The Red Sox announced they’ve designated relievers Geoff Hartlieb and Yacksel Rios for assignment. The moves create space on the 40-man roster for Jarren Duran and Jonathan Araúz, both of whom have reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list and optioned to Triple-A Worcester.
Boston claimed Hartlieb off waivers from the Mets a few weeks ago, right as the bullpen was being hit hard by the virus spread throughout the clubhouse. Added for depth, he was immediately optioned to Worcester and didn’t wind up making an appearance with the Red Sox before losing his spot on the 40-man roster.
Hartlieb will find himself on waivers for the third time this season. The 27-year-old began the year with the Pirates, with whom he’d spent the first five years of his pro career. Pittsburgh waived Hartlieb in July, where the Mets claimed him. He’s worked nine innings of eleven-run ball between the two clubs, striking out nine but issuing eleven walks and hitting three batters. In 66 1/3 innings over parts of three MLB seasons, the right-hander owns a 7.46 ERA with a below-average 20.5% strikeout rate and an elevated 14.9% walk percentage.
In spite of those big league struggles, Hartlieb hasn’t yet made it through waivers unclaimed. He’s induced ground-balls on exactly half the balls in play in the majors, a quality rate. He also owns a far more impressive 3.06 ERA in 64 1/3 Triple-A innings, fanning 27.8% of opponents with a more manageable 10.9% walk rate. Hartlieb throws a mid-90s sinker and has gotten decent swing-and-miss numbers on his slider, and he can still be optioned through the end of the 2022 season. It’s not out of the question he lands with another club on waivers.
Rios has been a part of three organizations this year as well. The right-hander signed a minor league deal with the Rays and got off a sterling start with their top affiliate in Durham. He couldn’t crack the loaded Tampa Bay bullpen, but the Mariners acquired him in early June and almost immediately selected him to the majors. His time in Seattle was short-lived, as he was designated for assignment less than a week later and traded to Boston.
Between the M’s and Red Sox, Rios has tossed 27 1/3 innings of 4.28 ERA ball. That’s come with similarly poor peripherals as Hartlieb’s, but Rios has missed plenty of bats in Triple-A. The 28-year-old has a 1.45 ERA in the minors with a 32.9% strikeout percentage. As with Hartlieb, it’s possible another team takes a flier based on that Triple-A dominance, although Rios is in his final option year. Any team that claims him would need to keep him on the active roster next season or expose him to waivers themselves. Rios has previously been outrighted in his career, so he’d have the right to elect free agency if he passes through unclaimed.
Good that’s where those two belong for now, in Worcester.
Working the line at Polar Beverages.
damn Yack got sacked.
“Fat, dumb, stupid, and relying on ex-Pirate relievers is no way to go through life, son.”
Whatever the Red Sox are doing lately with their bullpen, keep it up! With the exception of Matt Barnes, the bullpen has been instrumental in their recent 7 game winning streak. Robles and Martin look like completely different pitchers as of late and Brasier has come up bug as well. Let’s hope this continues with this important Yankees series this weekend. If Boston can win 2 out of 3, they’ll be in great shape to make the playoffs.
Richards has been the key recently DM. His ability to go multiple innings or come in late has been a big surprise.
i cant say I expected it, but given his track record it’s not the biggest blind-siding. He was darn well regarded a few year ago and a lower IP load is probably helping him.
Injuries seemed to have ruined a promising career. As a starter in Boston he was consistent I. always getting hammered in at least one inning. He would have been released had the team had options and his salary been more modest. He’s actually earning it now. Seems like a quality teammate so I’m glad for him and of course the team.
Perhaps Richards is this year’s Joe Kelly. Finding success out of the bullpen?
The expanded roster has treated us well. Outside of Whitlock, I’m not sure that anyone is better than being merely ‘good’. But we have a lot of them. And we can carry three lefties. I’m not sure if Davis is any good, but he has good splits. Cora has been lining these guys up so that if you have B2B lefties, of even LRL, you are likely to see one of our lefties every time you pass the 5th or 6th inning.
Joe, as strong and as deep as the BP is … we need Barnes to return to pre-August form.
Every championship this century was won with a shutdown lights out reliever:
2004 – Foulke
2007 – Pap
2013 – Koji
2018 – Kelly
I agree with you, nobody ATM sticks out as being better than “good”.
Pretty contradicting listing Kelly here. And in 2018 the lights out reliever was Kimbrel who struggled. Kelly and others stepped up but the use of SP out of the pen was the key. Sale closed out the WS. And Barnes has been lights out for all of 3 months in his career. Barnes isn’t making or breaking this team.
18 was weird in that Kimbrel lost it and both Kelly and Barnes suddenly lived up to their potential/hype.
Contradicting? How so?
Kelly gave up just 1 ER over 11 1/3 IP with no walks and 13 K’s, and he did it in high leverage situations against the opponent’s best hitters. You don’t think that’s shutdown lights out? Seriously?
Kimbrel was horrific in the postseason, 5.91 ERA and 1.59 WHIP. How quickly we (or basically just you) forget.
It’s a team game, of course Kelly couldn’t do it alone. But he was the ONE relief pitcher who was absolutely lights out. He had the lowest WHIP on the team, he was the ONLY pitcher on the team to not walk anybody, and only Barnes pitched in more games.
Use of starting pitchers out of the pen was the key?
ERod pitched 4 1/3 innings out of the pen, gave up 3 ER on 2 hits and 3 walks.
Porcello pitched only 1 2/3 innings out of the pen.
Sale pitched only 2 innings out of the pen.
Price pitched only 2/3 of an inning, gave up a hit and a walk
Eovaldi, fantastic postseason HOWEVER 6 of his 9 1/3 IP as a reliever were in a game the Red Sox lost. Therefore he didn’t have much of an impact from the pen in that postseason.
Only Kelly pitched out of the pen in 6 Red Sox wins.
Price’s one relief appearance was in a loss.
Sale pitched in relief just one inning in each of only two games
Porcello relieved just twice, combined 1 2/3 IP
ERod pitched out of the pen a combined 2 1/3 innings in 4 Sox wins
Barnes has been lights out in only 3 months of his career?
Apparently you weren’t following baseball in April thru July of this year.
Or in July 2019 when he gave up just 3 hits, 3 walks and no earned runs while striking out 15 in 8 IP
Or in May 2019 when he gave up just 2 ER while striking out 16 in 9 2/3 IP
Or in Mar/April 2019 when he gave up just 3 ER in 12 IP while striking out 23
Red Sox were 37-7 in games Barnes pitched before Covid struck on August 7th. During that time he was literally unhittable. Like JoeBrady said, we’ve had “good” relievers but nobody nearly as great ever since.
We need pre-August Barnes.
Fever Pitch Guy
Porcello pitched only 1 2/3 innings out of the pen.
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=One of my favorite memories of the series was, after the 18-inning game, when people were questioning Cora about whom he was going to use, Porcello volunteered to pitch in game 4, the night after he started in game 3.
That’s how you build a winning culture.
Fever, I had to check twice as the length of your response had me thinking KD wrote it. Anyway, I do somewhat agree with the other post in that the starters added depth to the pen in the 18 playoffs. Without them and because Kimbrel was not trusting, Kelly and Barnes would have been burnt out.
Joe I agree with you about Porcello, but it’s not uncommon in the postseason.
Randy Johnson threw 104 pitches in 2001 WS Game 6, and then pitched in relief the next night. And he wasn’t a soft tosser like Porcello.
Despite today’s handling of pitchers with kid gloves, they are capable of reaching back and giving more in critical situations. Sabathia and Schilling also immediately come to mind.
dewey relievers can be highly unpredictable.
I think the fact they are a lot more unpredictable than starting pitchers is evidence that usage plays a huge factor in in their performance.
dewey yes it’s true at times I’m as verbose as KD. LOL
Absolutely the starters being utilized in the pen helped. It’s really not that uncommon in the postseason.
But in terms of dominant shutdown reliever who was critical in winning the WS, it was Kelly. I don’t see how anyone can dispute that.
Absolutely. $27m from the Dodgers is proof.
The reason I said Kelly was contradicting is the other guys you listed were clearly “that guy”. Kelly stepped up and there’s plenty of guys who fit the Joe Kelly “good not great” mold who can step it up. I agree Barnes WAS good for a couple of months. But not holding my breath for him to return to that form with what we’ve seen since.
I agree Kelly wasn’t the stopper prior to the 2018 postseason, but he did step up more than every other reliever. Eovaldi was great, but his role was different.
With Barnes his problems are all mental. He needs to get back to a faster pace, throw the ball quicker. He’s overthinking, always trying to make the perfect pitch. He’s lacking confidence, which is essential for a high leverage reliever.
The Orioles were instrumental in the Sox recent streak. Myself and eight friends could beat the Orioles.
Yeah, but for some reason the yankees can’t.
The entire ALE is based on BA.
TB 1-18
RS 4-12
TO 5-11
NY 8-11
The NYY are 8 games behind TB, and 7 of those 8 games are because of BA.
And 3 of those NYY victories over Baltimore were by only 1 run!
It’s too bad Cora didn’t have the Sox prepared to start the season. Take away the first three games, and the Sox are 12-1 against Baltimore.
And the only other teams Baltimore swept? The Nats and … brace yourself … the Astros in Houston!
Fever, I’m still not a Cora fan as I believe sitting out in 20 was a gift, not a penalty for a person his age when he was financially secure and there was no vaccine then. That said, I can’t say the team wasn’t ready just because they lost three straight to start 21. The same reason I don’t give him credit for the current 7 game winning streak. The beauty of BB is the 162 game season which gets shortchanged by one game and even five game playoff series. Make teams use their full roster including all five starters when determining the champ.
Fever Pitch Guy
And the only other teams Baltimore swept? The Nats and … brace yourself … the Astros in Houston!
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That’s why I kind of downplay the RS winning 5-6 on the road in the final two series. Any team can win on any night. Last night, TO lost in Minny. Pineda can pitch a little, and Minny can score a little.
Joe, I said this morning tonight is key. if Boston just wins the first game against the Yankees it means they go on the road in WC position number one regardless of the next two games. They’re playing better again regardless of the competition or at home. Having control with six games left against under .500 teams is all one could ask for. Dreaming would be to still have aspirations of winning the division…
dewey it’s unfathomable for a bad Orioles team to sweep the Red Sox to start the season, in Fenway no less.
Game 1 – Okay Means is tough, I can accept losing 3-0
Game 2 – Matt Harvey? Adam Plutko? Cesar Valdez? Red Sox should have lit them up like a Christmas tree.
Game 3 – Cora left in Richards and Taylor to give up 12 hits, 3 walks and 10 ER in just 2 2/3rd innings … and THEN Cora brought in 4 of his best relievers, Whitlock/Sawamura/Barnes/Ottavino.
Who does that? Who lets a game get out of hand that early and then goes with four of his best relievers?
Cora has a history of not properly preparing his teams to start the season, we all remember what happened in 2019.
Joe I agree with your premise, but Baltimore is a whole lot worse than Minnesota and the Twins are nearly .500 at home and Pineda had already beaten Toronto not too long ago.
I do think Washington will win at least one game, but considering they will be packing their bags and focusing on heading home I don’t think they will be motivated enough to beat the Sox twice.
The series that scares me is the Yankees. They have confidence and momentum now thanks to the Rangers series, and with the pitching matchups and greater motivation to win than Cora, I wouldn’t rule out a Yankee sweep. Cole tends to come back very strong after a bad game, Cortes has been sensational, and you never know what you’ll get with ERod. If the Sox can win the series I’ll be ecstatic.
First sign to look for is who will be playing 2B tonight. Iglesias has made himself hard to bench with his strong play, Arroyo needs to get some starts in prior to the postseason, but I don’t want to see either Schwarber or Dalbec benched.
Meh. People put too much thought into being over- or under-prepared. I’d guess that most of the time, players are equally prepared. It is almost impossible to by that we were under-prepared on 4/4, and the best team in baseball on 4/5.
And we’ve had 21 3-game wining and losing streaks. We haven’t been under- and over-prepared 21 times in one season. Sometimes teams just win and lose.
Joe, 0-3 against the O’s to start the season … and 12-1 against them since.
Looking behind the numbers, that first weekend the Sox were fully healthy and well rested.
Kinda sounds like you’re saying managers don’t have an impact on wins or losses. So maybe teams should eliminate the manager position and go with just the coaching staff instead?
Fever Pitch Guy
They have confidence and momentum now thanks to the Rangers series,
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I doubt that the Rangers are going to inspire them. None of my athletic exploits (poker, pool, darts) did much to inspire me, unless I know I played well against good competition. The NYY won a one-run game, and a game where they were tied going into the 8th.
IRT the lineup tonight, Iglesias has to play if only because of his glove, but I would understand Arroyo.
The lineup should be:
Kike-CF
Verdugo-LF
Devers-3B
Bogaerts-SS
JDM-DH
Vazquez-C
Renfroe-RF
Dalbec-1B
Iglesias-2B
It would be a good night to give Arroyo a start, but just like the yellow unis, nothing changes while we are winning.
Meh. Oakland, Atlanta, and Arizona were also 0-3. The only certainty in baseball is that there is a lot of randomness.
And, if Cora gets blamed for the first three, who gets credit for the following 9 wins?
No shame in getting swept by Houston, or in Philadelphia. Both are good teams.
Not sure the correlation with Arizona? They are a 110-loss team, they are expected to lose. LOL
I’d have to analyze each of the 9 wins to determine how much, if any, credit belongs to Cora.
What were the scores of the games?
What lineups did he use?
What pitchers were used, and how were they used?
Which teams did the Red Sox beat?
Were the teams they beat healthy?
What pitchers did the Red Sox face?
So many different variables, which is why I never go by just wins or losses when assessing a team’s performance.
You can look really bad in games that you win.
But still, it can’t be Cora’s fault when they lose, but someone else’s credit when they win. I see this all the time in here, and with other teams’ fans. When they win, it is because of the players, or because of some divine wind. And when they lose, it is because of the manager, the GM, or both.
It doesn’t work like that. We didn’t go 0-3 because we weren’t prepared, and then magically went 9-0. Or, if you want to go the ‘prepared’ route, then my take on it is that Cora had them so well-prepared that we came out 9-3, and that led to our current WC slot, which is why he should be MOTY.
Joe I fully agree that if a manager is going to get blamed for some losses, he should also get credit for some wins.
A very famous person named Bill Parcells once said, you are what your record says you are. In some ways I agree, in some ways I don’t.
So let me ask you: When a very talented team gets swept at home on opening weekend against a far inferior team, what would you attribute that to? Certainly not injuries or fatigue. And I’m sorry but “just one of those things” doesn’t cut it for me. LOL
See, one thing I DO give Cora credit for is the ability to motivate his players. They like playing for him, especially the Latin players. That’s probably Cora’s greatest quality.
So if you want me to give Cora credit for the 9-game win streak without having the time to analyze those games, sure that’s fine. I’ll give him credit, they did beat Tampa during that streak.
When a very talented team gets swept at home on opening weekend against a far inferior team, what would you attribute that to?
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You won’t like the answer, but I don’t attribute it to anything. He’s not an idiot because we got swept any more than he is a genius for sweeping TB right after getting swept by BA. It’s not like people can’t make mistakes, but I’ve been in business too long to start thinking the same people are both brilliant and idiots.
It will be there long-term results that I examine, not the day-to-day activity. If, after 6 games, and we went 3-3, would you have thought anything but ‘we should be 3-3’?
At the start of the year, all relievers are fresh and some may not have been able to get their work in before the season started for many reasons. Also some could have been on their set day to throw.
Joe, that answer is kinda like if my boss asks me why EBITDA is $100K lower than projected and I tell him it’s just Misc Expense.
Geniuses are wrong at times, and idiots are right at times. Cora can do something moronic without being an actual moron.
Would you not agree that managers can have good games and bad games just like players can and do?
Anyhoo I’m ready to focus on tonight. I think many would agree tonight is the most important game for the Red Sox since 2018. Both teams have momentum on their side, after tonight one team won’t.
As much as I hate the yellow uniforms, I hope they are wearing them again tomorrow.
I could see Rios getting claimed, his numbers for Boston don’t look that bad. Hartlieb, on the other hand, should never be on any team’s 40 man roster again.
I hope we can resign Rios on a minor league deal, but I doubt it
I agree, although we may be in the minority based on other comments on here… I thought Rios showed flashes of potential. I mean he’s got a 100 MPH fastball and on a couple of occasions looked dominant. of course on other occasions he looked awful. But I did feel like he was someone who could potentially rework things a little bit to find more consistency and develop into a more reliable option… not even necessarily this year but possibly next. maybe not too… but the stuff is there.
Axl Rose …. err, Yacksel Rios has been with 4 different organizations in the past year.
Every team sees the velocity and thinks they can “fix” him.
At his age, odds are greatly against him.
That’s what happens when you claim two former fail Pirate relievers.
Seen this too many times and can’t let it go..
Remember just 2-3y ago when many Pirates fans were saying “send “x” pitcher to pittsburgh, they can right “x” with their coaching?? It’s several teams get into ruts like this and MORE than just the mlb pitching coach when a staff does well, or fails. It’s organizational coaching wide is what i believe in coaching, scouting etc. Much more than the guy ppl posting see in the dugout on mlbtv everyday.
Please remember that.
“My name? Yacksel Rios.”
“Gesundheit.”
FPG – Thank you for the tip about muting. I wish I knew about it months ago. It’s awesome.
Don’t mute me, we’re still besties !!
Gary – I do like reading your posts. I don’t have to agree to enjoy the post. I like your logic when you explain things. Like I said, agreement is never the critical part of reading a post for me, it’s the quality of argument including logic, facts and perspective. That’s why some people need to be muted for me. I like truth, honesty and the American way of expressing oneself!! haha
Also, other than Bob Tillman you may be the funniest guy on the site.
You’re welcome!
FPG – What really makes me laugh is I get a count of how many comments by those muted and I can’t help but laugh. You’ve brought great joy into my life!!
We are good. Again, thanks. I’ve already avoided 11 sources of aggravation!!
At this point it’s almost comical how TOR and NYY are working so hard to not make the playoffs. If Seattle had started it’s run last weekend I think the WC1 would belong to BOS and WC2 would have been SEA.
MIN has TOR’s number and BOS has had NYY’s number so SEA could still get back in the hunt for WC 2 if one of the two teams don’t wake up and start playing with some urgency.
The WC1 will be clinched early enough that Sale can take the extra day of rest and pitch the WC game. That allows Eovaldi to open the series against TB. I love it when a plan comes together!
Thanks to Toronto’s loss last night, CBS now has the RS chances of making to post-season 100%. Which can’t possibly be true, but still nice to see. B-R has us as 94.9%, and FG at 97.5%.
Still not taking anything for granted until one of those teams is dead and buried.
ESPN has the Red Sox at 97.7%
Speaking of Sox, did y’all know this is the first time in Chicago’s history that they’ve made the postseason in consecutive years. Hard to believe, considering they are a charter member of the AL going back to 1901!
In all fairness, they did finish first B2B in 93/94, but the playoffs got canceled. For all the grief that the RS got over the years for their WS drought, the WS did almost the identical. Almost eerily similar:
RS Won in 2018, and won in 2004
WS Won in 2017, and won in 2005
Ummm …. 2017 … Hurricane Harvey … Cheating Scandal ….
I could understand if you had said the Dodgers won in 2017, but the White Sox? LOL
Yeah 1994 was a raw deal for the Chisox, although DD and the Expos are the ones that really got robbed. A whole lot of Canadians lost interest in baseball after that, which contributed to Canada becoming just a one-team country.
It’s only the third and the score is NYY 7 BOS 0 so there is still a chance for a comeback. Do you think Cora will realize they don’t win games because of the color of their uniforms? Players win and lose games. Lets hope the Yankees didn’t just wake up from their season long sleep!! Their schedule is still horrible but the Yankee team that showed up in Fenway on Friday night is one that goes 6 out of 9 not 3 out of 9 in their final games!
Just a few observations from last night’s game:
Cora’s decision to bench Dalbec and play Schwarber at 1B continues to hurt the Sox.
1) Now is not the time to be experimenting with Schwarber at 1B. For those who didn’t watch last night’s game, he let an easy infield popup drop which resulted in the 7th run for the Yanks. Prior to joining the Sox he had NEVER started a game at 1B before.
2) Continuing to bench Dalbec is asinine. He was the hottest hitter on the planet with a 1.160 OPS over his last 15 games, so what does Cora do? He cools off Dalbec by benching him for two consecutive games. Dalbec hasn’t started a game since Tuesday.
3) Common sense says to have Schwarber/JD cover LF/DH and have Dalbec starting at first base. EVERY. DARN. GAME. And then rotate days off between Verdugo and Hunter as long as Iglesias stays hot.
4) As many have pointed out in the past, Vazquez is an inferior catcher. Eovaldi is not comfortable pitching to Vazquez, which is why Plawecki has been Nate’s catcher for 16 games. Nate’s ERA with Plawecki is 3.50 and with Vazquez it’s 4.77 and Plawecki is also a better hitter than Vazquez. Last night’s catcher should have been Plawecki.
5) If Sale had started last night, as he should have, the Sox likely win 3-2 or 4-3 in extra innings. Now they are in a situation where they are clinging to a one-game lead over the Yankees and will be relying on Pivetta and ERod to stop a NYY team that has become re-energized with all the momentum on their side.
Nothing can be done about the pitching matchups now, but if Cora doesn’t have both Schwarber and Dalbec in the starting lineups today and tomorrow then he will have to share the blame for a series loss and possibly a series sweep.
FPG = Lots of Cora issues going on right now. From thinking uniform colors are lucky to creating batting orders that make no sense to not knowing how to handle the pitching staff. So just the usual Cora issues that have existed since he arrived in Boston.
Example – Here is the Saturday Line-up after getting beat yesterday
CF E. Hernandez R
RF H. Renfroe R
3B R. Devers L
SS X. Bogaerts R
DH J. Martinez R
LF K. Schwarber L
1B Bobby Dalbec R
C K. Plawecki R
2B J. Iglesias R
NYY are pitching a LEFTY. Devers homered yesterday so he’s now batting 3rd against a lefty. This a complete over reaction of a manager who has no idea about the fundamentals of building a line-up whether he uses concepts professed by Bill James or the more recent OBP theory.
Breaking down the issues:
1 – Top four OBPs are Bogaerts, Verdugo, JD, Devers. That would make for an excellent 1 through 4 batting order. Playing Iglesias over Verdugo is a mistake.
2 – From an OPS+ perspective it’s Bogaerts, Devers and then JD. Again, a decent top of the order as well. You want run production at the top.
3 – From a batting average perspective it’s Bogaerts, JD, Verdugo and Devers. Once again, still better than today’s order. The five most dangerous hitters are batting 3-7 not 1-5. Huge mistake.
4 – Defensively Dalbec is back at 1B which is great. The problem is Iglesias. Cora identifies with him as a player so he’s playing far more than he should. Verdugo, Schwarber, Dalbec and JD should NOT sit so Iglesias plays. Yes, he’s superior to Hernandez at 2B but you play your best 9 players. Iglesias isn’t one of them.
The over-reaction by Cora is why he doesn’t belong in a managerial job. He’s the guy that sits on the bench and tells the players they are going to do good that day. He’s a bench coach, that’s it. He has no business being a manager. His greatest knowledge of the game is cheating. They need a manager who gets the new concepts of how to build a batting order, how to maximize the team defense and how to handle a pitching staff. Every time his players have great years people create a causal relationship between Cora and team performance when NONE exists. During bad years like 2019 somehow that causal relationship exists in the minds of the fans that like Cora. Either way the players perform regardless of whether Cora is the manager or bench coach. They perform based on their abilities not the presence of Cora in the dugout, especially not his presence as the manager.
The good news is there is no need to panic because things are going just like expected. It’s not about how good Boston is it’s about how bad everyone else is. TOR keeps losing to Minnesota. The Yankees, even if they sweep Boston, will still play 6 games 3 in TOR and 3 at home against TB who owns them. If the NYY leave Boston leading they will be chasing by the time the TOR series ends for them.
SEA is the interesting team because as the NYY get beat up and TOR continues to flounder SEA keeps winning and has most of it’s reaming games with LAA who appears to have stopped trying. Their other games are against OAK who they just swept in OAK. I am a firm believer now that BOS is WC1 no matter what happens with the Yankees and SEA and NYY will fight it out for WC2.
Cora needs to talk to Aaron Rodgers about how not to overact when things go badly. This line-up today may win but it’s constructed incorrectly and is purely a reaction to losing yesterday. I wonder what color Cora will put the team in today? Hope he has his four leaf clover in his pocket and his fingers crossed for a win today or maybe he should just do his job and start the 9 best players using a logical method to batting order creation!!.
KD – Cora wasn’t behind the ugly yellow uniforms. LOL
The players wanted to switch things up by wearing them, and of course once they started winning they weren’t going to stop wearing them until they lost. Players are very superstitious like that.
OMG … Cora finally listened to me!!! Good lineup for once, screw the matchups and go with the hot bats.
Sox really, really need to win tonight and tomorrow. Then 4 more wins by Saturday should lock up home field for the WC game and give them opportunity to rest Sale and everyone else on Sunday. It’s sooo important to get it wrapped up by Saturday.
FPG – When the only really meaningful hit comes from the back-up catcher it’s hard to argue that the line-up turned out good. It’s also hard to argue something else would have been better when the only other hits came from Renfroe, Schwarber and Devers. Suggesting a different order would have done better would be too much like suggesting WAR has credibility as a fabricated projected outcome.
I still say go with the percentages and use the OBP approach to the line-up. We’ll see as the 8th and 9th innings play out who steps up and whether that person might have won the game if they had hit at the top of the order say 3rd (JD) or 2nd (Bogey) or 1st (Schwarber).
No rush to wrapping it up. It’s inevitable. You are more like Cora than Aaron Rodgers!!
BTW, both Pivetta and Houck looked great. Houck started shaky but showed excellent maturity. They have 4 legitimate starters for 2022. they just need to find a #2 or 3 SP that is left handed. I’m still high on Means or Rodon..
Fever Pitch Guy20 hours ago
KD – Cora wasn’t behind the ugly yellow uniforms. LOL
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This goes on all over the world. People do what works, until it doesn’t.
I any case, it would be a bit weird to attribute a loss to the color of the uniforms.
Oh I’ve got so many great stories of superstitious athletes. And it’s not just wearing the same uniforms or refusing to shave etc.
When a pitcher has a no-hitter going, as Pivetta did in Tampa, starting around the 5th or 6th inning his teammates will stop talking to him and won’t sit next to him in the dugout.
One player that immediately comes to mind is a guy going back to the 80’s named Wade Boggs.
He was so superstitious, he ate chicken before every game and he absolutely refused to step on the chalk line when taking or leaving the field.
So the yellow uniform thing was not a surprise and certainly not uncommon.
I once had a big jug of iced tea before a game, and went 4-4. I had to have a jug of iced tea for the next two weeks, even the 4-4 was a real one-off thing.
Guess which team leads the league in ERA?
Look at the ERA’s of Cortes and the others who pitched for the Yankees today.
Robles cost a run on his first pitch that went to the backstop.
Houck looked great? Which replay are you watching? 4 walks in today’s brief appearance, two of which turned into runs.
I agree with you on Xander batting 2nd, but I kinda gave up on that possibility.
When the team has just one walk and six hits over 8 innings, won’t be many runs without more than just one solo homerun.
I’ve been saying all week how important it was to win last night, and to have Sale pitch in this series. Sox can come back in the 9th, but if they don’t they’re staring at a possible sweep and could be just ONE GAME ahead of both Toronto and Seattle.
This is why you have to look behind the numbers, closely follow the decisions being made, and never EVER take anything for granted. I’ve seen way too many Red Sox collapses in my lifetime.
As I write this, Dalbec with the homerun off Chapman. More evidence that Dalbec should start EVERY game, period.
Cora benching Dalbec the last couple games was as dumb as it gets.
FPG – BAL and WAS. Two words that should relax you. While TOR and NYY are splitting a series in TOR the Red Sox should be sweeping a series against BAL. So even if they are a game back, they will finish the BAL series either tied or leading by one game. Then WAS while NYY plays TB who owns them
Things will be fine because TOR can win their remaining games with MIN but they still have to play NYY. No way they catch BOS being 2 games back going into today’s games. SEA is still the team to watch. They are hot and have a schedule similar to BOS from a difficulty perspective. That kid Kellenic is really heating up.
I saw Houck’s first inning and considering he’s not gotten much experience in high pressure Yankee games late in the season throwing a couple of walks then settling in and getting out of the inning showed me something for the future. The second inning is on Cora. Hernandez vs Houck is a no brainer, I stay with Houck and give him more experience at getting out of jams against some of the best hitters in baseball. With two outs and Rizzo up I think no runs score if he stays with Houck or maybe one scores but not 4!!! Houck struck out the first two hitters in the inning and just needed to throw two down and away fastballs to Rizzo rather than hitting him and worse case Rizzo get a single to left with no runs scoring then he K’s Stanton. Houck definitely gets out of the inning in my opinion. That’s Cora not knowing how to manage pitchers. Also, he showed no confidence in his future ace. Typical Cora. He believes in the Latin players only. Talk about diversity issues from a completely different perspective. It’s no surprise Devers stays at third but can’t field but Benny gets shipped to KC. Then he picks up Iglesias and sits Dalbec, Schwarber and Renfroe so Iglesias can play. He’s been managing with a huge bias since he showed up in Boston. Plawecki is clearly better than Vazquez. Just one more example!! Oh well, nothing can be done about it right now so just record the issues and move on to the next game. The post season review should provide enough detail to warrant a firing.
KD I think you need to look a little further with your predictions.
Tampa will have nothing to play for next weekend, so they will be resting their starters and saving their best pitchers for the playoffs.
How can Toronto and NYY split a 3-game series?? LOL
If the Sox get swept, they will need to go at least 5-1 to take the top WC from the NYY. That’s assuming the Yankees win only 4 of their remaining 6, they could easily win more with the way Toronto has been playing.
If the Sox need to go 5-1 in their last six, they won’t be able to rest their starters and they will have to start Sale on Sunday. Not good.
BTW I give you credit for showing up here. Look at everyone else, the Sox lose a couple games and they all disappear. LOL
FPG – I think TB won’t shut down especially if it means eliminating the NYY and getting the winner between BOS and SEA. They will set their starting pitching so it’s in the order they want so they may use openers against the Yankees but they have so many good arms I don’t think it will matter!!
The split will be either 2-1 or 1-2. You inferred split to mean split evenly I simply said split so each team wins!!
If the Sox get swept they will need 4 of 6 for a tie and 5 of 6 for a clear win. They have the tie breaker with NYY so they don’t even need 5 of 6 because NO WAY NYY win more than 3 against TOR and TB.
They will still rest Sale because their win on Saturday will clinch the WC1.
I don’t show up due to wins or losses. I show up when I have something I want to talk about and I thought the Red Sox fans who have hated my comments all season needed an Aaron Rodgers type voice to keep things relaxed. Yes, I have lived through lots of Red Sox disappointment but I believe the core 2018 guys will carry the team to the WC1 spot. I’ve told you all season, I root for the players and have big issues with ownership, Bloom and Cora. Nobody wants them to do well more than me just like I still root for Betts, Benny, Chavis, JBJ, Price and even Holt!!
KD I like your optimism but I would be shocked if the NYY don’t win at least 4 of their last 6. They have way too much firepower, especially with Stanton on fire now, and they have the best ERA in the league.
Fever Pitch Guy15 hours ago
Tampa will have nothing to play for next weekend, so they will be resting their starters and saving their best pitchers for the playoffs.
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The thing that makes TB so good is that all their pitchers are good. The three guys lined up for the NYY are McClanahan (3.44), BAZ (3.60 SSS), and Rasmussen. Even their low-end guys and rookies have live arms.
And, at this point, the NYY beating TO works in our favor. If the NYY take 2-3, our magic number over TB is 4, with 6 games left for each team.
Joe, Tampa is only 12-11 this month and 7 of those wins were against the lowly Twins/Tigers/Marlins and another 2 of those wins were against a Red Sox team decimated by Covid.
I don’t like to make predictions, but I would be shocked if Tampa wins more than one game in that final weekend series (assuming NYY are still playing for something right up to the final day of the season).
KD I totally disagree with you on Houck the guy walked the yard tonight and there was no way you could let him face Rizzo after back to back walks he walked 4 guys in 1 2/3 absolutely no problem in taking him out there. It’s only in hindsight that allows you to think it was a dumb move to remove Houck. The guy couldn’t find the strike zone period end of story and was removed. You could make the argument that DH was not the guy to bring in that spot but taking Houck was not a bad decision I would wager that almost all managers would take a rookie pitcher out in that situation. Did it work out no it did not but doesn’t it make it the wrong decision it was the right decision removing Houck after the two walks with two outs the guy walked 4 guys for crying out loud in an 1 2/3 innings.
On another note yes I do agree with you Boston is still in the drivers seat for the best record as a wild card team. It doesn’t mean they will get the best record or even in the wild card game but they are in the drivers seat. I think they will still be the top seed in the wild card but it’s a lot tighter now no room for error with Baltimore and Wash. does anyone remember 2011?
Bruin1012 – After watching the 7th inning I saw something in Houck I recognized as an ex-pitcher. He is very savvy with players on the bases compared to most guys his age. The grounder that led to the double play was executed very well by Houck. Then in the 8th he strikes out 2 guys and his emotions well up as he starts thinking about one more strikeout. He walks the next guy which completely pisses himself off for not staying focused. The second walk is his heart rate dropping back to normal. Once the threat existed with a runner in scoring position he takes on a different persona. Clemens was the same way. deGrom and Scherzer too. Some guys just have something go off inside them when a base runner gets into scoring position. Could Rizzo have gotten a hit? Absolutely. If the person calling the pitches asked for anything inside to Rizzo he would have homered off Houck knowing RIzzo. If Houck worked him outside and low I think Devers gets a ground ball and then there is a 50/50 chance the last out of the inning will happen. If he pokes it through the left side then bags loaded for Stanton. I think Stanton would have struggled with Houck’s breaking ball. I think he would have struggled to hit one out which completely changes the game. Seeing one of your young arms handle the top of the Yankee order with some challenges presented to him might have developed Houck even faster than he’s already developing. They lost so the trade off of building your confidence in your future ace would have made sense to me and I think Houck would have responded well and tomorrow BOS would have had all the momentum and a young ace who felt his manager has his back.
We’ll never know because Houck got pulled but I have way more faith in Houck than Cora. does and apparently than you do. I think he’s the next great pitcher in Boston and I love his make-up. He just needs time to get comfortable being in such a big spotlight. He’s commanded that before at the college level but now he’s got to progress to being comfortable at the major league level. It’s great to see a pitcher that battles to not give up runs. I still say leave him in and the Red Sox win the game.
I remember 2011 but this team is very different than teams like the 2011 club. This club won this year without a talent level great enough to win. They were lucky at times. They were clutch at times but most of all they performed way over their heads and everyone loved it. I fully expect them to continue to perform way over their heads during the BAL and WAS series. They beat TB twice when it made no sense at the start of September. They beat SEA twice in SEA and that made no sense. Then they swept BAL when 2 out of three would have made sense. Heck, we saw them lose 3 times to BAL to open the year and then sweep TB. They simply don’t do the logical things you would expect. That’s why I wouldn’t be surprised if they swept both BAL and WAS because that would make no sense!
Logically they should take 4 out of 6 because of their hitting. If Cora plays his starters and goes to a logical batting order I see no reason not to expect 4 of 6 or more. Being one down if they lose tomorrow a 4 of 6 means NYY have to win 4 of 6 as well since BOS has the tie breaker. I don’t think NYY can sweep TOR and I know they can’t sweep TB so BOS gets WC1 by at least 1 game so Sale doesn’t have to throw Sunday.
SEA flinched today so now we have to see if their ‘run’ is over. They tend to lose games they shouldn’t lose and win games they shouldn’t win. With TOR 2 games back of NYY and SEA 3 games back of NYY a sweep by the Yankees over BOS and both TOR and SEA winning on Sunday BOS will be 1 game ahead of TOR and 2 ahead of SEA. The BOS sweep in BAL would move them up 2 games on 1 team and 1 game on the other team or 3 and 0 depending on who sweeps in TOR. Either way, BOS simply needs to take care of business. They don’t need help like TOR and SEA do. NY does not have the tie breaker so for the WC game to be in NY they need to win one more game than BOS during their next 7 games.
I don’t see it happening. I fully expect the WC game to be in BOS with Sale versus Cole. The only reason Sunday’s game is significant to me is to remind the Yankees that the Red Sox can hit their pitching ANY TIME.
If they lose but send that message the WC game should be epic. E-Rod is not Sale so if he gets killed tomorrow nobody should care.because BOS won’t have a full series with NY in the playoffs, just one game. All that matters is that BOS’s hitting pounds out runs on Sunday. It would be especially good if they do it off their relievers. A message needs to be sent to keep NY from thinking they own BOS at this point in the season.
KD I do believe that Boston will be in the Wild Card game and probably be the host team. The Yankees have the hardest last two series for sure even a Tampa team that has clinched will be tough. I do agree that Houck would be much better against Stanton but he walked 4 out of the first 9 hitters so taking him out against Rizzo was probably the good percentage call. I like Houck but don’t share your same enthusiasm about how good he is going to be. I just don’t see Houck as a future ace I hope I am wrong and your right but I just don’t see it. The bottom line we both see the same thing when it comes to the Red Sox we see them hosting the wild card game regardless of what happens on Sunday.
Y’all better hope Devers wakes up okay today, after Severino drilled him in the back last night. Even if he plays tonight, his back could still be hurting.
So Cora decides to bench Schwarber instead of Verdugo against the lefty.
Schwarber has a .761 OPS against LHP
Verdugo has a .546 OPS against LHP
Nice job, Cora! Keep benching the hitter with the best OPS on the team!!
God I hope he gets fired before Thanksgiving.
FPG = Cora should have one decision each game. Do I play Kiki at 2B or Iglesias at 2B. His batting order should be Schwarber, Bogaerts, JD, Devers, Renfroe, Verdugo, Dalbec, Catcher, Kiki/Iglesias.
The only way BOS doesn’t make the WC1 is Cora mistakes. I’ve been complaining about them since he arrived and now they are getting exposed more than ever. Late inning rallies come from the top hitters batting at the top of the line-up. Putting players like Kiki and Renfroe at the top of the order hurts the team. It doesn’t matter if they get a hit or two because runs are scored by strings of hits and the people with the highest OBPs get on the most so they should be strung together at the top of the order.
When a manager goes by his gut rather than sound baseball logic he loses more than he wins. Doing it during a pennant race can change the momentum of the team. It’s great that Iglesias will love Cora forever for playing him when he should be sitting and Kiki will love Cora forever for batting him at the top of the order instead of the bottom where he belongs but in the end if it costs BOS a chance at the post season will ANYONE blame Cora for his mistakes? No. Because he did this in 2018 and they won and everyone thought he did a great job but it was just like this year, a terrible job with good results thanks to the players. In 2019, his terrible execution of his job killed the team’s chances of winning yet he never got blamed despite the obvious problem. Why? Some people over look his lack of experience, integrity and skills and simply judge him on his personality. Personality doesn’t win games, sound baseball logic and rational baseball decision making wins games. He lacks both.
I do agree on Renfroe why the hell is that guy batting second makes no sense. Kike has had one of if not the highest on base percentages since the beginning of June so he is fine he seems to of figured out the leadoff spot he should remain there. I like Kike, Schwarber, Bogey, Devers, JDM, Verdugo, Dalbec or Renfro depending on who is hotter and Vasquez that’s against righties against lefties I like Kike, Bogey, JDM, Devers, Dalbec, Renfroe, Verdugo, Arroyo or Iglesias, and Vasquez. I realize that Schwarber is better against lefties then Verdugo but Verdugo’s defense vs. Schwarber makes up for it IMO.
KD – I listen to a lot of different outlets throughout Red Sox Nation, and believe me people are waking up to Cora’s poor managerial skills. He is getting absolutely skewered for last weekend’s sweep.
Here’s some very specific reasons why:
1) Since the season started, he instructed his players to swing at the first pitch. As a result, the Sox are 18th in walks despite having 3-4 of the best hitters in the game.
It is not a coincidence that 7 of the Top 8 MLB teams in walks also happen to have the SEVEN BEST RECORDS IN MLB!!!
And we saw all weekend the disparity in walks between the NYY and Red Sox. Are the NYY pitchers that much better control-wise? Or is it simply a case of Red Sox hitters being way too aggressive, swinging at far too many pitches outside the strike zone because Cora told them to swing away!!
2) Cora completely lacks passion, fire, intensity. Every game is one of 162, no game is crucial. He said as such again last night before the game when asked about the importance of the game. There’s a fine line between not putting added pressure on the players, and motivating the players to crank it up a notch when it counts most.
I won’t even get into again the fact that Sale never threw a pitch in the most important series since 2018.
How about the fact that Vazquez clearly did NOT drop Strike 3 on Judge, and yet neither he nor Cora said a darn thing to West about it. That was a HUGE play last night! And Vazquez or Cora couldn’t even bother to say “Hey Joe, the ball was dropped on the transfer. Can you confer with one or two of the other umps about it?”. Even if West refuses, you HAVE to at least get in his face and say something!! Does anybody think for one minute that Tek/Fisk/Leon/Pena or their managers would have passively let that horrendous call go? HECK NO!!!
And for the second time during the weekend, Dalbec dropped a foul popup because he didn’t want to get too close to the edge of the playing field. The first time, NOBODY in the Sox dugout was there to catch Dalbec if he had fallen into the dugout. Where’s the competitive fire? Where’s the team spirit? Where’s the teammates supporting each other?
They say the players on a team are a mirror reflection of their manager. That would explain why the Red Sox players are so soft and passive, because that’s the vibe they get from their manager.
One last thing: The Red Sox are now 9-21 in their last 30 games against teams with a winning record. What’s the point of getting to the WC game or even the ALDS if they go down quietly against good teams like the NYY, Toronto or Tampa?
9-21 is unacceptable, and plenty of those losses are directly related to Cora’s apathetic decisionmaking.
Do you have anything in support of Cora telling his hitters to swing at the first pitch? I checked B-R. The RS have the 3rd lowest amount of ABs swinging at the first pitch. I presume that that assumes contact, but I’d be surprised to see someone go from 3rd lowest to among the highest on a first-pitch swinging strike. And since they are 5th in average swinging at the first pitch, I presume that there is some selectivity going on.
IRT to not taking enough walks, I’ve complained about this for a very long time. But as far as I can tell, every one of our regulars has a better walk rate in 2021 than their career walk rates.
Bogaerts 9.5%/8.4%
Devers 9.6%/7.7%
Kike 10.4%/9.4%
JDM 8.8%/8.8%
Verdugo 8.7%/8.0%
Renfroe 7.9%/7.5%
Vazquez 6.8%/6.4%
So our guys are not walking a lot, but Cora has them walking more than they usually do. And, FWIW, we are 2nd in the AL in BB/PA in the second half.
Joe I’m glad you asked ;O)
And BTW in the same article, he talks about wanting his players to swing at 3-0 which AGAIN is bad advice unless it’s a hittable pitch right down the middle of the plate.
mlb.com/news/alex-cora-on-red-sox-s-approach-on-of…
As a manager, he wants to see players take a more swing-happy approach than he did.
“There’s value in that first pitch,” Cora said. “Guys like to get ahead. If you put a good swing on it, it’s an extra-base hit or you can shy him away from the strike zone.”
No Red Sox hitter has hunted the first pitch more than third baseman Rafael Devers, who so far has swung at 61.9 percent of debut offerings he’s seen (MLB average is 27.9 percent). The results haven’t followed yet for Devers, who is just 2-for-19 (.105) with five strikeouts and zero extra-base hits.
Top of the 8th
Down 3-2
3 Batters come to the plate
Only 4 pitches COMBINED to retire all 3 batters
They are swinging at first pitches like they’re losing 12-2 instead of just 3-2.
Only two walks on the night against the lowly O’s pitching.
Sure does look like Cora lost the team.
Players look sluggish and uninterested.
Hoping this isn’t a replay of 2011, sure is headed that way.
What a two-faced hypocrite Cora is!
Y’all saw the quote up above I posted about Cora saying he wanted his hitters to be very aggressive, especially swinging at the first pitch.
Now he has the audacity to say this! Always remember, he was the mastermind of the Astros cheating scandal and was likely responsible for the 2018 Red Sox video cheating scandal.
“Offensively, we didn’t do much,” said Cora. “There were a lot of empty at-bats. We didn’t put pressure on them. We’re an offensive team and we’re a lot better than what we showed today. A lot of quick outs. There were only a few at-bats that we grinded out and we got into deep counts. But like I said, there were a lot of quick outs and we need to be better offensively.”
So ….
Assuming the Red Sox sweep the Orioles, Friday morning they will either be:
Red Sox 91W (need 2W in DC to clinch WC1)
Jays 90W
NYY 89W
or
NYY 92W
Red Sox 91W (Need 3W and NYY 1L to clinch WC1)
Jays 87W
or
Red Sox 91W (Need 3W to clinch WC1)
NYY 91W
Jays 88W
or
Red Sox 91W (Need 2W to clinch WC1)
NYY 90W
Jays 89W
Bottom line: We really need the Jays to win at least 2 of 3 with NYY
Love this FPG. Thanks !!
Thanks Gary! Just a quick, simple summary to see what we need to happen this weekend (assuming Sox sweep the O’s, which I know is never a given).
Good analysis, I thought I’d throw in one of my own.
2018 Home 7-3 Road 3-6
2019 Home 4-6 Road 1-8
2020 Home 1-2 Road 0-7
2021 Home 6-4 Road 4-5
I thought it would’ve been closer, but the numbers don’t tell lies. But, given Eovaldi’s performance against the NYY, I am thinking I might skip Sale on the final game, HFA not withstanding.
Thanks Joe!
Don’t give up on Eovaldi!!
He will be fine … as long as he pitches to Plawecki.
The Sox need that home field advantage, badly.
FPG – Your break-out is great. To simplify things just remember. The next series simply has to end with NYY winning one less than BOS. It puts the teams in a virtual tie and BOS wins the tie breaker. It also allows TB 2 game in the following series to beat NYY so Sale can sit on Sunday assuming WAS doesn’t beat BOS in games 1 or 2 of their series.
The goal is to be one game up on NYY by end of day SAT. That clinches WC1 and relieves Sale of having to pitch on Sunday.
Thanks KD!
Totally agree with your last paragraph.
Will Cora manage with the urgency needed to be one game up Saturday EOD?
And DO NOT count out Toronto!! NYY haven’t clinched anything yet.
Here’s an exclusive analysis of tonight’s game that you’ll only find here!
32 Red Sox batters
12 Swings at the first pitch
Of those 12 swings at the first pitch:
5 resulted in an out
5 resulted in a strike
2 resulted in a hit
Just another example of how swinging at the first pitch, as Cora instructs his players to do as often as possible, is not productive.
Tonight on first pitch swings, they got a positive result only 16.7% of the time.
BTW – Both Toronto and Seattle are now only one game behind the Red Sox.
And here’s more evidence of what I was saying about the Red Sox not taking Covid seriously, as Ottavino was very unhappy with his teammates.
Just like I said, they are a very dysfunctional team. They don’t have the cohesiveness and camaraderie that teams need to be contenders, and that falls squarely on the manager. His primary job is to bring the team together and motivate them to not only meet but EXCEED their expectations. Cora failed miserably, and we’ve seen that over the past four games. All he keeps saying is “This isn’t an important game, it’s only one of 162 games”.
Total BS!!!!!!!
And this isn’t the first time Cora’s managing has been divisive with the team. Let’s not forget 2019 when Cora divided the team with his political views which led to basically just the Latino and AA players following his lead by skipping the white house visit.
boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2021/09/17/red-so…
Adam Ottavino reportedly ‘got pretty annoyed’ by Red Sox teammates not taking COVID protocol seriously