t sure if Eovaldi would have the time to build his arm up enough to go back to his typical job as a starter. Eovaldi did not acquit himself well out of the Red Sox’s bullpen, though, as he has allowed eight earned runs in 10 2/3 innings since coming off the injured list. The 29-year-old didn’t even rack up a save attempt, with the club instead using Brandon Workman as its closer.
The hard-throwing Eovaldi also had a tough time as a starter this year before going under the knife, which isn’t what the Red Sox envisioned when they splurged on him last winter. After coming over in a midsummer trade with the Rays and then establishing himself as one of the Red Sox’s many playoff heroes during their championship run in 2018, they re-signed him to a four-year, $67.5MM contract in free agency. Eovaldi has since logged a 6.25 ERA/5.74 FIP with 8.81 K/9 and 4.26 BB/9 across 31 2/3 innings. He’s one of many Boston pitchers who have gone through less-than-ideal seasons.
Thanks largely to the struggles of their pitching staff, the Red Sox are on track to begin their offseason far earlier than expected this year. The club’s 62-59, placing it a whopping 17 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the American League East and 8 1/2 back of a wild-card spot. Realistically, it’s time to start looking ahead to 2020, when Eovaldi, Chris Sale, the currently injured David Price and Eduardo Rodriguez figure to comprise 80 percent of the team’s rotation.
Goes to show you how tough professional sports is. Big time World Series hangover.
When players see how much it takes and the effort to win a championship they’re less than willing to pay that price again the next season.
Hats off to teams that repeat and put in that work again. Kudos to a guy like Michael Jordan who did not quit. Rare Breed indeed.
These Sox are having down years across the board, except a couple guys have stood out and thank goodness for that. Devers & J D Martinez and Bogaerts having really nice Seasons. I look forward to next year.
Don’t forget the Yankees from 98 through 2000. should have been 2001 too! lol.
Their bullpen is the main culprit to be honest. They literally have to blow teams out in order to win. Why they thought they could get away with subtracting from last year’s bullpen and not adding to it is beyond me. They’ve blown well over a dozen leads late in games.
So Price 4.36 era Sale 4.41 era Eduardo Rodriguez 4.31 era Porcello 5.67 era isn’t a problem.Don’t even know there 5th starter unless you want to count Cashners terrible stint Just a thought.If the starters were actually able to get deeper in games without giving up so many runs maybe Bostons relievers wouldn’t be so bad.and even if the relievers are so bad if the starters making tons of money pitched the way they should’ve many close games would’ve been blow outs by the time the relievers came in.I see Workman with a 1.87 era in 53 innings and Walden with a 3.41 era in 61 innings so at least a couple of relievers are doing there job.The same can’t be said for the starters
@Gary Jordan did quit…twice. He eventually was overwhelmed by the winning process but two separate 3peats allows for short memory.
The first time he quit has a little controversy tied to it.. gambling issues plus his father died so he was done playing.
But when he suited up he did not quit and was a champion. I guess that was the intention of what I said. Every player quits playing or retires for some reason or another.
Second time he quit not sure what happened. I guess he quit, lol.
The Bulls weren’t going to pay him $30 million something again. At least that’s what’s I’ve always been told and that he was fine with retiring again to focus more on the Jordan brand.
Nothing personal, but why is it the first posts make the least sense? LOL!
First of all, since 1989 there have been TWELVE WORLD SERIES TEAMS that have made it back to the World Series the following year. It shouldn’t be hard at all to do, as long as most of the team returns and they can avoid injuries.
Sox are having down years? Last time I checked, their offense had scored the most runs in MLB!!
Only the pitching staff is a mess, because of the boneheaded mismanagement. As far as their bullpen, they thought they could throw a bunch of *stuff* against the wall and expected some to stick. Obviously they were wrong. Not replacing Kimbrel and Kelly with legit relievers (ie: Ottavino) was a huge mistake. As was expecting Barnes and Brasier to exceed in new roles that they’ve never had success with in the past. And let’s not forget Mejia (Mr Lifetime Ban) which was a total waste of time and effort.
And there was the Club Med spring training and start to the regular season. The starting pitchers appeared in only two spring training games. The team was completely unprepared to begin the regular season, and the results proved it. Management said their goal was to have the pitching staff well-rested and strong for the months of August, September and October.
Well guess what? The Red Sox starting rotation will be the most well-rested pitchers in baseball as they sit home watching the postseason on TV!
As for Evo, they haven’t a clue what they are doing with him. About a month ago John Henry insisted he would return from the IL and join the starting rotation. Then a week later he did a complete 180 and said Evo would return as a reliever because he “wouldn’t have time” to build up his arm strength and because he was “needed more” in the pen.
Then they traded for a guy whose mental makeup was questioned by other teams, a guy who has spent his entire career on non-contenders, a guy who cares more about his beard than he does playing baseball. Not the brightest of acquisitions, needless to say.
And let’s not forget, when everyone – fans, players and coaching staff – was expecting management to trade for much needed relief help at the trade deadline, DD and JH said it wasn’t worth it because realistically the chances of them going anywhere in the postseason were slim to none. Nice way to support and show confidence in the players, guys.
Evo should have returned as a starter. The vast majority of his experience is as a starter. He much prefers to be a starter. And the rotation badly needs a starter.
If anything, this latest about-face is further proof that the decisions being made this season have been atrocious.
Only Red Sox management – Cora, DD and JH – could turn a 108-win championship team into a non-contender the very next season despite very few injuries and the best offense in MLB.
And the games are now supposedly so important, yet three key players – Holt, Moreland and Mookie – were all given Sunday off. And a guy who was released by the lowly Royals after hitting .133 this year and .208 last year was actually inserted in the LEADOFF spot. We all know the outcome of THAT brilliant decision.
The Yankees have actually scored the most runs of any team this season, but the Red Sox are second to them and have scored more runs than they had at this point last year. Their main problem has been their terrible starting pitching which has an ERA something like a full run over what it was last year. Their bullpen isn’t great, but their starters aren’t going deep into games and are putting additional strain on an already weak bullpen.
Their offense is still very good, even with some regression from mookie and JDM, but they’ve also had some pretty lopsided wins which inflate their offensive numbers.
Hit the nail on the head.
The bullpen, relative to expectations, hasn’t even been that bad.
The starting rotation has lost more games than the bullpen.
And you’re right about the offense. J.D. has a great overall line, but his Win-Probability-Added (measuring the “clutchness” of hits) sits at 0.2 (compared to 5.4 last season). He might be hitting, but most of his hits come in meaningless situations. The same goes for Benintendi (WPA from 4.0 to 0.2). The most perplexing is Christian Vazquez. Despite improving his .207/.257/.283 line to .277/.316/.482, his WPA is almost identical to last season (-2.0 in 2018, -1.6 in 2019).
Can you imagine if somebody told you before ST that Vazquez would increase his OPS 250+ points, Workman would lead the league in opponent batting average, slugging, and OPS, Devers would lead the league in RBI and hits, Bogey would be third in the AL in fWAR, Walden and Taylor would turn into decent bullpen arms, and Michael Chavis would look like the ROY in his first two months?
You would have thought this might be a 120-win team.
Full disclosure, I’m not a red sox fan, but they had basically everything go as well as could be expected last year. They had a team with a new manager that pushed all the right buttons and everything clicked when it needed to. They got career years from multiple players at the same time and their starting pitching was lights out at the end of the season and the playoffs. As a Yankees fan I remember watching the games Porcello was pitching last year and just being in dis-belief as he shut them down in short order. Steve Pearce a lifetime journeyman, was the world series MVP. If that doesn’t say it all, I don’t know what does.
I don’t think anyone thought they would be this bad, but to expect them to do what they did last year was unrealistic.
“This bad?”
They’re over .500. They are not bad. What they are is human. You got everything right except calling the Red Sox bad imo. Disappointing? Absolutely, but actually bad? No way
Yeah that’s not what World Series hangover means.
I don’t really buy the narrative that they were “less willing” to put in the work to repeat this year. If you look at the 2018 team vs the 2019 team a few things stand out:
1. JD Martinez and Mookie Betts both had BY FAR the best seasons they’re ever likely to have in their careers in 2018. They’re consistent ~130-140 wRC+ players but both guys were 170+ in 2018. Expecting anyone not named Mike Trout to repeat that level of excellence is a difficult ask.
2. The ‘hangover’ narrative is harder to buy when you realize that key contributors like Devers and Christian Vazquez have vastly improved this year. Other guys like Bogaerts, Holt, Benintendi and Bradley have been pretty consistent from 2018-2019.
3. The pitching is the biggest culprit, and its hard to blame that on not “wanting to put in the work”. The extra 20-30 innings and the shorter offseason takes a toll on pitchers. Sale’s season is extremely disappointing, but the rest of the guys?
Who had any real faith in Price, Porcello and Eovaldi to repeat their solid 2018 seasons? These guys are the definition of inconsistent. Letting key bullpen pieces leave hasn’t helped their cause.
I think more-so than the 2019 Red Sox narrative being about a hangover, the reality is that 2018 was a magical season in a lot of ways.
Agreed. It’s not that the 2019 team is terrible, but that the 2018 team was nowhere near as good as they played.
Honestly Mookie and JDM, Sale, and Benintendi had career years. Price played better than he has in any season since 2012. And to top it off they went to another level in the playoffs and got contributions from guys like Eovaldi and Pearce that no one saw coming.
Not a bad thing, but they set the bar so high that they were never capable of reaching it again and I don’t get DD and the rest of the FO placing so much faith in guys like Pearce and Eovaldi to repeat those performances. That money could have possibly plugged a hole or two elsewhere.
I think they screwed up the starting pitching by messing with their spring training routine. Instead of lengthening them out in March they tried it in April and they didn’t pitch enough in spring training. They were worried about those guys flaming out in August specially sale. Came back to bite them in the butt very bad plan.
I think there’s some truth to that, but at the same time you’d sort of expect them to “catch up” eventually if it was just a matter of them not being ready for opening day. These guys have been bad all year and it goes back to what I said in my last post – Eovaldi and Porcello in particular are just not that good.
I’ve been a very vocal opponent of Dana LeVangie, so I apologize to any dedicated MLBTR that have already seen this rant a million times.
He’s a brilliant baseball mind who’s served in many different capacities during his 29 years with the organization. He can absolutely provide value to them, but it’s not in his current role..
And it’s not just because Sale, Porcello, Eovaldi, Cashner, Velazquez, Johnson, Thornburg, Wright, Price (at least since his rookie season) and (arguably) Hembree and E-Rod are having the worst years of their career, and not just because Braiser was so bad he got demoted and Barnes leads the league in blown saves.
But starting with the decision to have the staff take spring training off, the team has completely botched the handling of their pitchers this season.
There’s quite a bit of evidence, apart from all the struggling pitchers, that LeVangie isn’t a great pitching coach:
(1) He’s the only pitching coach in baseball with no experience pitching
(2) he failed to recognize that Kimbrel was tipping pitches over a six-game rough patch last season until Eric Gagne noticed it within minutes of watching a game on TV
(3) Braiser was due to regress, but not THIS much, and it’s a short sample size, but he looks like 2018 Braiser in eight games with Pawtucket and a new pitching coach
(4) After Sale turned his struggles around against the Angels, he credited Asst. PC Bannister with helping him figure it out, not LeVangie
(5) A week ago, Christian Vazquez said that “everybody knows that we pitch up. They make adjustments. They have reports and they look for it” (this could explain why the 2018 staff managed to do well under LeVangie. It was a solid system, but once other teams picked up on it, he’s failed to adjust his pitchers’ game plan all season long).
Well, it was either that or getting Eckersley down from the broadcast booth…..or maybe making a trade with MLB network for Jim Kaat…..
Understand ur saying that jokingly Bob, remember that both those guys (Eck and kitty-kaat) deserve to be in the HOF, tho only 1 currently is (Eck) and Kaat was one of the craftiest pitchers in the game during his 25y career, winning close to 300 times and pitching effectively to the ripe old age of 45.
the guy knew how to pitch and wasn’t shy about helping his fellow hurlers and teammates about it either, which wasn’t common back then as helping anyone out meant potentially losing ur own job in those days.
You’ll get no argument from me about Kaat. It’s become fashionable to ridicule “counting stats” while ignoring that back in Kaat’s day, there were few guaranteed deals, and you had to earn a spot EVERY year. Which he did.
Beyond that, he’s been a great representative for the game itself. Honest (and sometimes very critical) without being insulting. Just a top-notch guy all around. And ya, at the end especially, it was all slop. But I remember that slop making some of the Red Sox hitters look like high school kids.
As a Red Sox fan, I am absolutely furious with DD’s handling of the deadline. I think it’s time for me to adopt a NL team for the rest of the season…
Did you not hear what John Henry said before the deadline?
I also thought Mookie n JBJ should be traded. I am so sick of Mookie talking about FA. So trade him. He’s had a fairytale season last yr, only last season.
@pasha2k You’re a Sox fan and you want them to trade both Mookie and JOD? Is Mookie being asked about his FA because I doubt he’s the one initiating the conversation.
this might be the most delusional comment ive ever seen on this site, and that’s saying something.
They can afford to trade JOD.
Not delusional comment…if mookie is clear that he wants to be a FA vs sign an extension then a smart GM would try to get something for him .
The fact is, he hasn’t re-signed. If Betts wants to re-sign, fine. If he doesn’t, good luck. But I am not going let him walk for a 5th round draft pick, if I can get two top prospects in return.
JBJ is a little different. We probably can’t get even a single top prospect for him, and we have no in-house replacement. I’d keep JBJ and hope that Duran or Wilson iare ready for 2021.
DD Has gotta go
And he’s gotta take Cora with him.
They were both gifted with a lot of talent and a huge payroll last year and this year, but this year has proven they’ve run out of both prospects and money and without either they simply can’t make good enough decisions to compete.
1st place the last three years, plus one WSC. I can put up with stupid management as long as we continue to be one of the best teams in BB.
Yes there’s a reason why there were multiple reports of Red Sox players being furious with management for not acquiring pitching help. Not coincidentally, they immediately began playing their worst baseball of the season right after the trade deadline. That’s what happens when management doesn’t improve the one glaring weakness, and then says it’s not worth it because they wouldn’t have much of a chance in the postseason anyways.
Seems like management had planned all along not to go for it, so why didn’t they sell off some players for prospects? Either you’re all in your not, otherwise you get caught in no-mans land which is exactly where they are now.
management for not acquiring pitching help.
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That’s a meaningless statement if you aren’t going to be more specific. It’s like saying that we need hitting help, but not specifying a given position.
I can never understand why Sox fans can’t stop hating DD but never have a bad word to say about Dana LeVangie.
The entire pitching staff, save for Workman, is having the worst year of their big league career. He had no idea why Kimbrel nearly blew six straight games last season and into the postseason (until Eric Gagne turned on a TV and did his job for him, as he realized within minutes that Kimbrel was tipping his pitches). After his blow-up in the Bronx, Chris Sale looked vintage last start against the Angels. After the game, he credited one man with the change – assistant pitching coach Brian Bannister after reviewing film with him for hours. Why was Dana? Why couldn’t he do that? And then last week, Vazquez said himself that “everybody knows that we pitch up. They make adjustments. They have reports and they look for it.” Dana hasn’t changed this staff’s game plan in over a year. He is completely unable to help the pitching staff make any type of adjustment. You think it’s a coincidence that Ryan Braiser has rediscovered himself in just eight games at AAA with a new pitching coach?
Dombrowski should’ve gotten somebody. But it doesn’t matter WHO he could have acquired. As we saw with Cashner, anybody Dana LeVangie touches immediately turns to crap. Maybe it’s time to hire a pitching coach who ACTUALLY has experience pitching.
I don’t disagree with your opinion of LeVangie, but to say every pitcher is having their worst season is simply not true.
Price was having a darn good season until the injury.
ERod has had a decent season.
And 2 or 3 relievers not named Workman are having decent seasons.
There is simply no sense of urgency with this year’s team, winning isn’t a priority and they have said so throughout.
All they care about is having the best-rested team in MLB.
It was ridiculous early in the season when they said it was more important to win games in August and September. Regular season games are important whether it’s in March, April or whatever!
Price was solid to start, but his ERA and WHIP are the worst since his 2009 rookie season. Rodriguez is having a decent year, but in four seasons prior, his WHIP had never been higher than 1.299. It’s currently 1.374. His K/9 rate is also down from 10.0 the previous two seasons to 8.9 this year.
Sure, with that small a difference you can attribute it to chance regression and you can attribute Price’s struggles to injuries. But with everyone else regressing too, I’m going to assume it’s another consequence of LeVangie’s failure to help them adjust.
As far as the relievers having decent seasons, I’m assuming you’re referring to Walden and Hernandez. They’ve been solid, but they both have almost no track record to compare 2019 to.
The offense has been one of the best in baseball. It’s the pitching that’s the problem. Almost all of them doing poorly is just circumstantial evidence that it’s LeVangie’s fault. But with 1) him failing to realize Kimbrel was tipping pitches last season, (2) Braiser rediscovering himself in just 8 games with a new pitching coach, (3) Sale crediting Bannister, not LeVangie, with finally helping him figure things out, and (4) Vazquez saying himself that he thinks the pitching struggles are due to the staff not adjusting, the guy I’m blaming is LeVangie.
the guy I’m blaming is LeVangie.
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Yup, the problem is broader than any one pitcher.
Price, Porcello, and Sale all had really good stretches earlier this year. The all 3 went off the rails for 5-6 starts, and all at the same time.
As a Red Sox fan, I am absolutely furious with DD’s handling of the deadline. I think it’s time for me to adopt a NL team for the rest of the season…
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I was fine. If anything, I’d have preferred to be a seller. Now go root for the Mets.
changing his role is a great way to possibly cause even more injury to a guy who has had an injury riddled career. The Red Sox aren’t going anywhere, so just shut him down for the rest of the season.
Unbelievable how smart this group looked last year, horrible payroll management and unrealistic expectations doomed this season, This team is really hard to watch
There have been some questionable contracts!
Most of us would have been satisfied with a Wild Card.
Once you get your foot in the postseason door, anything can happen.
Now, the postseason is a fantasy and a 108-win championship team has been reduced to a 85-win non-contender literally overnight.
2019 Red Sox might very well be the worst managed team – dugout to front office – in our generation.
Can’t stop the bleeding
DD wrecked the Tigers by trading many of their best prospects for veteran players; why should Red Sox fans be surprised that he is doing the same thing to their team? The Marlins also had such an experience.
that is not entirely fair. Sox also graduated a lot of these prospects and they won them a WS, which is the goal here. Also, some of those prospects they traded… it remains to be seen if they’ll all be quality big leaguers.
8 of 9 starters are homegrown
Which prospects did they part with that would have made a difference this season ?
this is also the same guy whose team won the WS last year. i think having some expectations was warrented.
How in the world do you call yourself a Red Sox fan when you want them to trade Mookie and JBD? You honestly should be embarrassed for making that asinine comment. Smh
Please explain how he wrecked the farm system by trading away our so called best prospects. His trades brought us Evoladi, Sale and Krimbrel. Which then brought is a WS title. So besides Moncada which Prospect or Prospects did we trade away that A) would help this team now or is having any impact in the Majors? It’s definitely not Travis Shaw as he is back in the minors now, its definitely not Margot he has been in the Majors for 3 years now and is so so.
“Please explain how he wrecked the farm system by trading away our so called best prospects.”
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I love the folks that post serious comments, but without knowing anything about the subject. Basically, the only guy we miss is Moncada. In addition, Espinosa & Kopech could still come back to haunt us. And Allen is still a legit prospect. And Shaw might still be a player, but I’m not sure he’d have a job.
But jabl is confusing quantity for quality. I’m not even a DD fan, but to suggest he traded off the farm is overstated. And since we finished 1st three years in a row, with one WSC, I’m okay.
“DD wrecked the Tigers by trading many of their best prospects”
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Just for fun, could you list the top 4-5 prospects that he traded away?
Always been a little confused by the DD hate.
He didn’t destroy the Tigers. In fact, most of his trades were clear wins. The only bad trades he had were Eugenio Suarez for Alfredo Simon and Robbie Ray for Shane Greene.
I thought the main reason they’re having a down year is that DD let those relievers get away without replacing them with proven relief pitchers. Some bloggers make some valid points about DD and his Tiger years. Now look at Detroit…they’re just happy there is a team in Baltimore.
It’s really not. He should’ve added more to the bullpen. But all the replacement pieces that were supposed to suck haven’t even been THAT bad (Hernandez, Walden, Taylor, etc.).
The issue is their two top relievers coming into the year (Barnes and Braiser) have been terrible and that their starting rotation currently has an ERA over 5.
There is SO much evidence that Dana LeVangie is to blame here. A complete inability to help his pitchers make any type of adjustments. But for whatever reason, NOBODY wants to talk about it.
I think the problem is that they considered Braiser and Barnes top relief guys. Especially Braiser. The guy was decent last year over a sample size of about 20 innings… there was a good reason he was a 30 yr old rookie pitching in Japan. How did the Sox not see him regressing to his mean. Eovaldi is the same issue to me. Red Sox think so highly of these guys because they managed to look good for 20-30 innings when everything was going right last year and then are shocked when they go back to being as ordinary as they’ve always been
The bullpen had a ton of holes to begin with.
Braiser was obviously going to regress. But he’s not THIS bad. It’s a really small sample size, but he looks like 2018 Braiser since being demoted (and working with a new pitching coach) to AAA. Barnes has always been inconsistent, but his ERA has jumped more than an entire run and he leads baseball with seven blown saves. The stuff is better than ever – 15.8 K/9. The walk rate is still high so he won’t be elite, but there’s no reason he should be doing THIS bad.
And how do you explain the starting rotation doing so poorly? David Price’s ERA and WHIP haven’t been this high since his 2009 rookie season. Sale has nearly doubled his ERA from last season after a decade of dominating the league. Porcello is just three years removed from a CYA and currently ranks dead last in ERA among 71 qualified starters. You can also argue E-Rod is having the worst season of his career (at the very least, the worst since 2016).
If it was just the bullpen struggling, I wouldn’t be blaming LeVangie, because it wasn’t all that great a bullpen to begin with. But the Sox had a very strong rotation on paper heading into this season. They have a lot of talented arms with solid track records. And yet, the starters have lost more games than the bullpen this year. Apart from Workman, the ENTIRE pitching staff is having the worst season of their career.
The staff has always been overrated. Price and Porcello throw low 90s and if the spit isn’t perfect they’re going to get bombed. I also don’t think the Sox have a very good defensive infield which doesn’t help. A lot of balls that should be double plays they only get one out or balls that could have been kept in the infield get passed. Brings the pitch count up and increases likelihood for mistakes. I think it’s a group effort for them to be this bad but I also think there was a lot of luck involved last year. This is a team that was designed to score a lot of runs but not stop others from scoring a lot of runs.
And I beg to differ on Braiser. He just never really looked like he had that good of stuff to me. Fine he’s not sucking in triple A, I’m so impressed…
No mention of Rick Poorfellow who is a free agent at the end of the year, right?
People complain about Harper’s contract and Machado’s… heck, they say Cabrera has the worst contract out there… Look at some of these Red Sox contracts.
Pedroia, next two years for $25 mil. This year at $15 mil. No production for $40 mil..
Rusney Castillo was signed for $72 mil over 7 years. He hits .300 in the minors but they don’t dare bring him up because it counts against the cap.
Eovaldi signed a 4 year $68 mil deal.
Sale is at $145 for 5 years.
Price 7 year $217 mil.
What a disaster.
World Series
A few owners really want to win the trophy. Red Sox fans are lucky they have one of those owners.
That’s not really true considering only one of those contracts contributed to a WS…
The only way you don’t have bad contracts in MLB is not to write contracts. The result is mediocrity if the GM and crew are really good. See Pittsburgh.
You see that a lot in international signings for the farm, more in the past then now though you can see it still if you look closely. Lack of results and the owners who don’t really care shut off the money. The owner who cares fires the people not producing but the money for signings continues.
That’s not really true considering only one of those contracts contributed to a WS…
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Sale & Eovaldi are less than a year into their contracts. It is difficult to win a lot of WS’s in less than a year.
I’m happy n hope Nate remains healthy, he deserves to have his health. I also think if Nate still has problems he deserves every cent of salary he received for his unselfish performance in the WS. What I mean for unselfish is that he was taking a chance with his health but he stretched himself to help the team win.
Oh please.
I also hope Nate remains healthy but this storyline has to disappear.
He had an historic performance that World Series game. But it was six freakin’ innings. It was the equivalent of a normal start (and he only pitched a total of 22.1 innings the entire postseason). He’s a major league pitcher. Nothing asked of him last postseason was crazy. Are you suggesting that he should’ve just thrown the game after three innings to protect his arm and that would’ve been understandable?
Pitching six relief innings in a World Series game that his team ultimately lost is not worth $68 million.
The guy is making 68 mill for 4 years, there are worse pitchers out there making more than Eovaldi. No one can predict injuries just ask Blake Snell who hit the shelf with the same type of injury.
Funny to think that Tim Wakefield did the same thing as Eovaldi in game 3 of 2004 right before the 8 game winning streak. Two pitchers who got bounced around the rotation and bullpen who could not be more different. Don’t be surprised to see the Red Sox come back next year and dominate. Just saying it happens, not predicting it.
Kind of had an idea this was the plan. After Cashner was moved out. I wasn’t sure, but this seems about right for now…
I still think Cashner is going to make a start here or there later. After they work him out, try to fix him. I think the vesting option on him played a role. It always does to a degree behind the scenes.
I looked at his starts. Bad but not horrible. Just to back off for a while and see a little later. Lot of time left. And every game is huge.
Evoldi. 4-5 good innings then build up. They’d have to really win out the rest of the way. To make the Playoffs…
Too little too late. You can’t keep handing away games with horrible pitching decisions, over-resting players and constant role changing … and then expect to make the postseason.
How is a 8.01 ERA, 6.81 FIP, 1.91 WHIP, 2.1 HR/9 rate in 30.1 innings NOT horrible!?!?
According to his pitching log, He went 6 2/3 – 3 earned against the Yanks. 6 Punchouts. @ Home. 2 weeks ago.
I don’t think the Redsox would trade for this guy. Knowing they need starters. And shut him down as a Starter for Good. A short bullpen stint to regroup. He Was trending Downward I See. Might Help. A lot of teams do it. Plus the vesting option. Playoff race. Knowing he’s in a slump. All factors. They need to win like every game Now. ! They aren’t. And would rather give Nate A Shot to See What He Has. His bullpen work has been OK, thus far. Maybe he can catch fire and give more quality innings to begin games. 4-5 innings to stretch him out. Ala an Opener.
Lots of manuvers going one with this move. And yes the season might be over. That’s what They are thinking. So no time to waste. Remove him. Try to fix him. And get Some contributions the final month n half. I think he’ll start at least one more game for the Sox at some point. My Opinion. . .
How do you “fix” a guy that has a career record of 30 games under .500, and an ERA of 5+. And, he’s not even considered an innings eater!
His year prior to the trade, now seems like an aberration bubble that was due to burst. Don’t blame the Sox for trying given the talent that was available at the deadline and the potential cost to acquire. Just doesn’t seem like its working out and whether it will is anyone’s guess!
The reason Nate is starting cuz the season is lost!
Dombrowski needs to take off the rose coloured bullpen glasses. The Eovaldi flip-flop, among many things, shows the Sox are unsure even of their own plan. Also, Eduardo Rodriguez is turning into Dice K. It’s increasingly irritating watching Rodriguez pitch, so inefficient and he shakes off the catcher too much.
Season-ending injury in 3, 2, 1…
He’s up in the pen right now for them…
And now he’s in the game. So much for the rotation return.
relax!!! he’s going to start tomorrow’s game
What kind of an update is this?!?
This is why selling was the right option… Could have been stacked for 2021-2027. Instead they have to hope this team that blew up in his face this year can redeem itself in 2020. Otherwise you’re left with no farm and much the same roster.
DD may have handed the Yankees the division for nearly 10 years with 3-5 months of bad decisions. Hope I’m wrong, but I know I’m not. This is a crisis waiting to erupt.
I’d have sold as well, but at the trade deadline, we had just crushed TB & the NYY. It’s a tough sell to tell the fans, on 7/27, that, even though we would qualify for the playoffs, and were playing great, we need to sell off all our key pieces. Ironically it was that short winning streak that doomed us.
And I doubt we will have a crisis. This team still has a ton of talent.
That’s a little dramatic. The Red Sox has really only Betts to sell at the deadline and that would of been unpopular. I’m just not sure who else you think the Red Sox had to sell.
Betts, Bradley, Holt, Martinez, Moreland, etc.
Essentially any and everyone who isn’t apart of your long term core. The only way to have long term success is to have a flowing pipeline of cheap talent. As unpopular as trading Betts may have been, losing him in free agency or having an expensive roster with holes and no farm will be much more unpopular.
Here’s thinking DD is 2-3 years away from running the Phillies anyways.
The only one of those guys who fetch anything is Betts.
It doesn’t appear that Bradley is anywhere near being a headliner in a trade, nobody really will trade for Holt as almost everyone has their “jackknife” player these days and while he’s having a good year with the bat this year doesn’t have pop nor is going to challenge the league leaders in batting….Martinez, while a hitting stud is questionable with his opt out looming so what league leader or wildcard possible wants that question mark over their head in a trade,, and Moreland isn’t a headliner or is going to generate too much talk either.
Betts, is the ultimate guy that can help re-set the Sox and it will hurt to send him elsewhere, but the return and future salary relief they can get for him might be well worth it. He’s a terrific player that many teams would find a way to acquire him.
Agreed. We should’ve sold those players. I’m personally done with Betts. Great player but he won’t extend with us and will test free agency and we have too many expensive players on the books with Price, Sale, Evoldi, etc.
I think Boston is going to sell this offseason and I think they trade Betts if they get a package they deem suitable. Boston has to reset the lux tax and I think they do it next year this will allow them go full hog in 2021.
They aren’t going to win anyway unless Sale, Price, and Edro pitch well next year so might as well reset next year.
The Red Sox can be very competitive next year if they pitch. The other thing is if JDM opts out if he does then the Red Sox will easily be able to reset and add to their rotation.
I hope this is the way the go in the offseason they really need to reset that lux tax it can just bury you if you don’t and take away all flexibility when you are having a good season.
Damn how good is Devers and only 22 what a talent.
Theo Epstein, our lord and savior, has suggested that a team can only realistically expect to compete in six out of every ten years.
2002-2011: 6 playoff appearances
2012-2021: 4 playoff appearances with two seasons to go
Remember the dumpster fires of 2012 and 2014? This is fine. Hell if they pick up the pace a bit they can still win 90 games.
I know they aren’t going to win 90 games, they don’t have it in them but to bust out the kind if streak needed. But it COULD happen. It’d be real tough to complain about a 90 win season, even if they don’t make the playoffs.