In pregame scrum before tonight’s ALCS game six, Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters that reliever Hirokazu Sawamura is dealing with a hamstring injury was potentially going to be removed from the roster. (Twitter links from Chris Cotillo of MassLive and Alex Speier of the Boston Globe.) However, Ian Browne of MLB.com later relayed word from Cora that Sawamura will be sticking around.
The Red Sox have their backs against the wall, as they are down 3-2 in the ALCS and will have to win in Houston tonight and tomorrow in order to survive. The health and effectiveness of every pitcher on the staff will be integral to their success in that regard. News of this hamstring issue is certainly concerning, though the fact that Sawamura has held his roster spot implies that the club still feels he’s a better option than bringing in a fresh arm, such as Matt Barnes. Sawamura has been a solid contributor out of the pen this year, as he had an ERA of 3.06 over 53 innings in the regular season, with a strikeout rate of 26.2% and 13.7% walk rate. He wasn’t on the team roster for the ALDS but has appeared three times in the ALCS so far, logging two innings in total.
Other injury notes…
- Chris McCosky of The Detroit News relays some updates on a few Tigers prospects from the Arizona Fall League. Infielders Spencer Torkelson and Ryan Kreidler will both miss the remainder of the league due to an ankle injury and calf injury, respectively. Meanwhile, outfielder Riley Greene has completed his concussion protocol. It had already been announced last week that Greene would miss the AFL because of a concussion sustained at the end of the Triple-A season. For a Tigers club that has been rebuilding in recent seasons, their prospects are incredibly important to turning the corner into being competitive, and that includes these three. MLB Pipeline has Torkelson, Greene and Kreidler as the club’s first-, second- and tenth-best prospects. Baseball America has the same 1-2 punch at the top but has Kreidler at 12th. FanGraphs also starts out with Torkelson and Greene at the top but has Kreidler at 25th. All three players reached Triple-A this season for at least 40 games, meaning they are right on the doorstep and knocking on the door of the majors.
- Rays’ righty Yonny Chirinos won’t be ready for next year’s opening day, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Chirinos has been out of action for more than year after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August of 2020, but has suffered a setback that will keep him out even longer. Topkin’s report says that the hurler fractured his elbow last month and that the best case scenario for his recovery would be for him to be on a rehab assignment in April or May. Before this extended absence, Chirinos was looking like he could be a foundational piece for the Rays. From 2018 to 2020, he threw 234 1/3 innings with an ERA of 3.65. Even without Chirinos, the rotation should be in decent shape, with the presence of arms such as Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Ryan Yarbrough, Luis Patino, Shane Baz, Josh Fleming, Brendan McKay and Dietrich Enns. The Rays have never had an opening day payroll higher than $77MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, and Jason Martinez of Roster Resource estimates their payroll for next year to already be above $70MM. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for reinforcements, though they will surely non-tender a few of their arbitration-eligible players and bring that down a tad. The Rays are also always a candidate to figure out a way to move some money around, such as the contract of Kevin Kiermaier, whose name has been floated in trade talks for years and is entering the final guaranteed year of his contract, valued just over $12MM.
Dorothy_Mantooth
The Rays really know how to burn through some important arms. They seem to have as high of a TJS count as any team in the league; the only difference being that they have a ton of young depth to fill in for them.
Joe says...
They don’t care. They’ll move them before they have to pay more than league minimum. Use them up, spit them out.
iverbure
That’s what all teams should be doing.
Fever Pitch Guy
Only teams that don’t care about revenue.
That’s why no matter how much the Rays win, whether it’s 100 games or division titles or World Series appearances, their attendance and ratings are awful.. Fans won’t become devoted to a team when every year they are all unrecognizable players.
Hopefully the Rays will smarten up and give Franco a Longoria-type contract. Every team needs a face of the franchise.
badco44
Rays won’t do anything til they get a new ballpark and that cheap owner wants the public to pay for it, which I don’t see happening, and they are tied to the current stadium til 2027
Valkyrie
Maybe they’ll get as smart as your team. But then, they won’t win as many games if they are as smart as YOUR team I guess.
Fever Pitch Guy
badco – A new ballpark for the Rays is not the answer.
Want proof? Look downstate at the Marlins. They got a gorgeous brand new retractable roof stadium in a big market city, and yet their attendance is even worse than Tampa!!!
Valkyrie
And yet, they finished ahead of teams with 300 million dollar payrolls this year and many years in the past.
Ironic huh?
Joe says...
Valkyrie, I’m not commenting on how effective it is. I’m saying they don’t care about the players because they’ll be gone before it affects the Rays. What they do obviously works, it just uses up players.
stymeedone
@dorothy
Considering that TBR is the originator of the opener, and is a team where the starter seldom pitches more than 5 innings (ask Blake Snell), please explain how they are harder on the pitchers, when it appears they actually do the opposite. Its been fun watching every playoff team copy their methods this off season. Would a Jack Morris ever be given the opportunity to pitch an extra innings complete game today?
Fever Pitch Guy
stymee – It’s quite ironic you brought up Snell.
Ya know, the guy who had been dominating into the 6th inning of last year’s WSG6.
Only to have the “brilliant” analytics-obsessed Rays braintrust decide that it would be better to pull him after just 73 pitches and replace him with a reliever who had given up runs in each of his prior six appearances.
Because all starting pitchers always turn into a pumpkin after facing a lineup twice in a game … right?
Don’t get me wrong, the Rays are excellent at talent evaluation. They signed Wander as a 16-year-old free agent, that’s just one example.
But strategy-wise? Not so much, as their zero championships will attest.
Fever Pitch Guy
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
misterlol
Lol
Claydagoat
You must get so happy and excited every time you type that.
It’s so funny!
qbass187
They can fire Sawamura into the sun at this point…
Monkey’s Uncle
“Pregame scrum”? There was a fight at the interview? Or did a rugby match break out?
Salvi
Cue the this is Cora and Blooms fault comments.
KD17
Well it’s time to compliment the Bloom acquisitions that played far better than their historical norms, it’s time to praise JD, Bogey, Vazquez and Devers for bringing the newbies to the promised land. It’s time to give great praise to Eovaldi for justifying his salary and more. It’s time for Sale to rest up and regain his control and come back in 2022 as the old Sale. It’s time to recognize Houck and Pivetta for taking one step closer to being starting pitchers in the MLB. And it’s time to discard all the trash accumulated over the last two years.
It was a great year for a gutsy group of ball players!
stymeedone
It was a great year for Boston. The pundits all predicted they would be battling Baltimore in the standings. Bloom did a great job on finding talent that we under appreciated. The coaching staff did a great job getting better than expected results from them.
JoeBrady
It’s a fun time of the year. Those of us that expected a good bit get to enjoy it.
And those that predicted 65 wins get to review whatever logic led them to such unfortunate predictions. It should be a good learning experience for them.
Fever Pitch Guy
Joe – I can honestly say I was at peace last night. The Red Sox bats were silenced for the third game in a row, I can deal with that. They had a great season, and I’m already excited about 2022.
Still think Game 4 shoulda been ours, and Game 1.
But perhaps we were spared another Game 7 gut-wrenching one-run loss.
JoeBrady
Fever Pitch Guy
Joe – I can honestly say I was at peace last night. The Red Sox bats were silenced for the third game in a row, I can deal with that. They had a great season, and I’m already excited about 2022.
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I was 100% fine with the results, to the extent that you always want to win.
And I think that 2021 wasn’t just a tipping point, but an extreme tipping point. Even if we don’t add a single player, and I am pretty sure that won’t be the case, we’ll have a .500+ team, imo.
For the first time in a few years, we look like we will have more young talent coming in than leaving. Houck, Whitlock, Dalbec, with maybe Duran and Casas on the near horizon, and a number of recent draftees looking good for the long-term.
This should be an interesting winter. The first order of business is Syndergaard, Iglesias and Iglesias. Second order of business, if JD leaves, is Story.
Fever Pitch Guy
JoeBrady – You don’t believe the reports that Semien is the one big name free agent the Sox could sign?
I’m already looking forward to seeing Yorke in 2023.
JoeBrady
No, I don’t.
1-I don’t think he fits. We have Arroyo, Downs, and York over the next few year at 2B, and Bogaerts & Mayer over some time period. I don’t think we would spend money in areas we don’t have a specific need. The need for a high-level RP is a certainty, and the need for a high-level SP is pretty important.
2-I don’t think that Bloom says one word to reporters about his future strategy. I don’t think he would even talk to Kennedy or Henry, if he didn’t have to.
IRT Yorke, I would continue to play both at 2B, but if both he and Downs continue to play well, then I am hoping to see a Mookie-like move to RF.
KD17
stymeedone – Not sure what team you watched this year but Bloom sucked. Not ONE major acquisition until he got a third DH at the deadline. Don’t displace any of the credit for 2021 from the players who created the wins. They did it despite a crap manager and a worthless GM.
Expectations were rightfully low based on talent and will be in 2022. That’s Bloom’s fault. The players played far above their heads, the credit for that goes to the players. When they regress in 2022 think back to the great run of 2021 for the players. For all the people saying Cora or Bloom created the success of the players please remember that when 2022 has results like 2019. When that happens, both Cora and Bloom should be fired since they get to take credit for good seasons THEY MUST take credit for bad seasons like 2019 and 2020. Bloom is one for 2 at this point. Cora is 2 for 3 but remember DD got fired when he was 4 for 5 so both aren’t even close to the standard set by DD and he got fired.
Without a lot of additional talent, this team will once again be predicted to finish just ahead of the Orioles and rightfully so. Do a simple and unbiased evaluation and you’ll see how significantly behind TOR, NYY and TB they are in talent. When Kiki went on his uncharacteristic hot streak people bragged about him being the best lead off hitter in the division. How insane was that? Arozarena, Springer, LeMahieu and Mullins are all far better than Kiki. Emotional outbursts driven by unforeseen good play by your hometown team are expected but they don’t reflect reality. The reality is
WITHOUT ADDITIONAL TALENT BOS IS STILL 4th in the DIVISION
For those expecting the team to not regress in 2022, good luck with that.
sergefunction
The Rays are the only MLB team which treats every single pitcher as fungible. Regardless of who they are, and often it works well.
If they paid or otherwise provided for a top offense, they’d dominate.
And get the blank out of that dungeon. I don’t care where they go. Nashville. San Antonio. The Bermuda Triangle.
JoeBrady
sergefunction15 hours ago
If they paid or otherwise provided for a top offense, they’d dominate.
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Actually, they do have a top offense. They are 2nd in the league in RPG.
kelticknotz
Well last night Boston lost to Houston in game six and I couldn’t be happier. I’m really sick and tired of media and commentators describing the Astro’s as MLB’s most hated team over that cheating scandal and yet they heap on praise for the two men Alex Cora and A.J. Hinch who orchestrated the whole think like the sun shines out of their butts. Houston ownership and Mets ownership showed a whole lot more class then either Boston or Detroit. Houston fired Hinch and Cora and if MLB had any integrate they would have banned them for life for almost destroying the game.. Mets withdrew their GM officer to their future manager when it was shown he played a part in the affair. Boston on the other hand didn’t fire Cora they simply replaced him for the year knowing full well they’d bring a cheater back.
So lets not make the Astro’s the brunt of this nonsense their were numerous people involved the ringleaders should have been banned for life, players should have received some form or punishment, and lets also remember a lot of those players have moved on to other teams now
KD17
kelticknotz – Well said. Houston did divest themselves of the trash known as Cora, Hinch and Beltran. I applaud them for not thinking about bringing those scumbags back. Integrity should be part of the game but the Red Sox ownership has so many issues with it that racism and hiring cheaters is turning into an every year occurrence. As a long, long time fan I am ashamed of their behavior since the day they fired Dave Dombrowski
As a Houston fan you should be proud of your organization NOW. I still think the players on HOU and BOS should have been suspended for their actions in the two scandals but overall I see HOU as a team that cleaned house the right way. Good luck to you guys in the World Series. You are going to see the best pitching you’ve seen in the post season during the World Series..
kelticknotz
The funny thing in all this is I’m not a Houston fan per-se. My team is the Blue Jays and if you look back on their history they are as straight-laced as they come. A player any player does anything considered detrimental to baseball or the team, they might finish out the season but they won’t be back the next year.
I admire what Houston and the Mets did with Cora, Hinch and Beltran. What Boston did with Dombrowski was ridiculous. D..D. has a reputation for giving you fast success and it means spending money and mortgaging the future. Boston wanted a W/S, and he got it for them. And once that was achieved they didn’t need him anymore. Same as with Terry Francona, he’s a great manager and I don’t think Cleveland is sad Boston fired him, and look at Betts refused to sign a long term deal with Boston saying he was going the free trade route they trade him to Dodgers and Dodgers immediately sign him to a long term deal. David Price I realize he’s not the same guy he was back with Tampa or Toronto but he pitched heads above anyone Boston has on their staff currently but the media and ownership treated him like dirt and I don’t think he was sad to leave Boston and now they have that hot house flower Sale who hasn’t pitched a full season ever, and is noted and for always having a poor second half and he was just so special to them in the post season only getting past the 3rd inning once in al his starts.
The Saber-toothed Superfife
Dombrowski – the guy who offered Max Scherzer $14M, the year Max won the regular season SO total.
Because of “shoulder concerns”.
Yeah…ok
My opinion is NOT THE SAME as your opinion. Praise God.
kelticknotz
I think you misunderstood what I was saying about Dombrowski. What I was saying is the Dombrowski is known for turning around teams quickly by signing top free agents to big deals and for mortgaging the future by trading away prospects., You can’t dispute the fact that he built the Marlins to win the W/S, took Detroit to the W/S twice although they didn’t win either and took Boston to their first W/S..
Fever Pitch Guy
Took Boston to their first WS?
Even if you meant first WS since 1986, you’d still be wrong.
kelticknotz
Their first world series win not their first time in the World series.
Fever Pitch Guy
Still … where are you getting that from?
Surely you know the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, 2007 and 2013 …. long before Dombrowski’s team won it in 2018.
Not to mention 1918, 1916, 1915, 1912 and 1903.
deleted account
This guy loooves loading the bases
The Saber-toothed Superfife
Holy Toledo.
I am mad at Al Avila, Chris ILLICH and all of the Tigers fans.
Too much KoolAid is bad for the gut.
I know who should be playing ss and outfield for the Tigers this year but alas, apparently, no one else does…..
The Saber-toothed Superfife
As usual,.no response. You guys.must be talking to the wrong guy or something….. obviously.
The Saber-toothed Superfife
And…nobody invited me to the series…
The Saber-toothed Superfife
Holy Toledo.
Forget Waldo, where’s Al? Where’s Chris?